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Afterwards, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, “I swear before the LORD: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed. [I will never] lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.” With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way. After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed to the ground in homage.
?1 Samuel 24:5-8
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and harassed him, chanting, “Go up, baldy! Go up, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths.
?2 Kings 2:23-24
Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck?” And those standing nearby said, “Do you dare revile God’s high priest?”
“I did not know, brothers,” Paul said, “that it was the high priest. For it is written, ‘You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'”
?Acts 23:3-5
There it is. The repeated and clear teaching of Scripture is that we should respect our leaders in word and deed. This holds true whether or not we voted for the winner, if he is false and murderous (Saul), or even in violation of the law (Ananias the high priest). It is true if the leader is funny looking or if he is awkward in his public speaking. It is merely true.
I’ve heard brethren and neighbors of all political perspectives violate this principle of respect with little thought. I’ve done it myself. It is easy, maybe amusing, certainly politically correct, the current version of political dialogue. An example comes from Internet forwards. I get a weekly message from snopes.com that highlights the rumors and urban legends of the week. Rumors about the president and president-elect have each required a section of their own. The favorite rumor about Mr. Bush is that he is a moron?literally having substandard intelligence. A persistent rumor about Barack Obama is that he is a Moslem. Both are false and require almost no effort to refute but they travel the world on the wings of electrons, fueling the particular biases of the recipients.
I remember the easy and coarse jokes about Bill Clinton’s wife, and a few about various cabinet members of that administration. Conservatives did that, sometimes from a pulpit. Did anyone imagine that God would bless it?
The shoe is on the other foot as the Bush administration winds down. I’ve been shocked at the fury a liberal victory has unleashed on a man who will never again hold elective office. Charges of stupidity, incompetence, carelessness, and malice season the conventional wisdom of blogs, newspapers, magazines, and talk shows. A recent column condemns him for decisions he’s not yet made and compares him with Richard Nixon for dishonesty and corruption. Joe Klein of Time magazine can only think of three or four virtues of any kind that Mr. Bush exhibited over the past eight years, concluding that America has less than “one president at a time” so long as George Bush occupies the Oval Office. Mr. Bush is not up to the challenge of even a lame duck, six-week presidency because of his “stupefying ineptitude.”
Really? This kind of smackdown seems way beyond principled disagreement. Or is it even possible for someone to sincerely and rationally disagree with another person without being literally stupid? The George Bush that some liberal spokesmen rail about is not qualified to drive a car or maybe even to be left by himself. The Barack Obama some conservatives describe should be exiled or imprisoned. There seems to be no place between off and 11 on some people’s volume knobs.
Those of us (and that’s most of us in Texas) who didn’t vote for Mr. Obama need to fear God enough to keep civil tongues in our heads. And if you don’t fear God, watch for she-bears. As of Jan. 20, Mr. Obama will become Mr. President Obama. In the meantime, he has been legally elected to become the 44th president of the United States. That’s big stuff and a place of honor. All of us have a stake in the success and well-being of our president. A sane and reasonable, democratically mandated, transition every four to eight years is an amazing thing in the history of the world.
For us to disrespect the man is to disrespect the office and the process that maintains it. We’d be crazy to do that. I hope by this time next year, I’ll be able to specifically give thanks for things with which President Obama has blessed us. If I struggle with those specifics, hold me accountable for any hateful slander.
For now, we have a president. He’s a whole president whose legacy will be larger and better than a casualty count or sto
