Posted on 06/23/2014 10:36:28 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” the song goes.
It is easy enough to spell, but for some vocal critics of President Barack Obama, it seems exceedingly hard to do.
As the president moves toward the land of the lame ducks, his political enemies are calling for blood. That’s no shocker at this stage of a presidency. In this case, the cuts go deeper.
For some, it is not enough to disagree. Some high-status public figures seem determined to demean, denigrate and ridicule the president of the United States.
On June 12 the Speaker of the U.S. House stepped to a podium and insulted Obama for his handling of the ongoing crisis in Iraq.
“It’s not like we haven’t seen over the last five or six months these terrorists moving in, taking control of western Iraq,” U.S. Rep. John Boehner said at a press conference. He added, in his trademark, obdurate tone: “And what’s the president doing? Taking a nap!”
Last week, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk pronounced that Obama has fallen short in his dealings with Iran, reported CBS2 Chicago. “I’m very worried that the president doesn’t appear to be up to this job, of protecting the United States,” he said.
The disrespect comes in words, tone and attitude. He’s “taking a nap.” He’s “not up to this job.” They refer to the president as though he were a wayward child.
It’s nothing new. Obama supporters, especially African-Americans, have fumed over the insults for years. Oprah Winfrey recently suggested it has something to do with his race. “There’s no question about that,” she said.
Last week, former Vice President Dick Cheney leveled a blistering attack on the president’s foreign policy in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many,” Cheney wrote. Obama cares more about his golf game than the raging conflict in Iraq, Cheney asserted.
(I could give you a few thousand words on Cheney’s track record of mistakes, but that would be digressing).
Some critics refuse to address the president by his title, instead sneering lowly pronouns, like “he” and “him.” On the talk shows, via the blogosphere, even on the floor of Congress, they ridicule him in personal, demeaning ways.
In 2009, President Obama was speaking on immigration reform before a joint session of Congress. “You lie!” U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted from his seat.
Others, from Donald Trump to Newt Gingrich, have insisted that the president is some kind of alien, a “foreigner,” demanding he produce his birth certificate to “prove” he is an American.
I know how it is. In today’s hyper-partisan USA, Launching tirades at political enemies provides cheap, red meat for the base.
Still, we are talking about the president of the United States, a man who, while imperfect, is very much a grown-up, possesses high intelligence and has many talents. In two national elections, American voters definitively entrusted that man with the job.
That man represents the presidency, the most powerful office in the world. Politicians who publicly disrespect the man who holds that office derogate their own profession.
The disrespect and insults give license to the world’s despots to, in turn, disrespect him, his position, and us.
Respect is earned. All this punk POTUS has earned is the disdain of good honest people.
It would probably help the USA if it and Honduras swapped presidents!
I don’t think anybody, anywhere, wants Obama...
How much respect did you show for George W. Bush, Ms. Washington?
Such wickedness by the Democrats.
Surely if Barack ought to be impeached, it would be for the chillun’s sake. Throw an irony back at the Democrats and lefties.
I checked on Mexican wine. Per Wikipedia’s account, winemaking prohibitions ended with Mexican independence from Spain, but the Mexican Revolution in the early 1900s somehow hurt wine production in a way that was not explained. Winemaking is legal in Mexico but I’ve never seen a Mexican wine here. Curiosity kills the cat, but following up on related topics informed me on mezcal worms. Yes they put worms in some brands of mezcal when they are bottled. Maybe that is apropos another worm, I don’t know.
Speaker of the house insults the president:
“Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he’s not a leader...” —Nancy Pelosi- Democrat Speaker of the House
must ... mock ... Barry. And it's probably because he wants to turn all of America into Cook county.
U.S. senator insults U.S. president:
“President Bush is a liar...” —Harry Reid, U.S. senate majority leader
PS The author’s note that Barry is disrespected abroad because he’s disrespected at home is interesting. It has an almost (religious), “We would burn you if we could.” flavor.
Politics is the left’s religion.
And not a word of it would be an original thought, or true.
I agree Obama's got " the race card, a pen and a phone; and the media". And that the next two years could be hell on earth if we're not careful.
Clown Prince nobama deserves only ridicule. His intent is to denigrate Free America and to remove our Freedoms. I feel he deserves exile for his lawlessness. I can’t wait to itinate on his grave.
Good grief, I remember the whole assassination play that Broadway put on and how all the intelligentsia supported it for the sake of the “1st Amendment”. What a bunch of hypocrites and liars.
Leftists are never embarrassed by their hypocrisy,
because “the issue is never the issue”.
They aren’t concerned nearly as much as they say they are that the president is being shown a lack of respect.
They are more concerned that his purpose, a leftist agenda criticism shield, is being slightly thwarted by those who dare criticize him/it.
Laura belongs on the top of the Kool-aid swallower list.
Thank you for your very thoughtful, historical and knowledgeable reply.
America has been adrift for a very long time.
America has very poor foresight, and very little hindsight.
Churchill put it this way: “Amedicons always do the right thang, - - - aftuh they have tried ev-ry othuh possibility fuhst.”
We tend to wait for a “Pearl Harbor Moment” to recognize that we might have a problem.
Consequently, long term Communists such as Obama have no problem slowly turning up the heat on the pot of frogs swimming about in the ever-warming water - - - .
Yes, absolutely! There are legitimate reasons for not joining WWII, the strangest war ever, at the outset...but no reason whatsoever for not joining WWII right off the block.
Bush engaged directly after 9/11, when we were attacked directly, but one of the problems is that the places he focused on, with a strategic plan to convert them into secular states, appeared to have been beloved of the left. Or suddenly became beloved because they hated Bush so much. So he was shot down almost immediately.
We shouldn't wait this one out, because we can't. Once ISIL (and that means Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is the correct translation, not Syria) conquers Iraq, they're moving on and will establish their caliphate, which unfortunately has been supplied with all our weapons and knowledge.
If Obama weren't on their side, he'd have responded already. But we have a unique circumstance here: The President of the US wants to destroy this country.
Mexicans have actually revived wine production, mostly with the aid of people from California. Much of their wine growing is in an area heavily under attack by the drug gangs (and the radical leftist teachers’ unions!) so it has been very difficult and risky for them to do this.
When I was there last year, I tasted a lot of the local wines. At this point, nothing beyond supermarket wines...but better than the early Chilean wines, one sip of which would give you a headache that wouldn’t stop!
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