Respect for the Office

[Narraticong]

Once upon a time, we held our elected officials in high regard. Whether we agreed with them or not, we repected the office. And so did they. The President, Representatives, Senators, etc. were considered very important people and were treated with great respect. And they were expected to act appropriately.

 

I know times have changed and we live in a much more casual world. But is it a good thing when our president goes on talk/comedy shows? When a former majority leader goes on Dancing with the Stars? Seems I remember it started with President Nixon going on Laugh-In.

 

Some may say those appearances make our officials more approachable. That may be true. But have they also encouraged us to have less respect for the office?

 

I'm not sure either way, but I thought it might be worth discussing.

 

Ken

[Eagle92]

Lack of respect for the indiviudal has a long history in our country. I want to say the only president not lampooned was Washington.

 

However I concur going on comedy/talk shows doesn't do the office anything.

[scoutldr]

I think it's a symptom of the larger condition...the decline of propriety, courtesy and civility in general. We are a less formal people than we once were. When once, profanity was reserved for the locker room or loading docks, now it's common on the street and in the classroom and heard from males and females alike. As a kid, I remember the admonishment from my mom, "what would the neighbors think"...now it's "who cares what anyone else thinks." The DeLay thing didn't bother me...at first I thought it was sad that we are reduced to this, but then I thought, "what the hey...he has a life, too and who am I to care if he makes a fool of himself." After all, he is a "FORMER" congressman. We all shall be "former" someday...

 

But I do wish that The President would realize that once you win, you can quit campaigning. Or maybe he's just already stumping for 2011. Like a local talk show host observed this morning..."we have sons and daughters dying in Afghanistan...is this the most important thing you can be doing right now?"

[mmhardy]

There has never been 100% respect for the holder of high office.

 

I'm in the middle of reading about Andrew Jacksons first term. The Washington establishment thought of him as an outsider, an interloper and not worthy of the office. There was still a great deal of families and establishment hanging on from the Washington, Adams and Jefferson era. With the end of eight years of Republican rule, I see a similar hand being played out with Obama.

 

[CalicoPenn]

During George Washington's second term, there were personal attacks directed at him as President.

 

Our country was founded on lack of "respect for the office". King George was viciously lampooned in the run up to the Declaration of Independence. In a way, we owe our existence to a uniquely American sense that no person is owed respect merely for the title s/he holds. We've even gone so far as to enshrine that belief in our Constitution with a ban on titles of nobility.

 

I'm not at all bothered that President Obama appeared on Letterman (or earlier, on the Tonight Show) given, in this media rich times, the number of people who admit that their primary source of news is the late night shows, including the Tonight Show, the David Letterman Show, and the Daily Show. Part of the job of President is to communicate to the people - and to do that, one needs to go to where the people are.

 

[Beavah]

Yah, I gotta admit I'm old fashioned enough to not particularly care for da president showin' up on comedy shows. Even when national politics is a laugh-or-you'll-cry sorta thing.

 

Da thing is, the lines are so blurred right now. MSNBC and FoxNews are nothin' more than political entertainment, eh? Almost like pornography, they exist just to rile up your emotions.

 

I can't say I see it fittin' with my view of the Office of the President to participate in either of those media outlets. At least da comedy acts like the Daily Show aren't that bad.

 

Oh, for the days of Walter Cronkite, eh?

 

Beavah

 

[JoeBob]

The last Pew Research poll on the subject showed that Fox News had more liberal commentary than the other five networks combined had of conservative commentary.

If you think that discovering both sides of an issue is pornographic...

 

Caught myself. Too many bad jokes.

