Where is it written that the president of the United States should be everyone’s “daddy”?

[kpete]

To the Editor:

Re “Once More, With Feeling,” by Maureen Dowd (column, May 30):

Where is it written that the president of the United States should be everyone’s “daddy”?

We elected a president, and this one, for a change, is bright, articulate and coolheaded, and appears to work very hard to understand the troubling problems confronting the United States and most of the world.

This country’s leaders and its people are not participants in a TV reality show or Facebook “friends.” There are many serious issues to be addressed and we do not need a weepy, angry, emotional president “feeling” his way to solutions. It is a dearth of critical thinking, contingency planning and discipline that has brought us to our present sorry state.

Barbara Hood
Louisville, Ky., May 31, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/opinion/l03oil.html?ref=opinion

[TwilightGardener]

1. Yep, yep.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Couldn't agree more.

[Captain Hilts]

3. FDR did it. Eisenhower did it. Reagan did it too. D'ffrent strokes for different folks. nt

[Angry Dragon]

4. Gee....that is all well and good

BUT,....the perception is nothing is being done

Reporters are being chased away, the American people perceive no one is in charge, facts are being hidden.

The American people were promised a transparent government and all we are getting is things happening behind a closed curtain.

[Mari333]

5. yep

maureen has a daddy complex herself, it seems.
the president is a public servant. if he or she is a public servant, they work for the people, and are paid for by the people. if they dont do their jobs, they are going to be criticized. and as for that daddy crap?

I see public officials more like spoiled children who need discipline.

[emulatorloo]

8. Try reading a Maureen Dowd column sometime, you will get the OP's frustration

Dowd did a lot to torpedo Gore's campaign by manufacturing similar falsehoods about his character.

As to the "perception" that nothing is being done, facts don't support that. I think we are better off getting the facts out than in perpetuating the "perception"

[Angry Dragon]

13. My mind may not be working this morning

I am having trouble understanding what you are trying to say in your last sentence......sorry

[emulatorloo]

14. No problem, I need another coffee myself.

I think the "perception" that "nothing is being done" is not based on fact. Obama enumerated yesteday what has been going on. It isn't "nothing" by any stretch of the imagination.
I understand that perception is very important in politics.

We see lots of people pushing this "perception" that nothing is being done -- Michelle Bachmann, Heck of A Job Brownie are two names that come to mind. And now apparently Maureen Dowd. These are the same types who have been claiming Obama is a "Failure" since day one.

I think rather than promoting this false perception, it would be better to maybe try to get the facts out.

Sorry I still need coffee, this isn't very well written either..

[kpete]

16. trying to get the facts out

and then trying to distill the truth, or some truths,
peace, kp

[Angry Dragon]

18. Coffee....is the only vice I do not have

When it comes to believing what palin, gov. of miss, bachmann, rush, beck and the host of vemon spewing hate people, I use them for entertainment and look to others for facts. One only has to listen to them one day and the next they are saying something else.

When I hear reports and stories of reporters, people on the scene, being denied access, I get worried that we are not getting the real story. I hear nothing about this being addressed. Unless I go down there myself and tell what I see I have to rely on the fourth estate to gather the information.

I read reports about shell games going on. Bp denying access to workers, pictures not being allowed to be taken, beaches being cleaned for photo ops while other places are being destroyed. Who is one to believe?? bp?? The government?? Reporters?? The people living through this disaster??

My perception will change when I hear stories that reporters are allowed to go where they want to investigate. Unless this is done then we will never know the whole story and bp will not be held accountable for the full amount of this disaster that they have brought upon the Gulf of Mexico and the American people.

[emulatorloo]

19. The latest research claims coffee is good for you.

Well it tastes good.

Honestly I don't know what to think of the stories about reporters. I haven't followed them closely enough, at least one I saw seemed to be based in misunderstanding. So I should really look into that further, I definitely get what you are saying about how dependent we are on the fourth estate to find out what's really going on.

