The Annoying Pretense That People Are Meaner And Less Civil To President Obama And His Family
For years, Democrats said the ugliest things about George Bush and Timothy Egan was...in a Rip Van Winkle-like coma?
Well, he's awakened, just in time to declare that it's been some sort of special mean season on the Obamas. Egan writes in The New York Times:
We know President Obama wants a lasting deal on immigration, something to make taxes fairer, a little help from a caveman Congress on climate change. If he's lucky, he might get some of the above. But one thing his worst opponents have never given him, and probably never will, is respect. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.From the day he took office, his legitimacy has been challenged, his American birth has been suspect, and he's been personally insulted, lectured, yelled at and disrespected in public, by public figures, in a way that few if any American presidents have ever faced.
The latest example of this may seem a trifle -- the crude comments of a Republican congressional staffer, Elizabeth Lauten, about the first family. She resigned after making fun of Sasha and Malia Obama last month. And while Lauten certainly proved her shortcomings as a communications director, making the story about her instead of some platitudinous deed of her boss, Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, her swift resignation was seen as validation for the last line of civility still standing in uncivilized Washington.
It's nasty to attack kids.
The first lady cannot go on vacation without the Drudge Report hyping elaborate travel bills, playing to race insinuations. But when the family of Sarah Palin was involved in a beer-fueled, fist-flying brawl in Alaska this year, conservative media did not call them out for bad white family values, or failures as role models.
Sarah Palin is some lady who ran for VP and lost. As for the bar brawl; it seems Americans are more interested in the Kardashians.
The First Lady's travel bills are being paid by the American taxpayer.
Personally, I was no fan of George Bush and criticized him a-plenty. If anything -- perhaps because I've grown up a little and thought a lot about this while writing a book on manners -- I've been reserved in criticizing Obama.
The reality is, a lot of this is about people trying to aggrandize themselves on social media.
And really, I am truly tired of people demonizing the other side. Gregg and I went the other night to a talk on the failings of the Supreme Court by UC Irvine law dean Erwin Chemerinsky. A guy Gregg knows, knowing I'm libertarian, sneered that he's a big lefty. Well, yes, and I didn't agree with every word he said, but I did agree with most of it -- or at least find it exciting and illuminating.
It seems to me that this disparaging of the other side -- as if they have nothing whatsoever of value to say -- comes out of fear and an ensuing need to separate oneself. If you aren't afraid, you can listen and set aside what you don't agree with and maybe learn something -- which I sure did, listening to Chemerinsky.
Just to pick up on one issue: why not pick on Obama's kids. They are older teens by now, in a family that lives in the public eye. Their sulking faces during the turkey ceremony were an embarrassment. Life's a bitch, they could damn well suck it up for those 15 minutes.
Most likely diagnosis: their parents have no time for them, so they are spoiled as compensation. Which is an absolutely perfect recipe for raising a self-centered teenager with no self-control.
a_random_guy at December 6, 2014 7:20 AM
Regarding Amy's intro: Democrats are still saying nasty things about George W. Bush six years after he left office. I have a feeling the Republicans aren't even going to mention Obama after 2016.
By the way, it was Rip Van Winkle who went in a coma for 20 year, not Rumplestiltskin.
Fayd at December 6, 2014 8:45 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/12/06/the_annoying_pr.html#comment-5612825">comment from FaydSigh...thanks, on the correction, Fayd. Correcting above.
Amy Alkon
at December 6, 2014 9:15 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/12/06/the_annoying_pr.html#comment-5612834">comment from Amy AlkonThis is especially dismaying considering I was a huge Washington Irving fan and read his short stories over and over again.
Amy Alkon
at December 6, 2014 9:17 AM
Well, in one sense the writer is correct - I have NO respect for Obama or any of the folks who voted for him.
None, nada, zip, zilch.
That he is a liar, a narcissist, and a race-baiter earns him zero respect.
That his wife - the late Joan rivers called her a tranny; funny, but that comment was an insult to trannies - seems to always have a "mean look" on her face also earns her no respect from me.
And their kids? They've been treated better than Bush's kids ever were. Folks should consider them lucky.
Lastly, a_random_guy: "Which is an absolutely perfect recipe for raising a self-centered teenager with no self-control." So, I guess, like father and mother, like daughters.
Charles at December 6, 2014 10:56 AM
Jesus fucking Christ.
Michelle Obama is not ugly yet that is a common theme on this blog. She doesn't look like a hideous ugly mean bitch. She doesn't wear ridiculously expensive clothing. They're both an attractive couple and I don't get why people can't separate that from their politics. I actually think their relative youthful (for politicians) attractiveness helped garner votes.
I loathe Palin but I can objectively see she's gorgeous. Same with Pelosi.
Ppen at December 7, 2014 2:37 AM
> Jesus fucking Christ.
☑
> Michelle Obama is not ugly yet that is
> a common theme on this blog.
☑ ☑
> Same with Pelosi.
☒
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at December 7, 2014 12:31 PM
That's right, and GW Bush's girls were never front-page news for their alleged partying and drug use. Nope, that never happened, and any newspaper archives that tell you otherwise are obviously Republican fabrications.
Cousin Dave at December 7, 2014 7:16 PM
I think it's pretty fair to shame the President's kids when they get ejected from an entire country for their drunken out-of-control behavior.
Any corporate media source would be considered remiss if they didn't report it.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at December 7, 2014 9:37 PM
A guy Gregg knows, knowing I'm libertarian, sneered that he's a big lefty.
If you disagree with a lefty, you think s/he is wrong.
However, they think you're evil.
This will not end well.
I R A Darth Aggie at December 8, 2014 6:03 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/12/06/the_annoying_pr.html#comment-5621522">comment from I R A Darth AggieSorry to be confusing. It's Chemerinsky who's a big lefty.
The guy who said this was on the right.
Amy Alkon
at December 8, 2014 7:07 AM
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