Some liberals say Presidents must earn their respect before they respect them. How then...?

Question

will they ever respect the office of any President who does not 100% go along with EVERYTHING they believe in, if they do not respect any President from the get go, and only after he has "earned" their respect. Isn't this selfish, that one will disrespect a President until he conforms with every single thing their agenda holds to?

NOTE: I said some liberals, I did not make a generalization about all of you

How can he earn your respect then if you expect him to believe exactly as you are?

Answer 1

I think every President should start out being respected, because they've attained the office of President, and the office itself commands a certain level of respect.

Their respect level should go up or down from that baseline depending on their actions after that. This is generic to all presidents and it shouldn't matter if it's a liberal or conservative.

Let's say I ran across Bill Clinton in a store or restaurant. I still think he was a bum and definitely shady, but I would still treat him with great respect, addressing him as Mr. President or Sir, because he was in fact our president for 8 years.

Answer 2

I think we should be voting into office those we respect and if the question arises as to whether we respect a president, we failed to elect a respectable person to that office and have the best government money can buy because we listened to the propaganda rather than looking at how respectable the person has been in previous dealings with the voting public. If we rightfully respect the person rather than the office we will know that there will be times when we don't agree with him, or her, and there will be other times when we do and others are the ones who don't agree.
If we do get to the point where a president no longer has the respect of the nation, the position bush seems to be in now, It is time to impeach that president and put someone into the office we can respect for who they are and not for any title they may or may not hold, someone we can respect for their wisdom and leadership they show whether we agree with those decisions or not.

Answer 3

Hum...

I seem to recall the Republican congressional members refusing to attend and those that did, refused to stand during one of Clinton's State of the Union addresses. Btw, that was the year BEFORE his impeachment. Just can't remember the exact date.

If you want 'liberals', which can be Republican or Democrat btw, to respect the president from day one, then maybe lead by example?... just a thought.

Seriously though, I think the problem with hearing that stems out of how Bush was elected in 2000. I really don't know of anyone that doesn't automatically give respect to a president.

Bottom line is that his 2000 election created an enormous amount of animosity. Think about this: wouldn't we be hearing that same thing from Republicans if Gore had won by a 5-4 Supreme Court vote and not by counting the ballots?

See?

Answer 4

Alex - Geeeeeez....Can you comprehend that the "office of the presidency" (an institution) and the "president" (a person) are 2 different entities?

Are you really so dim that you can't differentiate between the two ?

And that you can respect one and not the other. 99.9% of Americans, I'm sure, respect the institution/office. But that doesn't mean they have to respect the person in that office. Just read Bush's approval ratings to understand this.

Why do you keep embarrassing conservatives with your inane questions that show your complete inability to grasp even the most basic empirical concepts? I half think you are a liberal "plant" posting just to mock the conservative side. I hope not.

Either way, I'm just glad you speak out for their side.

Always a pleasure to school you. I should start sending you bills for all the tutoring services I'm providing you with!

Answer 5

Well,the same aspect here with Liberals and Bush is siomilar to that with Conservatives and Clinton.People are going to use what they like or dislike about a president personally to justify,not change,their nature.

The way Iraq has played out has created a big dissapointment for some conservatives as well as liberals who say "see I told you so" in the face of the pro-Bush,pro-Iraq argument. Bush was so strident and confident in 2003 and 2004,and his victory over John Kerry only reinforced the stereotype that liberals are essentially bad on patriotism and defense.Now that the tables seemed to have turned,and the worsening insurgency in Iraq,
the Liberals frustration has come to match the level of conservative confidence.

It is sometimes difficult for people to articulate their contempt for what is happening in Iraq in the face of Bush's consistent confidence,and this is where the political argument slides right into namecalling real quick.

Answer 6

I believe it probably applies to SOME conservatives as well. So you could have worded it "Some people," unless of course you wanted to garner a specific reaction.

I had a problem with GWB's predecessor and what he did to the office. I have more problems with GWB. The position he's placed us in globally is far more egregious, in my opinion.

I think GWB said the right things after 9/11, but he didn't hold on to the promise. I respect competence, intelligence and mental agility. I don't think GWB possesses these qualities in sufficient quantity to be our president.

Answer 7

I am of that point of view. Earn the respect - it should not just be given to somebody.

I am amazed at how many people make/made excuses for George Bush, just because "he is the president and we must respect him."

That is ridiculous!

Earn your respect. And nobody can please everybody - it's a given. I dislike Bush immensely but if there would have been some things that I felt he did "well" I would be able to respect that - despite not agreeing with the majority of his antics.

Unfortunately. There was nothing to be respected.

Answer 8

Well, it depends on what they consider "earning" respect. That might mean that they agree with 100% of what they do. That might mean 50%. Or it might be as simple as feeling like the president is being honest with them. I personally don't respect the president, but not because I don't agree with his policy.

Answer 9

I say they need to have respect before they get to office not just try to earn respect after the fact isn't that putting the cart before the horse.

Answer 10

Another straw man argument.

Bush was given a modicum of respect when he entered office, but he quickly sqandered it and proved himself unworthy of it. Having done that, he NOW needs to earn that respect back.

The racial smearing of McCain in the primaries, the smear machine used against Gore (including the pushing of the misquote about the Internet to try and brand Gore as a serial liar) in the campaign, the use of a bat-crap crazy politcal hack (Katherine Harris) to first disenfrachise legal voters, then the use of the Supreme Court to appoint him over the legitimate authority of the State of Florida courts (states are in charge of their elections)... all of these greatly diminished his pool of "respect" going in.

Still he was given a chance, and given even greater latitude after 9/11, and he's been a disaster.

How much respect should he continue to be given, when one looks at his presidential record matching his previous life record of abject failure at every task he's been responsible for?