Fifty years ago yesterday, John F Kennedy was shot. Now that wasn't nice, but at least he was treated a lot better than our current president before his death. Between the Cuban Missile Crisis and Civil Rights, he made some unpopular decisions; however, if you watch the old clips of the president speaking, everyone stood up and applauded for him, even those from the opposing party. What happened to the respect that comes with the job of President? If one doesn't respect the man, one should at least respect the office.
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| JFK with his Adorable Grandson |
The opposing party and the public's treatment of Barach Obama shows an overall decline of good manners in this country. Perhaps this stems from reality TV. One can watch shows where people make crass comments about others and embarrass them on national TV. This teaches our young that it is okay not to treat others with dignity. This lack of good manners has seeped all the way up to the oval office. Or is horrible treatment of Mr. Obama due to his skin color? If that's the case, back in the early sixties, being Catholic, like President Kennedy, was also discriminated against and JFK was our first Catholic president. Yet still, the opposing party and the public treated him with the dignity of one who is in the office of US president. I'm not talking about disagreeing with his politics. That's expected. I'm talking about giving him the ability to speak without interruption or the standing applause as he steps behind the podium. One can disagree with his politics all one wants, but treat him with the respect of one who is the president of our country.
Several years ago, I was thoroughly appalled when I saw George and Laura Bush paper dolls on a store shelf. Our president and first lady were depicted in their underwear. That's not presidential and should not have been marketed! I'm all for free speech and expression, but there needs to be self imposed limits of what is proper or not. Presidents being sold in their underwear shows a disrespect for the man in office.
Although I may be dating myself, I remember a time when we got dressed up to fly on an airplane or go to see a play. With formal clothes comes formal behavior. Maybe we need to go back to dressing better; however, that doesn't stop the suit and tie yielding idiots in congress. So scratch that idea, too. Did you know that the words pro and con are opposites? This means that the opposite of progress is congress.
Progress is good, yet with every two steps forward, we seem to be taking one step back.
16 comments:
I totally agree. There is a complete lack of respect for everything in society today. The office of the President should be held in high regard no matter which side of the aisle we sit.
I agree about the lack of respect in our society, especially for the president of a nation. But it didn't start with President Obama. People have been disrespectful toward the leader of our country for the past 25 years. And it's getting worse every year. This is a reflection of a lack of respect that is prevalent in our society. So sad.
Respect has been my target for a long time, too, Joyce.
I cannot stand to see or hear people name calling and hating each other as if it's expected. We can totally disagree about everything and still be respectful.
Our Presidents have become "ordinary people" because the media tells us everything they can about their personal lives and finds as much dirt as possible to report. I don't need it and I don't want it, but it's fact. Seems to me it began in earnest with President Clinton and has only escalated.
Great piece. Well done.
My big beef is that if everyone knows respect has been on a downward spiral for so long, and they do seem to know, why does it continue??
I agree wholeheartedly that respect should be paramount. I also agree that self-imposed limits for marketing should be far more practiced than they are...and that reality shows are a bad influence on the kids.
hear!hear! for the post!
I think Obama himself has contributed to this sad state by blaming former President Bush for everything and anything and saying horrible things about the Republicans that he should be trying to work with.
Obama has even tried to blame Republicans for the failed Obamacare roll out saying "Republicans are making it harder to fix". This was after the Republican House passed a bill to help fix Obamacare.
Blaming racism is simplistic and simply untrue. Republicans have always opposed Socialism and they are right to do so.
Obama is NOT a nice guy to his opponents and so he brings much of his troubles upon himself.
