Not My President

[While today's pronouncement was distressing, it came as no surprise. Since the only reason to deny marriage rights to same-sex couples is the belief that same-sex relationships are inferior to the other kind, the President of the United States has officially come out as a bigot. A constitutional amendment?!]

[Since he was inaugurated, Bush has inspired a certain phrase from many of my acquaintances: "He's Not My President." This sentiment has always bothered me, since I've always felt the Presidency, if not the holder of the office, is supposed to represent and deserve a measure of respect from all Americans. The declaration "he's not my President" seemed to imply "this isn't my country - I renounce a part of my citizenship just because I disagree with the man in the Oval Office." Some people I know probably believe that, too; however, as lefty as I get, I've never been ready to renounce my identity as a participant in this ongoing endeavor called the United States.]

[I'm still not ready, but Bush's statement today made me want like hell to adopt the Not My President line. So, I thought about what "my President" is supposed to mean. In a place like the U.K., the Queen has a theoretical personal relationship, left over from feudal days, with every one of her subjects. She is truly each Briton's Queen. Here, we severed that personal link with the sovereign, proposing instead that the People were sovereign, and so the link, if any, was among all Americans. That connection was in name only until all people were given citizenship and the right to vote, but it's been the deal since the beginning.]

[The President is a mere administrator. There is no personal link comparable to that between a monarch and "her" people. (I apologize if I'm offending any of my readership who live in a monarchy, even one like Canada where the connection is so highly attenuated that most people don't even think about it; these are my political theories, not a statement about what any of you may personally feel toward Elizabeth II.) While I would still rise in the unlikely event President Bush entered a room in which I was an occupant, it would be out of respect for the office, not for him personally. Never for him personally.]

[I'm a law student, and this is how I'm learning to think. I can finally say with a clear conscience that he is Not My President. The fact that no other one is either doesn't take away from how good it feels to state it, today of all days.]

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[Later: The Tin Man links to a letter written to a Vermont newspaper by the mother of a gay man during that state's civil unions brouhaha. Please read it...]