My little dictionary that I use to write this blog (I never could spell) defines class as "excellence, as of style or appearance". That's part of what I am attempting to address, but two other parts are basic respect and consideration for those who see things differently than you do and manners (the things your mother taught you while you were growing up). Class is not a political thing--neither party has a monopoly on it, but recent events in the public arena have caused me to wonder if we have lost 'class' somewhere in our civic life.
Our President is a perfect cardboard cut-out of what a President should be. He's young, energetic, has a beautiful family...all the trappings, but somewhere along the line, all of the manners he should have learned as a child have not kicked in. The treatment of Gordon Brown is the most recent example of a simple lack of graciousness, but there have been others. However, this is not an article on President Obama, the examples of the lack of class that has taken over our politics are many.
After President Obama had been elected, George Bush and his family did everything possible to ease the transition between the administrations and the families. The Bush daughters went out of their way to help prepare the Obama girls for their new life. George Bush did everything possible to make for a swift and easy transistion of administrations. Contrast that with the way the Clintons treated the Bush family.
President Obama spoke to the Marines at Camp Lejeune about beginning to bring the troops home from Iraq. Nowhere in that speech did he bother to mention that the troop surge (which he opposed and George Bush supported at great political risk) was the reason we are able to bring troops home. Credit was not given because it would not have gone to a political ally. There have been other subtle stabs at George Bush at various times that are completely unnecessary. These remarks are not constructive in bringing the country together, they only further divide us.
Ronald Reagan fought with Congress on a regular basis, but after work hours, he and members of Congress could socialize without being nasty. I doubt that the current Congress could even do that among themselves. It's time to get back to the manners we were supposed to learn growing up. We need more gentlemanly disagreement (remember Zel Miller?), and less distracting from the main issues by name calling and other childish acts. If this Congress and Administration refuses to act like grown-ups, let's elect one that will.
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