After school on Inauguration Day I asked my kindergartner if he knew that we now had a new president. He excitedly responded, “Yes! I got to see him on the TV in class today!” Now this was not the first he had heard the name Barack Obama. It has long been a well known fact among our children that neither of their parents has a very high opinion of the man. Seeing as this man was no longer just a man or just a candidate, but now the President of the United States of America, I thought I should explain something very important to him. So I said: “You know Mommy and Daddy don’t like Barack Obama very much, don’t you?” He nodded and I went on. “In our country we have elections to decide who our leaders will be. We get to vote for who we think the best one will be. We voted for John McCain, but he didn’t win. Now, since Barack Obama won and he is our president, it is very important that we respect him.” Then the question from a five year old: “How do we respect him?” Not knowing quite how to delve into this subject very deeply with him, I simply replied: “It means that we shouldn’t say really mean things about him.”
This little boy is very creative and loves to draw pictures, write, and make little books. So he then said he’d like to make a book about President Obama. Not wanting to stifle his creative juices, I supplied him with paper and crayons and he went merrily to work. (I wanted to post pictures of the finished product here, but it seems to have been swallowed by the clutter that has taken over my den. 😦 . If it is ever recovered from the jumble I’ll update this post with pictures.)
On the cover he had drawn the face of President Obama. I will now do my best at paraphrasing his words as I can recall:
Page 1: Barack Obama is our new president.
Page 2: He is a democrat.
Page 3: Maybe John McCain will be our next president.
(My response to page 3: Oh no, please don’t let the nightmare start again!)
As I was looking at his book and read page 2, my son interrupted me to ask:
“IS CALLING HIM A DEMOCRAT DISRESPECTING HIM?”
“No,” I said. “I’m sure he’s proud to be called a democrat.” But don’t you EVER go calling ME that!
Now, when discussing an issue such as this with one so young, I guess you can put things in such simple terms. It is more complex than that though. I was raised to believe that the OFFICE OF PRESIDENT is something greater than simply the man who currently holds that office, and that the office deserves honor and respect. I was a youth when Bill Clinton held that office. It was very difficult for many people to respect this man as a person. It was in the context of his presidency that I was taught this principle. I currently find it difficult to respect many of the things Barack Obama has done, whether they be since taking office, during his campaign, or before. I can reasonably assume that he is a decent person with good intentions. I reject the ideology that he espouses. I think that much of what he has proposed and some things he has already set in motion will harm our country and change it in ways that are not good. That said, HE DESERVES THE RESPECT THAT THE OFFICE DEMANDS.
I do not think it is disrespectful to disagree.
The despicable personal character attacks that George W. Bush endured with grace throughout his presidency are an example of disrespecting the office, in my opinion. Calling him a murderer, advocating his assassination, embracing and perpetrating blatant lies about him, and tearing down his family are examples of crossing a line that shouldn’t be crossed. Disagreeing with his policies…fine. Calling him out when you think he’s made a mistake…fine. And the same standard applies to our current president. It seems that many of his supporters though, as well as most of the media, are promoting the idea that just disagreeing with President Obama is somehow disrespectful and to be condemned. It seems that many think a different standard should apply to him. I disagree.
As Americans we should ALL stand up and defend our president when he is attacked by other counties or citizens of those countries.
An attack on our president is an attack on our country…an attack on us all.
There are many in our nation who do not understand this apparently. Remember the infamous shoe incident? Just check out the comments here. It is disgraceful that any American would celebrate such an attack on their president, no matter who that man may be. I will continue to respect this sacred office, as I always have. I will also continue to engage in the DEBATE OF IDEAS that is an important and innate part of being an American.
As a side note, I find it ironic that the very people who now call for unity and healing engaged in this on President Bush’s last day in office. How sad that a man who so tirelessly served his country for eight years at such an immense personal sacrifice has been treated in such a disgusting manner. There are many things I wish he had not done and many things I wish he had done. I most certainly did not agree with him or his actions all of the time. But I will forever be grateful for the service he has rendered our nation, and thus me.
