I would agree with you that Mr. Bush 43 did a wonderful job of showing his respect for our people who put themselves on the line for the rest of us. I would also agree with you that our current President is lacking in this area.
I would seriously disagree that:
It is the rights and freedoms that we as American enjoy that make this country great (why do so many people not understand this?). That we have people who are willing to step up to defend those rights and freedoms for the rest of us, without in turn trying to usurp those rights and freedoms, IS the wonderful extension of why this country should be a shining light to the rest of the world.
The author's assertion that the greatness of this country is "best exposed" by photo ops is disrespectful to those in uniform, anyone with two functioning brain cells and the founding fathers who risked everything to create this country. If you were able to go back and talk to the founding fathers and soldiers who gave their life in defense of this country, do you really think they would agree that the President's connection to the troops is the connection that best exposes the greatness of the United States of America??
Is that what they fought and died for? A photo op in the 21st century? (Since your author offers no other rationale or definition of how he judged a President's connection to the troops to be "awful beyond repair, marvelous or a mixture" other than a few pics of Mr. Bush 43, then one must assume those photo ops are all he used as the basis of his opinion.)
Excellent post. This, as I see it, is the issue; we're OK with one President expending the lives of our troops if we feel he properly appreciates them while, at the same time, another President who is, clearly, trying to avoid expending more lives is reviled because it is felt he doesn't properly appreciate them. One President can double the deficit based on how we THINK he feels. Another can NOT double the deficit in the same fashion, spending on the same things, based on how we THINK he FEELS.
This is the problem. We do not base our political opinions and, more importantly, our VOTES on actions and behaviors. We base them on how we THINK other people FEEL.
The real disrespect here, in my view, is in taking folks who, as you so eloquently put it
...people who are willing to step up to defend those rights and freedoms for the rest of us, without in turn trying to usurp those rights and freedoms...
and wasting their lives by arguing that they were used to defend our rights and freedoms while, back at home, our leaders who claimed to be sending them off to do just that, then went about the business of reducing those very things. It is ironic and awful.
"Here. I love you and think you're great. Go off to fight for our rights and freedoms while we reduce them..." THAT, to me, is far worse than a President who doesn't like soldiers or the military.
