President Obama: The Least Respected President in our Lifetime?

President Obama will go down as the least respected president in our lifetime.

President Barack Obama wanted to deliver his economic speech to the joint session of Congress next Wednesday. House Speaker John Boehner, told him no. He'll have to do it on the 8th. Boehner cited a scheduling conflict, but the real "conflict" appears to be the GOP presidential debate scheduled for the same date. The president has been forced to capitulate and will now have to compete with the opening night of the NFL season for viewers.

What may seem like a minor slight underscores the crux of the problem in Washington: A blatant, sustained and unabashed disrespect of the president of the United States of America.

And it is historic.

Never in our nation's history has a president been publicly denied access to the chamber for an address, according to the House historian.

This is just the latest in a string of eyebrow-raising and even historic slights..

And for those who want to say it's just partisan politics as usual, or just the kind of thing that goes with being an unpopular president, let's consider a few lowlights:

The "You lie!" shout from South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson during the president's speech on health care reform before the joint session of Congress in Sept. 2009

The recent posturing, walk-outs and tantrums thrown over the debt ceiling debate, which eventually led to our country's credit being downgraded.

Newt Gingrich referring to the president as "the food stamp president" and saying that Pres. Obama "knows how to get the whole country to resemble Detroit


Congressman Mitch McConnell's bold proclamation that he wants to be Senate Majority Leader to make sure that Obama is a one-term president.

Rush Limbaugh saying that he wants to see this president fail. (Note: Limbaugh has modified that statement to say he meant his "policies." But when it was said, it was less than a year into Obama's presidency and he was still cleaning up the mess from the previous president's policies, which Limbaugh had very little to say about during the Bush era).

Former Fox News host Glenn Beck declaring on the air that the president hates white people" and "the white culture."

Television personality Donald Trump's over-the-top taunting of the president, hyping unprecedented demands to see the president's birth certificate.

The shouts of "We want our country back!" by the Tea Party. (Where has it gone?)

And the frequent habit of not calling the president by his proper honorific: "President Obama", rather than just "Obama" -- by quite a few elected officials, pundits and others.

The question among some of us who love this country and want to see it succeed is what is all of this really all about? Because it just seems as if there is a pissing contest going on, but the only ones getting wet are the American people; many of whom are suffering through the worst economy of their lives.

Some may call this obstructionism. But I think there's something else going on here. And despite what many people are saying, there is also a 'Racial Undercurrent" to this as well, make no mistake about it, (so much for a post racial society). But if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck...

At the very least it's un-American. Because while all of this is going on, Americans are suffering.
This shouldn't be about President Obama. All 535 lawmakers who were sent to Washington to make a difference must ask themselves this question: is opposing everything this president does for the sake of opposition, or worse for a more insidious reason, helping this nation get back on her feet?

If the answer is no, then they need to knock it off. And if they're not going to do it, it's time for the silent majority to do it for them. Enough is enough!