General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Presidents should be questioned and confronted, not idolized [View all]Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Note that I'm saying it's not necessary to insult anyone.
The anger of some on the left at Obama for what they perceive as the failings of the ACA? It's not comparable to anger from the right; Republicans? They're angry because they think the ACA goes too far and represents an unreasonable extension of Federal power and government intrusion into healthcare. The left? The anger comes from feeling like things didn't go far enough. There are some people who have found themselves affected by changes in insurance coverage in potentially negative ways. Their anger and frustration is understandable. All this handwaving over how terrible it is to insult the president completely loses sight of the context involved (NB that the insult in question was "piece of shit used car salesman", and it was specifically in reference to the Affordable Care Act and how it was sold; it's somewhat disingenuous to reference it with "crude name" as though it were some other and more explicitly personal and completely gratuitous insult). Was the anger in that instance justified, or not? Is it representative of something that is in fact a broader issue? If so, should we perhaps be talking about that instead, and what might be done to fix the existing law?
And I'm not entirely sure there is a politician we all hold in high esteem. Speaking personally? If someone insulted a politician I respect? I'd probably ignore it, or laugh at it; I'd certainly not get my knickers in a twist to the degree that a lot of people seem to.