Oh, this made me laugh. I had a similar situation with Isaac. I had never “talked politics” with him before they brought it up at school. But, apparently he had been listening to what I was saying about the election and he put his two cents in during their classroom discussion. LOL. In homeschool we actually spent a week studying the inauguration and Barack Obama. I want to teach my children to respect people but not to be sheep. It is a fine line we walk as parents. I think I will spend the next 18+ years learning how to teach them the proper respect for the “office” (like you said) and the proper way to stand up for their beliefs. It makes me tired just thinking about it.
Thank you for this thorough and useful explanation
Mish muskilla, yaa Jak.
Nice post… but as an individual who voted for President Obama, the post would be even nicer if you spelled his name correctly. Even the individual who left a comment above managed to get it wrong.
We should respect the office, even if we disagree with the man. That is what we taught our children when we disagreed with President Bush’s policies (such as the use of water boarding as a legal method of interrogation). We explained that we are opposed to torture, and disagreed with President Bush on that issue.
Of course, at this point it appears that there can be little or no actual respect from many righties. Righties think that they are always right, especially if Rush tells them so. I recently had my nine year old listen to 15 minutes of a right wing talk show. After just a few callers, my son asked “why do the callers hate the President?” The contempt from the callers was so obvious that my nine year old was upset by the callers’ hostility.
Meanwhile, even after the recent pirate episode, righties are unable to find any common ground even on that issue. Even righty Bernard Goldberg, he is of the always blame the liberal media for everything mindset, recently disagreed with Hannity when Hannity launched yet another attack on the President over the handling of the pirate crisis.
Anyway, I do agree that we should respect the Office, and we should as a Nation be able to disagree without using ignorant and hate-filled speech.
I’ll go back and correct the spelling in this post. I’m actually surprised to see it, because I’m fairly sure I’ve gotten the spelling right in all of my subsequent posts.
I’m glad to that you are teaching your children the same principle about respecting the office as I am teaching my children. Just as important as that principle, though, is the right to disagree and debate.
I’m wondering if your nine-year-old would be as upset with the sentiments expressed at an anti-Bush protest as the 15 minute segment of the radio show he listened to?
I disagree with your assessment that righties follow Rush like mind-numb robots (of course, that’s mostly how I see Obama supporters). Rush supporters don’t come to conclusions simply because he tells them that’s the way they should think. Rather, they support him because he articulates very well the conclusions they have already come to on their own, and then he gathers and presents meticulous research and evidence to back up his arguments. It seems that many (not all) Obama supporters, on the other hand, support him because of his personality and because they think he gives a good speech, rather than for his policies or his ideology. No one that I know supports Rush simply on the basis of his charming personality.
The reason many conservative pundits, and their supporters alike, are so upset…and even angry…right now is because they see the Constitution and the fundamental principles this nation was founded on, and which they hold dear, being disregarded and trampled upon at an alarming rate. Also, it appears that our country’s future…our children’s future…is being sold for a mess of pottage.
Thank you for your comment. One of the reasons I started this blog was to encourage meaningful discussion, and I firmly believe that debate and disagreement are vital to the health of our nation.
Thanks for your kind reply. Spelling mistakes happen, I noticed a couple in my own post. (Maybe you wouldn’t mind correcting those as well?)
And yes, both my nine-year-old and the rest of my family have been offended by certain attacks made on President Bush during the Bush years, including suggestions that he should be impeached for various acts that he took.
We disagree on who supports their leaders without thinking, Rush followers v. Obama followers. (Rush followers have even coined a term – “dittohead” to show their support.)
I love your line about a mess of pottage. Very poetic. Almost as good as some parts of an Obama speech. 🙂 Ultimately, however, while we don’t agree with every action Obama has taken, we think that our children will be well served by his leadership and ideas.
The bottom line is that elections have consequences. Pres. Obama enjoys the right to at least try to implement his ideas. Republicans can try to accomplish a “revolution” in two years.
One final point, we prayed for our nation and Pres. Bush, and we will continue to pray for our nation and Pres. Obama.
“…we will continue to pray for our nation and Pres. Obama.”
DITTO! He’s certainly going to need it! 🙂