(As an aside, the sad thing is I have come to really distrust 90% of cable news/network news reporting. They are way to invested in following a narrative than actually digging in and researching and reporting. Some print reporters seem good.)

[Angry Dragon]

24. When I hear about limited access I tend to believe it.

The smaller news reporters may be the ones to watch. They are hungrier. Less of an agenda perhaps.

This country and world has become a place of lies, half truths, hidden agendas, that one only gets bits and pieces.

[Angry Dragon]

27. This just came up in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8479127

about talking to reporters

[emulatorloo]

28. Thanks for the link - will check it out! n/t

[laughingliberal]

9. +1 nt

[blueworld]

6. Why is leadership in a national emergency considered parenthood?

It's an absurd comparison, IMHO. Perhaps because I grew up during the era pre-reality TV.

[emulatorloo]

10. It is Maureen Dowd. Remember what she did to Gore in 2000.

[ecstatic]

23. Are you saying he's not leading?

The general comment I'm hearing is... "I know Obama is leading, but he needs to emote!!!1"

[kctim]

7. Isn't written that the President is

but the people have been intentionally conditioned that way.

[meegbear]

11. If * was my daddy, I would've run away from home

[emulatorloo]

15. More likely you would drink and party a lot with your sisters

to kill the pain.

Although I guess they've turned themselves around.

[nichomachus]

12. It's actually inherent in our system

In most countries, the head of state and the head of government are two different people -- in England, for example, they have the queen and the prime minister. Other countries have a president and a prime minister. The prime minister is the head of government, the politician who looks at crises and tries to achieve political solutions.

The head of state -- queen, king, president, whatever -- is the symbol of the state and is the "daddy" or "mommy," if you wish.

In the US we have conflated the two figures, which is why we end up with the confused mess we're in. Do we want a bright, articulate, cool-headad person who knows how to work the levers of power and make deals? Or, do we want someone avuncular and jolly (Reagan) or someone we "want to have a beer with? (Bush)" People like Mike Dukakis or Al Gore, who are perfect heads of government get pushed aside as being too wonkish or boring -- something that would never be used against a prime minister. You want the prime minister to be wonkish and to know the intricacies of government.

So, we end up wanting both sets of qualities in the same person, which leads to electoral disasters. Sarah Palin or George Bush would never have been elected - or have been allowed to run for -- head of government in any other developed country. However, they could have, by virtue of heredity, ended up as head of state. That would have been acceptable, although potentially embarrassing, because typically the head of state has no political power and can't really make anything happen.

Heads of state are also allowed to express religious feelings and god-bless anything and everything. You would rarely, if ever, hear a head of government invoking god in public speeches. So, the queen does the god bless thing and the prime minister just keeps religion out of it. In the US, the president feels as if he has to mention god about once every paragraph.

[seabeyond]

17. bush conditioned a lot fo people to believe.... something i battled with for the 8 yrs

telling repugs,.... i have a dad, way better than that dad, dont need another dad. do the job and get off the whole stupid dad thing.

[rocktivity]

20. Maybe its because we're still recovering from a presidency

headed by an overgrown child.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[walldude]

21. Sounds to me like Dowd is the one with "Daddy issues"

maybe she should look in the mirror before projecting her flaws onto everyone else.

[glitch]

25. Always has been that way with her. nt

[ecstatic]

22. Has anyone done a poll on this "emotion" meme? I know USNews did one last year

"Should President Obama Show More Emotion?"

Response: 33.33% yes; 66.67% no

Something tells me the dumb ass media along with pols looking to shift the blame are pushing this emotion meme even though it's not reflective of the way most Americans feel.

[rudy23]

26. I just want to see he's in charge & on "we the people's" side ---overemoting and being "Daddy" not

required. This is a False Choice meme. There are stances between "Daddy" and the calm, dispassionate, middle-ground seeking I've seen from the President.