It’s remindful of Old Mrs. Shanahan and Dorothy Parker.

Old Mrs. Shanahan was something a neighborhood parent-at-large, self-appointed and much appreciated. She broke up fights, arbitrated heated disputes over everything from a game of marbles to who stung Gilooley’s billy goat with a rock, to who convinced a first-grader to wade through a flooded gutter wearing new shoes.

Dorothy Parker was a national treasure, a marvelous writer of short stories, screenplays, reviews and razor-tongued quips about people and things.

Old Mrs. Shanahan traipsed down the steps of her front porch slowly, but with the aura of the Almighty’s own deputy sheriff, whether on a peacekeeper’s mission or to pass among some deserving grade school rowdies with a ping-pong paddle and the longstanding blessing of neighborhood parents.

“Boys! Boys! If you can’t get along, then get along home!”

Dorothy Parker dispensed much of her wisdom at a typewriter or a cocktail party, and expressed her world-weary view with a subtlety that nonetheless had the sting of Old Mrs. Shanahan’s paddle. When the phone rang and she dreaded the thought of dealing with some boorish nuisance, she reached for the receiver with the enthusiasm of the guest of honor at a hanging, climbing toward the rope. Her regular comment, to both officemates and callers:

“What fresh hell is this?”

Were Mrs. Shanahan and Mrs. Parker yet with us they could contribute mightily to the public discourse by combining talents as political consultants. Things are getting out of hand in regard to Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson. In addressing a matter of the greatest importance to their statewide constituencies the two are behaving in such a way that those constituents might look and listen, then offer the dismayed and dismal assessment: “Whenever those guys disagree, it’s easy to suspect that both of them are wrong!”

Heineman did his best portrayal of the outraged state official in offering his view of what the pending changes in Medicaid would mean to the state’s finances. It was a vision of calamity, fiscal decimation and the possible ruination of Nebraska as we know it. To his credit, nothing was alleged about Nelson’s view of motherhood, apple pie or puppies. Nothing but evil, Heinemann seemed to say, could result from the plan supported by Nelson. Heinemann cited a recent study by a consulting outfit to back his views.

Nelson scoffed at Heineman’s rhetoric. “This report doesn’t make the case against health care reform,” Nelson said. “It makes the case for it!”

If Heineman truly lacked sufficient concern for the healthcare of Nebraskans, Nelson suggested, the governor could try to pull Nebraska out of the popular Medicaid program altogether.

The spirit of these continuing exchanges seems reflective of the spirit, if not the style, of William Shakespeare, another well-recognized writer and commentator, albeit a foreigner. Think about Henry V and the scene where barrel-chested Exeter tells the French Prince what message ol’ Henry would send him. It seems to reflect the feelings Nelson and Heinemann might share for one another. To wit: “Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt, and anything that may not misbecome the mighty sender ….”

It might be a little late, in the Nelson-Heineman drama, to worry about what might misbecome whom.

ED HOWARD is the statehouse correspondent for the Nebraska Press Association.

The blogosphere is burning red, consumed with fury over President Obama’s announcement — made at the end of the news cycle, with talk-radio on weekend break — that he supports the construction of a mosque near the downed World Trade Center buildings.

While much is being said, there’s one thing that really struck me about Obama’s announcement: In a 1,200-word statement, which named the Constitution once, Thomas Jefferson twice, and the Founders three times — odd for Obama, who invokes the Founders far less than previous presidents — Obama began with backing from George W. Bush and ended with backing from Jesus Christ. At the same time, he didn’t name Bush or Christ.

First, consider the Bush reference. It came in Obama’s opening:

“Here at the White House, we have a tradition of hosting iftars that goes back several years, just as we host Christmas parties and Seders and Diwali celebrations. And these events celebrate the role of faith in the lives of the American people. They remind us of the basic truth that we are all children of God, and we all draw strength and a sense of purpose from our beliefs.”

The line about “we are all children of God” is hardly unique — to Obama or Bush; numerous Americans and presidents have used it. That said, more than any president in history, Bush applied that line specifically to Muslims.

He did so to insist that Americans not only respect Muslims but understand that Muslims, too, are born with fundamental, unalienable rights and dignity, and, moreover, are capable of establishing democratic governments in places like the Middle East.

Yet, where Obama directly, uniquely invoked Bush was in the very first line of his statement: “Here at the White House, we have a tradition of hosting iftars that goes back several years.”

Americans might wonder when that “tradition” began. Well, not long ago — too recent, in fact, to be called a tradition. As President Obama himself said, this so-called tradition is only “several years” old. The hosting of iftars, consistently, goes back to President Bush.

Ironically, Obama and the angry left blasted Bush (with Obama, the digs have been more subtle) for his alleged callousness and insensitivity to Muslims.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In researching a book on the faith of George W. Bush, I encountered innumerable glowing appraisals of Islam, so flattering and exaggerated — to the point of error — that Bush could have been mistaken for a Muslim.

Really, it was fundamentalist Christians who were most perplexed by Bush, especially as Bush repeatedly, over two terms as president, told multiple interviewers that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Obviously, that’s a problematic assessment, given that Christians worship Jesus Christ as God. Muslims do not believe that Jesus was God.

The point here is that Obama’s supporters hammered Bush relentlessly for his supposed intolerance of Muslims. And now, alas, we have the spectacle of Obama, in an extremely controversial statement calling for toleration — more than that, endorsement — of a mosque near the 9/11 site, launching his case by referencing the iftar dinners begun by Bush.

Will Obama’s angrily secular supporters know that the dreaded Bush was behind this “tradition?” Of course, not.

For that matter, will they recognize the source of Obama’s concluding thought? Obama finished his case for the mosque with this wrap up:

“And we can only achieve ‘liberty and justice for all’ if we live by that one rule at the heart of every great religion, including Islam — that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”

I’m happy to argue that this is a universal principle. As St. Augustine said, there’s a God-shaped vacuum in all human hearts that God alone can fill. We know, in heart and soul, as products of God, designed by God, made in God’s image, through faith and reason, that such abiding principles are true.

In other words, being merely a creature — a creation of God, whether you know it or not — you nod in assent when you hear this statement. To borrow from Jefferson, such are the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.

That said, any Christian immediately recognizes that Obama’s final words are Christ’s words: the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12).

Here, too, though, Obama didn’t cite his source. Why not? Is it because the principle is so universal that no source is needed? Or could it be that Obama, ironically, is bending over backwards not to offend Muslims in a statement calling upon Christians (and other non-Muslims) not to be offended by the mosque?

As often with President Obama, when it comes to matters of faith, he has left us with more questions than answers.

DR. PAUL KENGOR is a professor of political science and executive director of The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. His books include “God and George W. Bush” and the forthcoming “Dupes: How America’s Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.”