Disrespect for nation’s president is un-American

“That’s what you can expect when people like Giuliani support police violence.” (Photo: Dan Drew)

Rudy Giuliani’s criticism of President Barack Obama was so beyond the pale that it failed to provoke thoughtful comment. However, one could perceive in Giuliani’s attitude an impending social danger for the nation.

Over the years, Giuliani has compiled a distinguished professional reputation. A lawyer, Giuliani became U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York where he became well known for successfully prosecuting cases against the mafia. He was later twice elected mayor of New York. His tough performance as leader of the city following the 9-11 terrorist attack generated considerable interest for him as a candidate for president in 2008. Now his attack on Obama has jeopardized Giuliani’s professional status.

In a democratic society, people expect political opponents to be openly critical of one another, but there are limits. While the president is the leader of his political party, personal attacks against the president are unacceptable out of deference to the dignity of the office. However, with Obama in the White House some citizens believe it is appropriate to ignore such historic courtesies.

Giuliani assumed he would have the support of political conservatives when he complained that he does not believe Obama “loves America.” In a bizarre reference to Obama’s family background, Giuliani continued, “He doesn’t love you. He doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up: to love this country.”

According to Linda Stasi of the New York Daily News, who grew up in Giuliani’s Italian American neighborhood, the former N.Y. mayor was unlikely to learn of love from his family. She stated that his father was a convicted felon who worked as an enforcer for an organized crime loan shark. In what way could such a background be more nurturing of love for country than Obama’s family?

During his tenure as the lord of Gracie Mansion from 1994 through 2001, New York experienced some of the most horrific cases of police violence against blacks. On Aug. 9, 1997, the police tortured Abner Louima. On Feb. 4, 1999, the police shot and killed Amadou Diallo, who was unarmed. They fired 41 shots as he tried to enter his apartment house. And only a year later on March 1, 2000 the police gunned down another unarmed black man, Malcolm Ferguson, who lived in the same neighborhood as Diallo.

Such incidents could induce in a political leader great sensitivity to the racial conflict in America, or they could generate a sense of apathy or even hostility among whites about the emerging role of blacks in American society. According to Census Bureau projections, in less than 30 years the majority population in the U.S. will no longer be white. The prospect of this demographic shift is disturbing to some whites.

Aware of their growing political clout, many blacks have also viewed with considerable concern the disrespect for President Barack Obama as well as the abuse of blacks by the police. Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina interrupted the president during a speech to Congress in 2009 with the assertion “You lie!” His punishment for such grievous disrespect was to be re-elected. Now the House has invited a foreign head of state, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, to address Congress on an issue within the exclusive jurisdiction of the executive branch of government. And on Monday an open letter from GOP Senators to Iran’s leaders created a firestorm over diplomatic protocol.

An African American at the level of the president can be insulted while blacks with less status are still persecuted. Recent publication of the U.S. Department of Justice report on the police in Ferguson, Mo. established that ordinary black citizens are still subjugated in some parts of the country. Continued tolerance of such violent racial abuse by the police can lead to profound conflict with the growing demographic shift. Thoughtful prominent Americans should be committed to solutions, but Giuliani and his ilk are part of the problem.