Are people just less willing to "talk smack" to the President?

[Nyquil Man]

I vaguely remember a Golden Girls episode years ago where Bea Arthur's character was going to meet Bush 41. She went on and on about all the tough questions she was going to ask him but, when the moment came, all she could do was hem and haw.

That's just a TV show, of course, but I wonder if there isn't a lot of truth to the idea that the Presidency - not necessarily the person occupying the office, but the trappings of that office - is so awe-inspiring to a large number of Americans that they simply aren't willing to show disrespect to the office.

Mind you, that wouldn't account for people who think Obama is a usurper. But that crowd is such a minority that they probably serve to prove the rule.

Attacking a senator of representative doesn't seem to have the same kind of drawback. A large number of Americans simply don't trust Congress. besides, senators and representatives are local folk and, to some extent, we feel like we "own" them.

Just throwing that out there. Feel free to chew it up and spit it back out.

[liberal N proud]

1. They are afraid of the black man

Afraid of Obamas death panels.

Really, who knows.

[Nyquil Man]

2. Maybe they think he's collecting their e-mails. n/t

[quantass]

6. Repubs know about email now?

[Nyquil Man]

7. For them, "e-mail" is a catch-all term for the Internet.

ex. "I read it on the e-mail. It must be true."

[eleny]

3. People might not want to be remembered for acting stupid

A good thing since it would be forever.

[Cha]

8. And yet, this one man who got

up to ask the Pres a question said, he was "a proud memeber of the NRA"..which wasn't stupid but the next thing out of his mouth was..he gets his news from cable because all the other was suspect(paraphrasing)..

Obama told him to watch out for cable news(while laughing a bit and then moving forward)! You know what that's going to percipitate!

[eleny]

11. Yeah, I saw that

If O isn't worried, neither am I. ;)

The good thing is that the guy looked pretty nervous. He did get his "bullcrap" word out, though. So he can walk tall down at The Lodge tonight. They might even elevate his rank and teach him the super-duper secret handshake & pecker jiggle.
:rofl:

[Cha]

13. I didn't hear "bullcrap"..it

was kind of muffled.

Ironic, since the cable sn00ze he's touting is BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT.


Always good to hear from the brainwashed..What!

[eleny]

14. Maybe it was "bull"

Wishful thinking on my part? :blush:

[cliffordu]

16. HEY!!!

How did you know about the Super Secret single finger pecker jiggle????

:rofl:

[eleny]

17. .

uh oh.

[Political Heretic]

4. I think that's likely, also there's tighter security and less tolerance for bull crap.

[maxsolomon]

5. simply put, yes.

frankly, most senators are craven, self-serving weasels and don't deserve respect.

[cleveramerican]

9. Brave men shrink when faced with an actual president

its pretty damn hard to not be deferential to a sitting president, no matter who you are.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

10. I think that's part of it. I think the other part of it is that the mob is broken up by the limited

number of tickets available when so many people want them.

My cousin acts like a real asshole when he goes to the movies in a crowd of his friends. But he is quite nice when he goes with just me.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Only directly to his face, apparently

judging from the media content out there.
:eyes:

[Dawgs]

15. Obama approval is 60%, Congress approval is 20%

Might have something to do with it. :shrug:

[Clio the Leo]

18. Chuck Todd always quivers a bit......

.... when he asks the President a question, ever notice that? He's not his normal snarky self that we see in the briefing room every day.

[boomerbust]

19. They talk a big game

But come on, Obama is such a class act how can they actually stay angry at him.