The Cincinnati Enquirer features a "Your Voice" guest opinion column. The Enquirer is not known for its left-leaning tendencies, and neither is the region it covers. But this
editorial seems to me to illustrate the very real disconnect with what's going on in the halls of power and what goes on in the I-75 corridor.
And I am convinced if we gave President Bush even half the respect we gave Kennedy (after the closest election to date) and Johnson, this discussion wouldn't be happening.
I wish I'd have known that the world would be all sunshine and rainbows if only we closed our eyes and wished as hard as we could.
This is my draft response. I'd appreciate some feedback. My LTE experience isn't extensive.
A recent "Your Voice" guest columnist claims that the office of the president isn't being shown enough "deference" as compared to the deference shown the holders of said office some forty-odd years ago. In his assertion, the guest columnist suffers from the mistaken assertion that criticism of the office's holder equates with disrespect for the office itself. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The truth is that the office does not confer respect upon the individual. It is up to the individual to bring the respect to the office--to act with dignity, honor, class, and above all, intelligence, else the respect inherent in the office becomes tarnished for all future holders. Since the current office holder's 2000 appointment by the Supreme Court, the office has been used in an unprecedented attempt to grab and secure power while eroding our basic Constitutional rights as citizens.
The columnist states that the president's job is not to be liked, but to uphold and defend the Constitution. I wholeheartedly agree with that, but until the president himself can accurately express his own job description ("My job is to protect the American people" - March 2003), and stop destroying the Constitutional rights of Americans and the basic human rights of everyone else, he will receive no "deference" from me.
Respect is something that must be earned. The current office holder can start earning it by actually doing his job.