Disrespect for the Current POTUS

[not_hathor]

Okay, this has been bothering me for the past week or so, ever since the Media started talking about Bill Clinton's Birthday Gala:

Bill Clinton is the FORMER President of the United States.

Whether or not you like it, regardless of what you think of his heritage, policies, religion or fashion sense, BARACK OBAMA is currently the President of the United States.

NOT George W. Bush. NOT Bill Clinton. NOT George Bush, Sr. NOT Jimmy Carter. Certainly NOT Gerald Ford or Ronald Reagan or Richard Nixon. They are all FORMER Presidents.

Get it right, people!!!!

Comments

[dragondancer515.livejournal.com]

Ugh, people are seriously doing that? >,>

[not-hathor.livejournal.com]

Almost every 'news' article I've seen blurbed on YAHOO about Clinton's Birthday Gala (mostly in reference to the entertainers performing) calls him PRESIDENT Clinton; I've heard the co-anchors on GMA refer to both Clinton AND George W. as 'President' (no 'former' as a prefix), especially Dubbaya last month during the 9/11 commemorations.

Seems to me it's also happened in the newspapers, too, but I couldn't swear to it.

It's so casually disrespectful; I'm sure if someone called the media on it in a majorly public way, they'd pull the 'intention' card --"oh, we didn't mean anything bad by it....."

Arrrrghhhhh!

[dragondancer515.livejournal.com]

It's LAZY if nothing else (and disrespectful, yes, very). I can /almost/ see it in the newspapers - the whole "gotta conserve space" thing (the same thing that gets us really goofy headlines sometimes) - but STILL. =/

[myaibou.livejournal.com]

That's actually the proper form of address. They will always be referred to as "President Last Name Here." It's not disrespect to the current president.

[myaibou.livejournal.com]

Although they should never refer to a former president as "the president of the United States." That's when "former" needs to come in. But when using it as a title along with the last name, it's proper to not use the "former."

[not-hathor.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected; however I still think it sounds disrespectful, like refusing to acknowledge the man's status (Obama, I mean) by giving it to someone else.