Capitalizing on President Obama?

This discussion about Vladimir Putin being manly kind of reminds me of the Reagan Era. How we present ourselves is actually a layer of security. Meaning the withering criticism is unfair, in the respect that International and National security rely on respect.

Today we have the perfect storm where individual freedom and common sense had collided. On one hand the respect for the office or rather the lack thereof. That is becoming a big problem.

Here is my take. I served at the very end of the Vietnam-era and Cold War. I worked at Ramstein and let's just say the place was political. In otherwords, what we said had value insofar as the public's perception of me and the Military.

It is one thing to publicly disgrace the president and quite another to generally criticize him, especially as a Veteran or Retired member of the services.

OPSEC matters and public perception is critical to getting anything done. I can assure you that both President Obama and to some extent President Bush like all presidents are under terrible stress.

Pictures of Obama with his kids, I say leave that ALONE. Having fun with his kids are cool, so leave them and then their personal life out of it.

The President has made mistakes and according to some of us, maybe too many. The problem with a pervasive disrespect is the role it has on the international community. So, we get back to that and besides it is stepping on toes.

The government has it's checks and balances and the Administration and supporters have caviled at past presidents and without mentioning names of those presidents, this happens on both sides.

I was irritated by a sense of censorship over something relatively benign. Partisan hackery is an an affront to all of us when it compromises a mission.

And for many the idea of grass-laden aircraft with the President's name was in fun, but the Soviet-minded Putin uses this like a politically correct tool and now the shoe is on the other foot. I suggest that we mind our words regardless of the POTUS. Calling President Bush a war criminal, a monkey and thinking it funny when people throw shoes at him need to just shut-up.