A letter to The Leader of the Free World

Mr. President,

I have a problem addressing you like that. I didn’t vote for you in 2016, and if you run again in 2020, in all probability I won’t vote for you then either. I don’t agree with most of your priorities, and I don’t have much respect for you.

But you are my president.

You don’t seem to value American ideals, institutions, traditions or the truth. You’ve been shown to lie with impunity and without hesitation, not occasionally but regularly. It doesn’t seem to bother you at all.

But you are my president.

I’m glad my children are grown now, so that I don’t have to explain to them the crude terminology that studs your comments. I sympathize with parents who must be struggling with that challenge. You foul the airwaves with language that Kathy and I would not permit in our family’s household.

But you are my president.

You browbeat and insult millions of people and dozens of countries that don’t deserve that kind of treatment, who have done nothing to you personally, or to your family, or to your nation.

But you are my president.

You embarrass and shame your congressional, political and administration’s allies. You’re a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Economics. You’re a son of Queens, New York. You’re a Presbyterian. How many from those locations and institutions take pride in you?

But you are my president.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter, unsigned of course, from one of your supporters, taking me to task for what the author said was unfair and unbalanced treatment of you in my columns. I don’t deny that I have found fault with your leadership, and have written as much from time to time.

One of the author’s accusations was that I didn’t treat Mrs. Clinton as harshly as I have treated you. He or she also asked, “Where were you when Slick Willie was ‘doing’ Monica?”

If the letter had been signed, I could have responded directly to him or her that I editorialized in The Jefferson Herald for Bill Clinton to resign after the Monica Lewinsky scandal came to light in the mid-1990s. I received sharply critical letters for that editorial too.

He was my president too.

I’m not ready for you to resign yet.

Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation will determine whether I think that’s warranted in your case. I hope congressional leaders, and your Department of Justice, allow that investigation to play all the way out. The American people deserve no less.

As you often respond to reporters, “We’ll see what happens.”

But you are my president.

I’m no longer registered with either political party. My first vote for president was cast in 1964. I’ve voted for Republicans, Democrats and Independents in elections since then. So have hundreds of millions of Americans. It’s up to all of us to decide whether you deserve re-election, and what your legacy will be.

You are my president. There’s a long list of important stuff you need to do, critical decisions to be made, leadership to be shown and predecessors to be respected.

You are my president. Start acting like one.