President Obama, Band of Brothers, and Respect

It used to frustrate me a lot to hear people constantly running down George W. Bush when he was in office. It wasn’t the people who had differences of opinion with him on policy that bothered me—it was those who felt it was appropriate for them to launch ceaseless personal attacks against the President of the United States.

Fast forward a few years, Barack Obama is in office, and the personal attacks continue (albeit, from a different portion of the population). Instead of calling him stupid (which they did with Bush), people call Obama a Muslim or a Communist, or accuse him of hating America.

As with Bush, a basic lack of respect is shown for the President on a daily basis. I think that is unfortunate, but maybe not particularly surprising when you consider that people treating one another with respect isn’t really a defining characteristic of our culture these days.

One of my favorite scenes in Band of Brothers (which, by the way, I highly recommend) revolves around an interaction between Major Richard Winters and Captain Herbert Sobel.

At the beginning of the series, Sobel had been Winters’ commanding officer during training camp, and he was a difficult officer to work with—cruel, vindictive, and incapable of reading a field map. There was no love lost between Sobel and Winters, his executive officer. As time progressed, Sobel proved himself to be an inept officer and was transferred out of the unit, while Winters received one promotion after another, eventually becoming a major and a battalion commander.

Later on, Winters and Sobel cross paths again, but now, Winters, and not Sobel, is the senior officer. Sobel tries to walk past Winters without really acknowledging him or saluting, but then Winters forces him to do so and says something I absolutely love:

Winters’ point is well taken, and ultimately, it’s one that I believe applies to Presidents as it does to superior officers—we owe them respect, not because of what we think about them personally, but because of the office they occupy (of course, it’s easier to respect admirable people, which is one reason why I think personal character is an important issue when it comes to choosing leaders).

Interestingly enough, this is a biblical idea as well. In Romans 13, in the context of talking about the Christian’s relationship with the government, the Apostle Paul says in verse 7,

“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”

Later, in a similar context, the Apostle Peter conveys a similar message in 1 Peter 2.17:

“Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”

I point out these scriptures because, unfortunately, Christians—from both sides of the political aisle— are often just as guilty of treating the President with disrespect as anyone else. I have some profound idealogical differences with our current President, and occasionally I’ll speak about those differences, but if I ever do so in a way that is disrespectful, I need to hear about it. Because it’s not right.

Honor the emperor, whether you like him or not.

Exit Bush

George W. Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, is president no longer.

Bush’s time in office has been hectic, and his second term has been characterized by the continuation of an unpopular war, a faltering economy and sagging approval ratings.

For the most part, I don’t think Bush has been given a fair shake.

Sure, I don’t agree with everything he’s done, but he’s also had a lot to deal with. From the most threatening attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, to a crippling hurricane, to a vice president who accidentally shot someone in the face, President Bush couldn’t really get a break.

From the beginning, people have claimed that he was an idiot because of his famous misstatements, and I’ve mentioned before that I think that’s unfair. Bush actually scored a very respectable 1206 on the SAT, and based on that score, his IQ has been estimated to be around 125, which would put him in the top 10-15% (and therefore, more intelligent than the vast majority of people who make fun of him).

And much has been made about his low approval ratings, but I think we should be pretty careful about judging the success or value of someone based on the fickle feelings of the mob. Abraham Lincoln was an unpopular president as well, but with the benefit of historical context, he is considered by many to be the greatest president in our history (I’m not saying that Bush is the equal of Lincoln, but he’s certainly not the abject failure that he’s been made out to be either).

At the end of the day, whether you agreed with him or not, I think there is one undeniable fact about the presidency of George W. Bush: he made his decisions based on what he thought was the right thing to do, not what would make him popular.

That’s an admirable characteristic. It’s a characteristic that we generally try to instill in our children. And one that is pretty rare amongst politicians.

So goodbye President Bush, and thank you for your service. I tend to think that history will be kind to you. Certainly kinder than we have been.

