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A Better President Starts With You

We moved to Rockford in the summer of 2008; I was hired at Rockford University the same time as our then new president, Robert Head. Shortly thereafter, Barack Obama was elected president. My two boys, both black, had the incredibly unique experience of growing up in a world where both the president of their dad’s University and the president of the United States looked “like them.”

Fast-forward and now I am father to a daughter. And sitting in the highest office in the land is a man who has demeaned and objectified women. My concern is that it will be simply natural to my daughter.

The irony here is that former President Clinton, and his actions towards women, essentially paved the way for President Trump. Clinton’s infidelities and subsequent lies left a stain on the White House and the office of the President, and further enabled an increasingly divisive and nasty political climate.

In between we had two good honest men -- George Bush and Barack Obama – men who, although very different politically, respected not only their wives and families but also the office of the President. Yet both, forced to navigate a nearly impossible political climate charged with ire and skepticism, now have to watch someone even more immoral than Clinton soil the house they both worked so hard to honor.

The office of the President cannot, and should not, demand the respect of the citizens of the United States.  On the contrary, the President needs to earn our respect, and we ought to demand, regardless of policy and political decisions, that the President respect the office.

I'm Michael Perry and that's my Perspective.

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