Those of you who know me well understand who I am and my political point-of-view as an independent conservative. I have not shied away from criticizing President Obama specifically, and the Democratic party in general. I do not say these things with racist sentiments. I firmly believe that Obama is horribly misguided and that his policies are ruinous to the U.S. economy. I also find more and more evidence of, if not duplicity, at least a lack of the directness and transparency proffered by then candidate Obama in the run up to his election in 2008. Of course, a lack of honesty is hardly a new political crime, as evidenced by the numerous previous occupants of the White House, most recently President Bush.
However, when I found out recently that my friend received a phone call from her school asking if she wanted her son to "opt out" of seeing President Obama's televised speech, I was suddenly filled with a sense of shame and disgust I have never felt. The hypocrisy is overwhelming! How can we as a nation claim we have matured when we allow things like this to occur? To be sure, there has been plenty of race baiting by the Left, a shameful and repugnant behavior that has been used repeatedly to demonize opposition. But by even giving such an "opt out" alternative to parents, we have ushered in an era of incivility laced with racist undertones that threatens to tear us apart as a people and a nation. No president before has received such outrageous and indecorous treatment. Such behavior is illustrative of something dark and disturbing about the nature of certain elements of society; it is a pox upon our body politic. Let's be real after all. Are parents so insecure with the value system they have taught their children that they cannot weather a short speech? Are children of conservatives hapless drones unable to withstand a perceived rhetorical onslaught? Americans are better than that, and conservative are better than that.
Any conservative claiming integrity and intellectual honesty should robustly reject such a dynamic. Let's be clear and transparent: All presidents should be treated with the same accord. Part of teaching civics to our children is to model appropriate respect and decorum for official occasions and the officers of the occasions. Even if you vehemently and passionately disagree, even if the other side mocks, berates, and condescends, a true conservative, any person of substance for that matter, will stick to his principles and show the respect both the President and the office deserve. While it's okay to criticize policy and point out hypocrisy, it never okay to have double standards. That's a value system we should all honor when it comes to our children, one that goes beyond the partisanship and racial tensions that grip our nation. Superintendents and school board members should take a solemn oath that they will never play the race card, even when the have the winning hand. By doing so, we all lose our soul.
Gary
