Respect the Office of the President

Even if you don’t respect the man or the woman in the office.

By

Wm. Dwight McKissic, Sr.

A request to President Johnny Hunt and Dr. Richard Land of the SBC to ask Laura Ingraham for an apology or to boycott her sponsors if she refuses.

While listening to talk radio on Monday evening, September 28, 2009, I heard conservative commentator, Laura Ingraham refer to President Barrack Obama as “YOU FOOL”. Shock, disbelief and utter amazement are the only words I know to describe my emotions upon hearing those words.  Later, I asked one of my research assistants to listen to the archived recording of Ingraham’s show to determine if I had  heard correctly, and I did. Referring to President Obama’s visit to the Olympic committee, Ingraham stated: “He doesn’t have time to speak to his General in Afghanistan, but he has time to fly to Copenhagen and push for Chicago. This is an exercise in egotism, pure egotism period…..The news over the weekend is that Colin Powell is being consulted as President Obama rethinks his Afghanistan strategy…By the way the president is getting personal on his outreach on this issue.  Why doesn’t he just call all the Generals? Why doesn’t he just talk to his own General? [General McChrystal in Afghanistan] He is going to old generals like Colin Powel.  Talk to the one who is actually in Afghanistan you fool.”

Referring to the President of the United States as “You fool” brings to memory the Joe Wilson  bellicose statement, “You lie”.  At the very least these actions violate the biblical and conservative principle of respect for authority, set a poor example for the people who listen to them -including children- and for some, raises the question of racism.

President Barack Obama, and his wife Michelle, have been called by Tammy Bruce, a guest host on Laura Ingraham’s show as, “trash in the White House”. Rusty Depass, a South Carolina Republican activist referred to an escaped gorilla as, “just one of Michelle’s ancestors”.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  It is time for the church of the living God to take a stand.  In as much as Laura Ingraham called the president a fool publicly, I’m going to ask her to apologize to him and all her listeners who were offended publicly.  Morever, I’m asking that the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Dr. Johnny Hunt and the president of the Christian Life Commission, Dr. Richard Land, join me in repudiating  Ingraham’s and Joe Wilson’s remarks on the grounds of being disrespectful to the office of the President of the United States.

I am not accusing Ingraham or Wilson of being a racist-but clearly disrespectful.  However, we must acknowledge that many Americans of all colors and political persuasions believe that these actions have a racist underpinning.  Therefore, I am asking the Southern Baptist convention to address this issue.

As a fellow Southern Baptist, I need your help.  I alone cannot influence the culture to refrain from disrespecting the President.  But, if my Baptist brethren would sound the alarm it would go a long way toward furthering the biblical command to “honor the king” (I Peter 2:17). This is another opportunity to put teeth in the ’95 apology.

The Southern Baptist Convention sat on the sidelines during the civil rights movement and watched hoses sprayed on Black people, dogs barking and biting Black people buoyed on by Bull Connors bullhorn, and bombs blowing up Black churches, while Black girls sat in Sunday school, reading the Bible. Please, don’t sit by and allow this president to suffer these kind of indignities and disrespect while the church sits idly by.  Please do not repeat the sins of your fathers.  Step forward and boldly denounce and condemn this disrespectful, unbiblical and possibly racially insensitive rhetoric for the kingdom of heaven sake and the Great Commission sake.

Lest I be misunderstood, my appeal is not that that persons restrain from speaking the truth as they see it, but to not dishonor and disrespect the office of the President as they critique him.

Finally, if Laura Ingraham refuses to apologize for calling the president a “fool” I’m requesting that the SBC call for a boycott of her sponsors, just as  the SBC called for  called for a boycott of Disney World for supporting behavior that violates scripture.

As the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish as fools”.

Conservative columnist, Mark Davis, who often host the Rush Limbaugh show acknowledges that, “among Obama’s detractors are some folks who just don’t like black people.”  Therefore, the convention needs to raise a prophetic voice and speak to the fringe element of the Obama opposition that is rooted in race.  Surely “ you lie”, “you fool” and “gorilla” ought to move you to action as did the gay friendly polices at Disney World and rightfully so.