I’m old enough to remember the imbroglio that erupted when Rosie O’Donnell declared in 1999 that times had changed, and “we have had enough as a nation. You are not allowed to own a gun, and if you do own a gun, I think you should go to prison.” Of course, the other shoe dropped the following year, when Rosie hired an armed bodyguard to protect her and her adopted kids. “I don’t personally own a gun,” she said. “But if you are qualified, licensed and registered, I have no problem.”

In short, principles, schminciples. When your physical safety and personal security hit the fan, all bets are off. But isn’t that the sort of crucible where we should expect public figures to prove that their principles actually mean something?

Barack Obama had a similar moment this weekend in the Middle East.

You may remember that Obama has been rather critical of the role the private security firm Blackwater USA has had in helping to rebuild postwar Iraq. “I don’t believe that they should be able to run amok,” he told The Nation in March, “and put our own troops in danger, get paid three or four times or ten times what our soldiers are getting paid. I am the one who has been opposed to those operators.” Obama even suggested in an interview just three weeks ago with Defense News that Blackwater and other private security firms are “eroding the core of our military’s relationship to the nation and how accountability is structured.”

Guess who provided Obama’s personal security detail during his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan?

You can’t make this stuff up folks. And at U.S. News & World Report, Paul Bedard has Obama satisfied enough with the company’s expertise to say that “Blackwater is getting a bad rap.”

Whaddya think, folks? Hypocritical? Or, given all the Messiah-like metaphors being thrown around lately, maybe this is his “Paul on the road to Damascus” moment. Either way, if I’m Blackwater right now, I’m planning the Mother Of All Christmas Parties, complete with vodka-spewing ice sculptures and Keffiyah-clad strippers.

Hat tip: Memeorandum