When Did Disrespecting A President Become Racist? Oh, Only After Obama Got Elected!

On Friday, when a Daily Caller reporter interrupted an Obama speech with regard to changes to immigration, the left became outraged that their president would be so rudely treated.  On MSNBC that evening, Democrat strategist, Julian Epstein,  noted: "This is just so unprecedented and outrageous....We've never had a white president been told by the opposing party to shut up in the middle of a major address to the Congress. We've never had a President like this heckled so disrespectfully."

Then, too, on CNN,  Congressional Representative Elijah Cummings made this comment to Martin Bashir with regard to the Caller/Obama incident: "There has been a disrespect not only for the President but for the office of the president and that is very, very alarming…Our country is better than that. And I think a lot of the same thing is happening with our attorney general. These are two men who are doing an outstanding job but there are folks who just don’t like it. And they’ve never treated other folks like this, but here they are doing it to these gentlemen."  In further questioning, Cummings went on to agree with Bashir that the disrespect is, at least, partly racially motivated.

Ever since President Obama has taken office, any negativity towards him has been defined as both "unprecedented" and obviously "racist".  But, apparently, the left has all but forgotten the treatment of George W. Bush.  For example, while giving the 2005 State Of The Union Address, several Democrats of Congress booed and hissed at Bush during his speech.  Ted Koppel of ABC noted: "When the President talked about the bankruptcy of Social Security, there were clearly some Democrats on the floor who thought that that was taking it too far. And they did something that, apparently, no one at this table has ever heard before. They booed."  John Roberts, a then CBS reporter, made this comment: "At a couple points in this address, it looked more like the British Parliament than the United States Congress. I've never heard the minority party shout at the President during the State of the Union address."

Of course, the most disrespect that had ever been literally hurled at a U.S. President came when George Bush had a shoe thrown at him by an Iraqi reporter during a joint news conference:



Over the eight years that Bush was president, the left constantly disrespected him.   He had swastika's painted onto his portraits.  He was burned in effigy.  The internet comments were absolutely beyond just being hateful. Politicians called him a racist for not acting quickly during the New Orleans hurricane/flooding disaster.  And, in interview after interview, Democrat politicians constantly took aim at everything that Bush did.  If anything, the fears that someone might be called a racist has probably kept Obama from getting as much or more criticism than his predecessor had ever gotten.  Also, I think Democrats would be wise to remember: "What goes around, comes around."  And, it was their treatment of Bush that has for evermore changed the respect for whoever is President.  Race has nothing to do with it!