Timothy, you have obviously missed the point of my entire article, and I couldn't disagree with you more. Republicans have done everything in their power to block everything Obama has attempted. They even committed treason by stating their desire to make Obama fail BEFORE he even took office. As for blaming Bush, yep. His horrible political decisions put us in this position just as Harding and Coolidge put us into the Great Depression, yet Hoover got the blame. Aiding big business and tax cuts for the rich have never worked historically. Republicans have made everything harder to fix, and this business of shutting down the government is totally their fault because they passed the Affordable Health Care Act, so they are required to fund it. It's not a great act, because Republicans have blocked Obama from making it all it should be. Committing an act to purposely harm the gov't is also against the law and these congressmen should have been jailed. During Obama's first term, he bent over backwards to try to compromise, but in their desire to make him a failure, the Republicans have been the ones unwilling to compromise. But that is neither here nor there. My message is about disrespecting the office. Note, I was not happy with Bush being portrayed in his underwear. You can disagree with one politically, yet you should still have respect for the office. He did not bring this upon himself. This has been a slow continual fall of society's grace. I agree with Genetta that it is not totally new, but Obama has gotten more of it than any president in history. Never before has a congressman interrupted a president's speech with disgruntled words. This was unheard of in the past! If Obama has indeed quit being nice to his opponents, so be it. He didn't start out that way.
I also regret the decline of common courtesy and respect and self-respect. Reality TV and sit-coms reflect this/possibly encourage these attitudes. What is just as maddening as the lack of respect for the office of the president is the disregard for the good of the country in favor of partisan politics. I see many senators and congressmen working for the common good, but too many others are playing dangerous partisan games.
I couldn't agree more, but you MUST tell me where in the world you found paperdolls!
If anything, we should be praying they do the right thing for our country.
Chocolate hugs!
I saw those paper dolls to. I didn't know what to think of them. I just kind of shook my head. I equally thought it was odd that I saw a children's book on Obama before he was even in the office. It just kind of shocked me that it was out there when he wasn't even a president yet.
My boy respect the president. They get excited to see him on TV. They also don't know any of the health stuff that's going on, the government being shut down and more. They don't see it, or hear it from us.
The President used to be up on a throne just like Queens and Kings. I do think the media has changed a lot of that. Every main station leans to one side, or the other. Everything is put out there.
I feel sorry for our leaders now.
I see the lack of respect on a smaller scale to. Students that don't respect instructors. Young kids that don't respect their parents. It's really sad.
Oh, I so agree with all of your post! I see it on Facebook all the time, in the news, everywhere. There is no respect for the President. There is no respect for others, period. It is a sad, sad situation we have got ourselves in.
Deb
Joyce I agree with your reply to Timothy. He has been stifled from his first day in office - unable to pass anything due to Congress blocking literally everything he tries to pass. I wish we could all at least respect the Office of the President even if we disagree with the President himself.
If a Canadian may weigh in on American Politics..... I will first say that I completely agree. There is definitely an overall astonishing lack of good manners in the world today. It seems that only that which is in "bad taste" is marketed. We are reveling in the lowest humour and it is showing itself in how we treat one another: whether a stranger on the street, or what should be the most respected position in a country.
However, there have been some recent Presidents who have not exactly conducted themselves with dignity (or restraint) while sitting in the Oval Office. If the man who occupies the post doesn't show proper decorum -- how would anyone else show him proper respect? (although I am sure other Presidents also had less than ideal behaviour, but just never got caught.)
But that is the danger with a scandal; it undermines the sanctity of the position. A man with such high influence and power, should conduct himself to higher standards.
(personally, it seems to me that Obama does this - so why such disrespect? baffling.)
Perhaps will some of the past and recent scandals that have occurred in the political arena -- the shine is now simply off the rose?
I will make my case using the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Syrian Crisis.
President Kennedy had unmistakable proof of the existence of offensive Missiles in Cuba and took his case strongly to the American people. He stood up to Khrushchev and without blinking an eye threatened to launch a full scale nuclear strike on the Soviet Union. And all of this was an imminent threat to our national security and the President can act without congress in these cases. He was taken seriously by the opposition and Khrushchev backed down.
President Obama had unmistakable evidence of the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria. He made a wishy washy case to the American people but this use of chemical weapons posed no threat to our national security. If it was a threat then the President could have launched strikes without congressional approval. Instead, President Obama wouldn't take ownership of the potential strikes and wanted congress to back him up in case things went South. Then Russia steps in and gets a deal done. Our President is NOT taken seriously around the world as a man of action and the US is viewed as weak.
Really well said Joyce. You really nailed it with "If one doesn't respect the man, one should at least respect the office."
Chad, could you imagine the backlash Obama would have gotten had he NOT sought out congressional approval?? They've been all over him for acting without them. He was between a rock and a hard place on that one.
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