 

JoeBob

[vol_scouter]

This is not meant as a criticism of Obama, but I do not like to see the Presdient in such settings no matter who the president may be. Just as I agreed that in the joint session of congress, the outbursts that we hear from both sides of the aisle, deserved or not, are best kept to themselves. They should simply refrain from applauding those issues that they do not agree with the president about. I feel that as each new context occurs, the office is degraded a little bit. Obama did not start this but is slightly extending it mainly by number (I do not think that he should be on news shows either). I applaud Mr. Obama's attitude on racism last evening from the reports of the appearance (I never have cared for Letterman). The country would benefit from more civility and respect demonstrated by its leadership. Just as being an adult in scouting, I am not there as a friend to the youth but as an adult leader - I do not want my president to be my friend but to be my president. Both Bushes, Clinton, and Obama could have been and in the case of Obama be more presidential.

[scoutldr]

I would prefer not to see the President so much ANYWHERE. I think there's enough on his plate right now that he needs to be in a conference room 20 hours a day listening to briefings and the advice of the experts (ooops, I mean "Czars"), which he certainly isn't on every topic, regardless of how omniscient the masses think He is. I think his time could be better spent than flitting around on AF1 making speeches and TV appearances. Quit telling us what you're going to DO and start telling us what the results are. Like I tell my employees...don't report what your doing...tell me what your impact is. People are still losing jobs...just ask my brother in law (as of 5 pm yesterday).

[Hal_Crawford]

Joe Bob, do you have a link to that Pew survey, I can't seem to find it. I did find one that said that Fox's audience was more balanced but nothing about content, or at least nothing that agrees with what you have posted. There were some interesting figures on favorability released a week ago. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2009/09/14/public-trust-media-accuracy-lowest-ever-liberal-v-conservative-bias-gap

 

As for Obama on Letterman. His appearance did nothing to diminish my respect for him or the office of President. He has a message and he is looking for every way possible to get it to as wide an audience as possible. He did all the Sunday morning wonk shows leading some to say he is overexposed, then he does Letterman and some find it beneath the office of the president. I think that the critics are really in disagreement with the message more than the means. I think that many are looking for any opportunity to criticize.

 

As to whether he has enough spare time to go on Letterman, consider the long vacations and early bedtimes of his predecessor. This was alluded to last night when Obama was talking about how they had let his daughters goof off this summer and then said, "I couldn't do that", to which Letterman responded, "Others have".

 

Hal

[packsaddle]

With so much at stake, so many problems to address, and so little time, why is everyone, President and the public included, so preoccupied with appearances. This is much ado about very little. I wish everyone would get serious about the monumental problems we face. Everyone.

[Hal_Crawford]

Looks like he put in a full day today.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama;_ylt=At7umlIzz.VCQNDY_wjiB5.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJtbGo3cjU1BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwOTIyL3VzX29iYW1hBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDc3Rlcm5vYmFtYWNv

 

Hal

[GernBlansten]

I really don't care what show Obama appears on as long as he appears presidential.

 

His job is to push his agenda. And there's no better medium to do that than the mass market media. That means doing the entertainment shows. Good on him. He's getting out in front of an audience that probably doesn't watch the boring Sunday news shows.

 

Bush should have done the same thing. However, his agenda didn't lend itself to good entertainment. War just is such a downer.

[John-in-KC]

He needs to be worrying about making a gut-check decision: Does he fill General McChrystal's request for troops, or does he let Osama and the Taliban win? Doing the comedy shows when deciding about sending troops in harm's way is just wrong.

 

I remember "surgical" cruise missile strikes in the Clinton Administration. They got us the USS Cole and the preliminaries for September 11.

 

The man is spending his political capital faster than he's spending the money of his Chinese bankers. Sooner or later, both notes will be called.

 

Of course, if he retreats from Afghanistan, it becomes very easy to break out the "politicians lost the war for us" label set.

[GernBlansten]

Frankly, the only thing Obama could do correctly for you guys is to resign in disgrace.

If he gets in front of the people pushing his agenda, he's not paying attention to the war.

If he stays holed up in war meetings, he can't multitask and is ignoring the economy.

 

He just can't win with you guys. So why try.