Respect The Office

Some time ago I had an acquaintance who worked in the Secret Service.  It was during an election year and naturally tensions were high as Republicans and Democrats battled it out to see who would get the seat in our nation’s highest office.  As things moved along, angry, disrespectful, ridiculing, and downright hateful comments got tossed out much as continues today.    I asked him a question, and his answer continues to speak to me, and humble me.

I said to him, “How do you manage the job when the president is someone for whom you have no respect or may even find a reprehensible human being?”

His response, “You have to remember, you don’t protect the man, you protect the office.”

What a wake up call.   When we look at the president and how we discuss the president’s life, actions, personality, and so forth, we need to remember that we’re not just demeaning or supporting a person, but an office that is bigger than just one lone individual.   The way we treat the office speaks to the world of how unified we are as a nation, how much we respect this democratic way of life we claim to hold so dear, and how we feel about the processes and decision making vehicles that we’ve tried to force on other nations or bandy about as a reason for American superiority.

He went on to defend candidates up for election who are ridiculed for their errors or places where they might fumble over a question or two.   Since I can’t remember his exact words, I’m going to write the sentiment that he expressed.

“You have no idea the pressure these people are under.  You have no idea how much information is being fed to them by a dozen different voices all at once, and they have to process it and then communicate articulately.   You have no idea how it weighs on them personally, and their families.    Most of the people that are being degraded, agree with them or not, are actually nice people in impossible situations.”

Here’s my concern given the above.  Our country has gone far beyond disagreeing with our president.  Our president has become the object of hate and derision.  People have gone to the extremes and I truly believe it doesn’t matter what he does.  Those that love Obama will defend him, right or wrong, to the end.   Those that hate Obama will run him into the ground and nothing he says or does will ever be good enough.

We have lost all respect for the office of the presidency.   The president is no longer revered as a person in a tough job making tough choices and sometimes succeeding and others failing.   The president is now merely the focal point for our personal opinions, prejudices, dreams, and nightmares.   He is idolized or demonized and truth has little bearing on which one people consider him.

Statistics are played with like a child’s toys to support whatever view one wants to hold.  Like children we illuminate only the facts that make our point look good and conveniently leave out any information that may temper that impression away from our end game.  It is nearly impossible to trust any of the general fact charts and tables proliferated on social media, online, or anywhere for that matter because there is no telling just how far the agenda of the one creating the charts and tables has influenced the presentation.

A gentleman in Bible study the other night brought up in real frustration how many emails he gets from people, and in this case Christians, that are spreading outright lies about the president.   Not intelligently expressing concern about legitimate policy or other issues.  Simply defaming the character of the president with proven falsehoods.   Here’s a simple one.   “Obama isn’t even a US citizen” is still circulating.   Even after it’s been proven false long ago, it still circulates.   Another in the room even chimed in, “it doesn’t matter to people.  My son, because of his job, literally held the certificate in his hands that proved Obama’s citizenship.  People don’t care if they want to hate someone.  Nothing changes their minds.”

Unfortunately, given the state of things she’s right.

I’m not arrogant enough to tell anyone whether to like or dislike someone else.   I’m not arrogant enough to say how much of what Obama has done you should celebrate or grieve over.    That’s not my job.  As a pastor, however, my job is to strive to temper hate and willful deception.   So I invite you to consider the following(and I’ll speak to the majority of the country with obvious government exceptions).

None of us have the first clue what the president, any president, has to deal with day to day.   How many phone calls they field, how many meetings they are called into regarding national issues affecting every citizen in the nation.   We have no idea how much or what information is being presented to the president given any circumstance or issue.  We have no idea how the president is being advised or why the advisors are advising as they do.   We have no clue how many late night emergencies the president has to field.   We have no idea what kind of strain is being put on the president’s spouse and children.  We haven’t the first clue what it’s like to be attacked from all angles and at the same time having to make major decisions for the benefit of the millions baying for your blood.

We understand less than nothing.

We look at the president as the source of all things gone right or wrong.    What about the congress?   How much does the congress bulldoze or hamstring the president?   How much does congress do for no reason other than their undying support of their own or hatred of the other party?   How much are the choices the president makes informed by the fullness of information as opposed to missed details, or in some cases intentionally disregarded details?

It’s a lot easier to hammer a single face than to go after hundreds in congress and administration.   It’s a lot easier to hammer a single person than question the motives and integrity of our own party.

Again, we know less than nothing.

We know precisely what the government and media allow us to.   This doesn’t amount to much.   In recent memory it’s not been this way only under Obama.  It’s multiple presidents long that we’ve suffered through a lack of information, intentional misinformation, and media opinion passed off as fact.   We know the outcome and fallout of decisions made, and we may love or hate it.  But it’s doubtful we have the first inclination of just how many people along the way should get credit or blame for the results.

What this amounts to is that every one of us, no matter who is in office, need to dole out judgment on whichever man or woman is brave enough to tackle that position with a great dose of humility.   Our assumption of “knowing” is arrogant.   I heard people say “Obama is the most racist person I know”.   We don’t “know” Obama.  We’ve seen him on television and heard him speak.   We know what the media has told us about him.   We. Don’t.  Know.  HIM.   None of us have spent enough honest time with the man to make any judgments about his deepest feelings and thoughts.  And again, this applies to every president past, present, and future.

You and I will never “know” any president.   We will know what we see on the news or read in the paper.   We will hear the opinions of the talking heads and have to decide whom to believe.  We will guess, assume, infer, and deduce, but we will not for certain “know”.

Here is my suggestion.   We need to make judgments about whether or not we agree or disagree with a president’s comments and actions or inactions.   We need to make judgments about whether or not we trust the president.  We need to make judgments about whether or not a president’s record is sufficiently solid to merit re-election.  When there is no incumbent we need to do our homework as best we can, listen to our options, and vote for whomever we believe to be best suited to the role. All of this is necessary to be striving to be an informed citizen and responsible voter.

When a president gets in office, we do well to remember that the individual is voted in by the people.  If it’s not your candidate, that’s they way our system works.   Sour grapes are for children.   If it is your candidate, whatever happens you are partially culpable for having put the individual in office.   This is something that weighs heavily on me every time I head into a voting booth.

You are free to disagree, and even criticize decisions felt to be inappropriate or poorly made.

I would argue that, as a person of decency, and if you happen to be a Christian or a person of faith, there are things that we are not free to do. We are not free to hate.   We are not free to lie or encourage deception.  We are not free to defame the character of someone we don’t know, and can scarcely relate to.   We must always let reason, grace, and humility win out.   In fact, I would argue the only way our disagreements and frustrations have any merit when expressed is if they are rooted solely in fact and truth, considering the good of the people, and devoid of venom, hate, prejudice, and dishonesty.

As Obama prepares to exit the office, and someone else is preparing to enter, I encourage each of us to remember that the office is occupied by a person.  A real person with inherent dignity and worth.   This person is fallible, and reliant on other people who are also fallible.   Consider this in the course of disagreement.

The hate that is being thrown at the office of the president is setting a troubling precedent.   It is a precedent of division and emotionally fueled response.   This is the enemy of unity and responding with reason, intelligence, and thoughtful consideration to discern the best course of action.  We are so concerned with our enemies doing us in, but they aren’t the main problem. We are.    This precedent, should it continue, will destroy us from within.

Those who have fought and bled and died for our freedom and way of life deserve better than this.

Feel free to dislike or disagree with the president, whomever that may be during your lifetime.   But please remember, respect the office.