Wilson and beyond: An unbelievable lack of respect

I know Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) has apologized.

Nonetheless, I will insist on piling on.
 
On the eve of the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, I am profoundly disturbed by what the last week has shown about the state of our country and the state of the presidency. From the attacks on President Barack Obama's message to schoolchildren to Wilson's shouting at the president in the House chamber, the office has clearly been diminished, and I wonder if it will ever be held in the same regard again.

 
Where are we headed, with schoolchildren being taught such hysteria and divisiveness at the prospect of the president of the United States giving a “work hard” message to students? Where are we headed when a four-term member of Congress, with a son who has served in Iraq, not only feels it appropriate to shout at the president while he addresses a joint session of Congress, but to accuse him of lying?
 
I agree with Laura Bush and Newt Gingrich and everyone else who stood up for the presidency last week; I only wish I could have heard a message from President Ronald Reagan or President George H.W. Bush in my school days.
 
House Republicans aren't going to be convinced to respect President Obama — how many of them saw fit to type and Tweet away during his speech? And too many Democrats showed time and again they didn't respect President Bush these last eights years, booing at him in the chamber, too.
 
But no matter which party wins the White House, members of Congress — of all people — should respect the office of the presidency and the decorum fit for the U.S. House of Representatives. It is the people's House, not a frat house. And members of Congress should respect themselves and the House enough to behave themselves when they are elected to serve there.
 

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