Who Let the Kids Out?

Earlier this week President Obama made two speeches which will likely be recalled for sometime with a bit of infamy attached to them. The first delivered on Tuesday (the first day back to school for many students) dealt with a theme of encouraging students to stay in school and study hard. The second was on his proposed health care reforms and an attempt to once again quell the rumors (many of which are false or simply misinterpretations of the truth) surrounding his proposed changes. Both live in infamy (for now) due to the fact that the education speech was turned into a 'brainwashing socialist speech' by some Conservative commentators and the health care speech will be remembered more for Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) who heckled the president during his speech to a joint session of Congress.

Now when I say 'heckled' I mean that Wilson literally shouted out during a pause in Obama's speech and stated, "You lie." Now both Democrats and Republicans are censuring Wilson for his remarks but it brings up an interesting dilemma. When President Bush was in Iraq and was 'attacked by shoes' by an Iraqi reporter, the attack may have been directed towards Bush specifically, but it became an attack on the office as well because Bush was President at the time. In this case, the attack is being made by a member of our own government. Now I don't mean to imply that every Congressional leader should be a 'yes-man' to the President but I do believe that a certain level of decorum and respect should be given to the man.

Republicans are quick to point out that many Democrats made similar accusations or statements against Bush during his terms in office though I would argue that there is a difference. Many of the instances where Bush was mildly heckled came about after evidence had come to the forefront that the basis for invading Iraq were simply not true and that it was based on faulty (false) intelligence. In the case of Obama, he hasn't even passed anything and the only thing that many Republicans (and their supporters) are clinging to are accusations made by pundits in the media.

But I don't need to argue whether Bush deserved being called a liar nor am I saying the Obama didn't deserve to be called a liar either; what I would argue though is that our Congressional leaders are setting a terrible precedence for the rest of us. Many of us (quite falsely I'm beginning to think) feel that our leaders in Congress would be people of slightly more maturity and better manners. Unfortunately it seems more and more that the maturity level in our pre-schools may be higher than the maturity level of these Congressional leaders. One thing I've long prided myself on is the fact that our Congress rarely erupts into the fisticuffs or fighting that seems to define politics in many other countries but it seems like those days aren't that far off if things continue the way they have.

I don't think it's wrong to make accusations against the President but it needs to be done in a way that doesn't smack of childishness. I mean these days it seems to me that a lot of the scorn that is being directed at the Presidency stems not from his ability (or lack thereof) to lead and inspire but more because of his race. If you don't believe me then where were gun-totting protestors outside of Crawford Ranch with Cindy Sheehan? Where were pastors praying for Bush's death being broadcast around the country? Where were the Congress leaders jumping on television accusing Bush of leading tyrannical decisions meant to harm our country more than help it? Nowhere. I didn't see it any place. Maybe if Congress took a more mature means of spreading their message of dissent, I'd be more inclined to agree. For now, I think it's just like a bunch of children trying their hand at running our government.