Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that President Obama speaks almost exclusively at colleges and universities in Blue States?

Thursday morning, Obama spoke at SUNY Buffalo (my alma mater) on his two-day "bus tour" of Upstate New York and Northern Pennsylvania. His itinerary includes two other colleges -- SUNY Binghamton and Lackawanna College -- and a high school.

I considered going to the event to offer my two cents' worth -- about the DHS, NSA, IRS, Benghazi, gun control, the $17 trillion debt, the Federal Reserve's money-printing scheme, and the Afghan war -- but decided against it. Universities originally were conceived as sanctuaries where the Socratic Method of asking dangerous and provocative questions would be preserved, but those days are long gone.

Obama frequents universities because they are modern-day Potemkin Villages, presenting a façade of presidential popularity. Colleges and universities are guaranteed to produce a crowd consisting of left-wing enthusiasts fawning over Obama. They're entirely dependent on the government for their tax-exempt status, student loans, and massive amounts of grant monies from the government as well.  What's more, universities are secure environments for Obama, where those who might protest can be automatically excluded: if you don't have a university I.D. or a ticket to the event, you can be kicked off the campus immediately.

In his remarks at SUNY Buffalo, Obama emphasized the need to "make college more affordable" and reduce student debt. That's about as controversial as dressing up as Santa Claus and telling a group of five-year olds that they're all going to get a Christmas present. (Where does the Constitution give the Federal government a role in education, anyway? No one bothered to ask.)

"We've got to create more pathways into the middle class for people who are willing to work for them," said Obama. But the real story in Upstate New York is that the manufacturing jobs that produced a vibrant middle class a generation ago are long gone. Obama conspicuously skipped Eastman Kodak, which went bankrupt last year, and the Delphi and Delco factories, which survived bankruptcy only as a result of the taxpayer-funded GM bailout.

There does remain at least one economic success story providing good, middle-class jobs in Upstate New York: gun manufacturer Remington Arms, outside Utica. Business has never been better for Remington. But Obama didn't bother to visit them to gloat about the middle-class jobs they're providing.