OpEd:
Obama Is Not An Opt-Out President
September 7, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: America, Democracy, Obama, Poltics, Presidency, Respect
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When an American President is elected, regardless of the margin of majority, they are given the highest Office achievable in the country, arguably the world, and are afforded a number of luxuries, not the least of which is respect. Until they prove themselves unworthy of the title of President, as a handful have done previously, the President should be respected and treated decently – so why is President Obama being treated otherwise?
The current, and 44th President of the United States of America, is Barack Obama, who won the election by a comparatively large majority – he also happens to be African American. The mere fact that he was elected as the first black President speaks volumes for the state of the country, but so does the violent push-back that has been seen since his campaign grew in popularity: much of the country is ready to move beyond past prejudices and historically difficult issues, but a sizable section of the population vehemently disagrees. Reactions by older citizens, those of the Deep South, and many members of the Republican Party have proven that they are the Old Guard, and are not interested in change – they like the status quo, and are scared by what President Obama represents.
Obama inherited a multitude of problems from his predecessor, George W. Bush, but still receives blame from his most vicious of critics for these issues, despite their origin before his Term of Office; he has taken unprecedented action, to which the critics were opposed, in order to address these problems, but has received scathing condescension for not resolving them fast enough, from the very same group of critics; he has done nothing but approach issue after issue in a rational, analytical manner and has yet to do anything detrimental to the American Way of Life, but is compared to Hitler, Stalin, and other “big bad boys” – this is the irrational response of a population subset that is frightened. Prior Presidents may have deserved their criticisms, nicknames, and political comparisons after political scandals, perjury, or failed Presidencies – but President Obama has yet to achieve any of these which might warrant such a reaction.
What scares his detractors is that Obama represents a fundamental shift of American politics, away from publicly devout Christian white men singularly holding political office to a slightly wider set of options that now includes African Americans and women that think independently – entirely unacceptable to many of those who are upset by him, even if they won’t publicly admit it. But their reactions, whether irrational screaming during what is intended to be a debate, comparisons to vilified persons of the past, or generally choosing to believe conspiracy theory lies, are neither appropriate nor warranted. The growing popularity of racist loudmouths like Glenn Beck speaks to the lack of sanity of these core group of citizens, but absolutely does not excuse it.
Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, Barack Obama is the President. He is the leader of the entire Nation, not a subset, and should be treated as such. His words, actions, and policies are not made for selective choice among the citizens of the United States of America, but are the political mandate from the highest form of Office. His speeches are not made for choice editing on cable television, nor are they to be ignored when convenient. Regardless of an individual’s, or a group’s, opinions on certain aspects of President Obama’s policies or political agenda, he is still the President, and deserves the Nation’s attention when he demands it.
The upcoming speech by President Obama on Tuesday (9/8/2009) to the country’s schoolchildren is a perfect example: simply because of their irrational and unwarranted dislike of their President, some parents – singularly Republican – have threatened to withhold their children from school in order to prevent some sort of, as they claim, indoctrination. The intent of the speech is not to indoctrinate the children, but rather to enlighten them on certain issues and challenge them on others, yet the White House has been forced to make an unprecedented move by publishing the speech online beforehand for all interested parties.
This has not happened with previous Presidents, even the most disliked and unpopular – not even Richard Nixon or George W. Bush after they proved themselves as both unworthy of the Presidency and incompetent individuals. Is this because the previous Presidents were aligned with these self-appointed protesters’ political ideologies? Or perhaps because by exposing these children to the raw, unfiltered nature of the President, rather than half-truths and outright lies handed down from others, they will learn to think for themselves? Or, even more frightening, they will learn to form their own opinions on issues, not only in politics but also a multitude of other arenas of thought? How abhorring.
American Presidents are not elected so the dissenting minority can publicly vilify them for representing change, nor are they elected for their words and actions to be so disrespectfully ignored and dismissed out of hand. Regardless of how a citizen voted, the President is the President, and deserves respect – there is no option to opt-out.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
