Disrespect of Obama hits new low

[sheshe2]

Taken as a whole, this list suggests a troubling pattern of profound disrespect for the President. But more than this, it seems to reflect an anti-Obama fever that has gripped the Republican Party -- one that the letter to Iran suggests shows no signs of breaking, and is a sure sign of sickness in the Republican Party.

Is the lack of respect being shown toward President Obama about race, as some have suggested? Yes and no.

Certainly, for a segment of the country, it really is about being uncomfortable with a black president. Indeed, even former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican, noted what he described as a "dark vein" of intolerance in the party and parts of the country in general. But beyond that hopefully shrinking share of the population that is explicitly racist, there is a far wider issue of implicit racial bias -- an unconscious, yet nonetheless real tendency, to subject President Obama to extra scrutiny because of the color of his skin.

None of this is to suggest that all of the criticism aimed at President Obama stems from implicit racial bias. But such bias appears to be a factor in the ease and extremity of disrespect aimed at America's first black president. And this disrespect mirrors the disrespect shown against black Americans in general.

"Honorable people can disagree over policy," Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement Tuesday. Yes, and they should do so honorably. Whatever Republicans' gripes about President Obama's vision and leadership, the party and its followers are too often expressing their critiques in an ugly way. And that rampant pattern of disrespect -- for any fellow human being, let alone the president of the United States of America -- is what truly undermines the principles and values of our nation.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/11/opinions/kohn-direspect-president-obama/index.html

That rampant pattern of disrespect.. Yes indeed.