Congressman Ron Paul: Joker

During last night’s Republican presidential debate, America Live on Fox News Channel host Megyn Kelly presented this question to Congressman Ron Paul:

“There are many Republicans inside and outside of this state who openly doubt whether you can be elected president. How can you convince them otherwise…?

The Congressman raised his eyebrows and giggled his way through this answer: “Well, you know, fortunately for the Republican Party this year, probably anybody up here could probably beat Obama.”

Yuk, yuk.

I don’t think it’s funny.

It doesn’t matter if we agree or disagree with the President and his vision for the nation, we owe that person the respect of the office and the man who currently sits in the Oval Office is not, as Congressman Paul would say, “Obama”, but rather President Obama.

Whether we agree with the President or disagree with the president, like him or dislike him, is irrelevant. The issue is not politics, the issue is respect, and as the President of the United States he deserves the respect of the office. Just like you deserve respect and I deserve respect for simply being people. I think Congressman Paul’s (lack of) word choice last night was disrespectful and out of line and tells me something about the Congressman beyond his campaign promises. And he’s not alone because all the candidates do the same thing which leads all of us come to believe it’s all right.

I’m sorry, but I don’t think it is.

President Bush took a lot of flak and was mocked mercilessly during his eight years in office. I didn’t agree with his politics and I didn’t vote for him, but I always respected him for the office he held. Sadly, I think in many ways the criticisms President Obama is facing are harsher and in some ways worse than what we experienced with President Bush. I hope I’m wrong about that because I don’t like thinking that as a nation we’re content to allow ourselves to continue to grow more and more insensitive toward each other with each passing year.

I didn’t write this to slam one particular Republican candidate or to endorse another. I wrote this simply to share a thought and to maybe try and put the idea of respect – respect for a human being as well as respect for an office – into the thoughts of anyone who might read this.