Equal Opportunity Ridicule

Ever since George W. Bush first came onto the national scene during his first presidential campaign, I’ve always been able to enjoy a good Bushism. I think it’s important that we not take ourselves (or others) so seriously that we can’t laugh when they accidentally say something funny (and in that spirit, here’s a list of some of Bush’s best.).

That being said, I don’t like how people often judge Bush to be a complete moron solely on the basis of his misstatements. My opinion on that is basically that anyone who speaks on record as often as the President of the United States does is going to mess up a bunch and say a lot of stupid things (I know that I would).

And Barack Obama, who during the primary some pundits claimed was so intelligent, so cerebral that he wouldn’t be able to connect to voters, has been doing his best over the last few days to prove my point, repeatedly making dunce-like statements.

Although he likely won’t get lampooned in the national media like Bush would if he had made similar statements, consider the following gems:

• “…Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran.” That statement makes since, until you realize that Obama isn’t even a member of the Banking Committee, so it’s not exactly “his.”
• Tuesday, while speaking in Jordan, Obama said (emphasis mine), “You know, it’s always a bad practice to say ‘always’ or ‘never.’”
• In another speech on his tour of the Middle East, Obama proclaimed that “Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s.” In the context of the speech, it was clear that he meant that America is a strong friend of Israel’s, but seriously, if Bush had said this, there would be no end to the ridicule he would receive.

So I think the moral of the story is that by all means, let’s be good-natured enough to laugh at our national leaders (and ourselves for that matter) when they accidentally say foolish and stupid things.

Let’s just not assume that they are foolish or stupid for saying them.

Bumpers Stickers: Proclaiming your Ignorance for the World to See

Occasionally, you may come across a particularly clever or humorous bumper sticker, and decided to affix it to your car, but there’s really no excuse for having more than a couple of them on your car at once.

At least around here, you always know you’re behind someone who is completely nuts when the entire backside of their car is completely covered with bumper stickers.


Of course, this phenomenon exists on both ends of the political and cultural spectra.

On one side, you have the tie-dyed, hippie types, who are in love with peace, freedom, and, ironically, Che Guevara. Then at the opposite extreme (and usually on the back of a pickup) you have the gun-toting, redneck types who decorate everything with antlers and most likely sleep in Confederate Battle Flag bedsheets.

Both of these extremes are stupid and drive me nuts, and are characteristic of people who need to be avoided, but it was one of the former group that I found myself driving behind the other day.

I didn’t have time to read all of the bushy-bearded driver’s adhesived inanities, but a couple which were right next to each other caught my eye:

The first said “BUSH, THE ONLY DOPE WORTH SHOOTING” and had a picture of a syringe on it, while the second whined, “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS?”

The irony of these two particular messages being side by side was just a little more than I could take.

I certainly don’t hate President Bush, but I realize that some people do. I understand that they are unhappy with many of his policies, and think he is a terrible president. But that doesn’t mean you have to be stupid about it.

Disregarding the questionable ethics of the assassination of the president and the tacit approval that the first bumper sticker gives to such an act, here’s my point:

If the US was really the fascist, freedom-deprived country that liberal extremists and the second bumper sticker claim it to be, don’t you think that publicly joking about killing the president would warrant a significant punishment?

The truth is that as Americans, we are so spoiled by our long history of freedom and prosperity that we wouldn’t recognize true fascism if it rounded us up, tattooed serial numbers on our arms and herded us into camps.

From what I saw the other day, I don’t agree with some of the political views of the man I was driving behind, and find his rhetoric to be excessive and irresponsible. But because he lives in a country like America (where he is apparently deprived of his constitutional rights), he has a right to his foolish opinions.

One more thing: I noticed this car as I drove behind it on my way to church Sunday morning. On my way to exercise another one of those rights that I wouldn’t have if things were as bad as the Nancy Pelosis of this world would have us believe.