Just when you thought that the level of mean-spirited arrogance directed toward President Obama could not get any more disgraceful, a new example comes along to add to a long list of blatant slights and disrespectful behavior. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s body was barely cold before a civil war of words began to make the rounds throughout Washington and the nation at large.
Anyone who follows politics or is not brain dead has witnessed the verbal grenades that a number of Republican politicians have hurled toward President Obama. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell stated in no uncertain terms that the Senate would not even entertain the idea of considering voting for any Supreme Court nominee that President Obama would submit for confirmation.
Imagine that, telling the leader of the free world to basically “forget it” we are not going to consider, let alone confirm any Supreme Court nominee you put forth. Ridiculous and disgraceful! There are conservative operatives such as GOP presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz and others who have made largely unconvincing arguments by either inadvertently or purposely misinterpreting the Constitution in an effort to give credence to the position they have staked out in an effort to curry favor with their right wing constituencies. It is a sad commentary for sure.
Needless to say, there is a more fundamental reason for the level of blatant disrespect and obstruction that has confronted President Obama during his tenure as the nation’s first Black president—race, period. It’s that simple. From the minute he was sworn in as the nation’s 44th president, this president (and, in some cases, his wife) have been the victim(s) of unrelenting vitriol from a segment of the population that has become emotionally unhinged at the reality of a Black man and his family residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
There are those who will argue that all presidents, particularly recent presidents, have been subjected to varied forms of disrespectful behavior from political opposition to the public at large. While there is some kernel of truth to this, the fact is that, in the case of our current president, such disrespectful behavior has been taken to an entirely new level. It has been more searing, deep-seeded, acidic.
In some quarters, the president has been held in such ill regard that some journalists, political pundits, cultural critics and even fellow politicians have made it their duty to remind the public of such treatment. Well, I am doing the same. To refresh your memory here are examples of how our commander-in-chief has been treated with such contempt:
