Respect?
By Mitch Berg
Sunday’s Strib editorial actually ends with a modestly useful point:
Education has never been as strategically important to national well-being as it is today, as other nations move quickly to overtake this country in the knowledge-based economy of the future. Given that challenge, a simple speech on the value of education should not be a matter for partisan contention.
Well, yeah. It should not be. Education has much, much bigger problems than a speech from a President.
And I personally don’t have a huge problem with the Presidents speech, in and of itself. The bureaucracy certainly overstepped in its rah-rah approach to publicizing and curriculumizing the speech – it smacked of personality cultism like a 2×4 to the back of the head “smacks of” impact – and people do need to be vigilant about this kind of thing.
But the Strib is shocked, shocked, to realize that Americans disagree about politics:
But these are odd times. Unfortunately for our children, even a back-to-school welcome can further divide us.
True. But the address is hardly alone.
But just seven months into the Obama presidency, nothing is simple. The political lesson some seem intent on teaching our kids today is rooted in what appears to be a growing lack of respect for the office of the president. How very sad.
A “Growing lack of respect” for the office of president?
What did the Strib – as reliably DFL-leaning a publication as exists – have to say about the endless, toxic disrespect that was paid to the previous President?
Bear in mind that disagreeing with policy isn’t direspectful – conservatives opposed Bush’s spending, quaint as it seems today.
This after eight years of running columns that referred to President Bush as “the occupant”; eight years of Garrison Keillor’s sniffing down his nose over Bush’s accent with nary a word about policy; eight years of Susan Lenfestey’s paranoid, hate-drenched Bush derangement.
Yeah, Strib. Your concern for respect for the office is touching.
It ought to give Americans pause about the toll of excessive partisanship when the president is faulted for planning to urge the nation’s schoolchildren to learn their lessons. On Tuesday, the first day of school for many Americans, the president’s brief address should be a valuable reminder that students serve their country as well as themselves when they succeed academically. That message deserves a top-level spokesman.
And the notion of “respect for the office” deserves a spokesman who isn’t marinading in cynical hypocrisy.
September 8th, 2009 at 8:46 am
But that was different. Bush was stoopid. Obama’s so smart he figured out how to get us 7 extra states. He knows how to speak Austrian. He’s so smart the Queen of England wanted to listen to recordings of all his speeches. He can change DVD formatting in Europe with the power of his mind.
He’s the smartestest President ever!
September 8th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I last purchased a Star-Tribune in 2004. The reason was the nasty daily cartoon on the editorial page. I guess the saying is true….no one hates like a liberal.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:20 am
That’s right….I forgot about the “old scout”. THe Mpls paper sponsors Garrison’s nasty weekly attacks and belittlements against President Bush. No one hates like a liberal.
September 8th, 2009 at 10:52 am
As usual I disagree with the Strib on this one.
I think that there still is respect for the “office” of President by most Americans.
If there is any disrepect it comes from several sources.
One of which is that the press no longer “covers” for the President.
As two examples they no longer fail to report on JFK’s affairs, or pretend that FDR isn’t in a wheelchair.
The President is more scrutinized than in the past, which the President should be.
As to our current President, Mr Obama can thank his fellow Democrats for their treatment of George W Bush for his treatment now.
He should not have expected anything less.
Also, his solution to every issue is to make a speech.
But speeches aren’t enough–I believe he needs to “cowboy up” and start leading.
As my grandmother used to say “You can talk and talk until you’re blue, but you are judged by what you do”.
And right now, it appears that more and more people and judging his actions (or lack thereof in some cases) unfavorably.
September 8th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Four days after a frickin’ Marxist is sent packing from bammie’s administration (thanks Michele Bachmann!), we’re going to let the Fresh Prince have a little quality time with our kids…..right.
Curious.
Why are lefties so rediculous?
Developing.
September 8th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Well, in my lifetime, I can remember “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” and the visceral litmus test that was Richard Nixon when political satire became a staple of the media/entertainment industry. There have always been some in any age with strong negative opinions about the incumbent, but my sense is that virulent opposition didn’t become acceptably mainstream until Nixon (not without cause, some could argue). Once that genie was out of the bottle and had tasted blood, though, it became the currency of comedians and pundits. Gerald Ford was a clumsy, bumbilng oaf, right? Jimmy Carter a sanctimonius, bumbling oaf dying the death of a thousand self-inflicted cuts. Since then the presidents have stirred strong emotions (with the possible exception of the first Bush, who didn’t really move the needle one way or the other) and these emotions have found a willing, even insatiable, partner in the media and the 24-hour news cycle.
September 8th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I hate it when pols do photo ops reading to kids, which is all this is. The kids could not care less. Any voter who is swayed by a PR stunt is too stupid to be allowed to vote.
We didn’t hire you for your mad reading skilz, Pres – do your frickin’ job.
Unless you believe Doug Adams, that the job of President is to DISTRACT attention from the seat of real power.
September 9th, 2009 at 9:32 am
A “Growing lack of respect” for the office of president?
This after eight years of running columns that referred to President Bush as “the occupant”; eight years of Garrison Keillor’s sniffing down his nose over Bush’s accent with nary a word about policy; eight years of Susan Lenfestey’s paranoid, hate-drenched Bush derangement.
Yeah, Strib. Your concern for respect for the office is touching.
That right there is a perfect letter to the editor.