I think it's very possible to be respectful, courteous and still just as strong and assertive as a leader needs to be. What strikes me as funny about these criticisms coming from the media is that most of the front-running candidates do tend to conduct themselves as the statesmen they are expected to be, it's the media that crosses the lines. I certainly do not agree with President Obama, his policies, his views, his actions--I did not and will not vote for him but I was raised to respect the office that he holds as an American first and a Conservative second. There is general nastiness and disrespect from far too many Conservative journalists for my taste. I have heard the argument that the left does it as well, and I am very well aware of the disrespect they showed former President Bush, but I've never known two wrongs to be anything but twice as wrong.
Beyond the media, I've been sorely disappointed by the conduct of a lot of my fellow Conservatives on the ground. I don't consider myself a member of the Tea Party but I did attend a few of their rallies with my uncle and it was hard to focus on the important issues they were raising when so many otherwise very civil and patriotic people were there doing little more than personally insulting President Obama. There is plenty in his record and flawed ideas that can be debated. There's nothing to be gained by calling him a terrorist, anti-American or in any other way disrespecting the man personally. President Obama holds the office of the Presidency of the United States of America, if, in the spirit of patriotism, we can't show respect for any person who holds that office whether we agree with them or not, we weaken the office itself. The office of President belongs to my country, not to the man holding it. Not showing the utmost respect to that office is simply not in line with my values as a patriotic American citizen.
So no, it's not important that a candidate be nice, but it is important that he is respectful to this nation, it's institutions and it's leaders. I suppose nice would be not telling the truth of how many hard-working Americans are going to go broke trying to pay for government mandated health insurance, respectful would be doing so while still referring to the leader who authored it as President Obama, and nothing else.
Well......to all of the above, I would just say that your perspective is likely similar to the "logic" used by many in the voting booth in November of 2007.......which got us Obama.
Although I hold the office in highest esteem, I have no respect for the man currently occupying it, rather, I despise him. I don't despise him for his skin color, origins, or personal characteristics.........I despise him for what he has done (and publicly states that he wants to do) to 230 years of American history, and for what he stands for ideologically.
I consider his vision of a "European Welfare State" for the US anti-American, and bordering on seditious. I'm old enough to remember when citizens were imprisoned for sedition. The man took an oath in front of myself and every other citizen to "uphold, protect, and defend" the Constitution of the United States, and since gaining office, he and his henchmen have done everything they can to undermine and distort its principals.
Respect must be earned........by individual actions.......not by simply being elected to a public office.
On a personal level, I consider Obama a malignantly narcissistic, naive, lazy, Chicago affirmative-action thug......for his entire tenure, he has deferred all exective decision-making to either his cabinet lackies, czars, or to the "progressive" congressional leadership. On matters of national security, when he actually needed to defer to the experts (military leadership) he ignored their advice for purely political reasons. In short, America is essentially "leaderless" right now.......awaiting the election of a "real" chief executive.
I felt exactly the same about Bill Clinton following the Monica affair.......IMO, Clinton sullied and damaged the office that he held......I didn't respect him following those events, rather I despised him for his actions, and from that point forward, did not consider him presidential......just another dishonest scumbag Democrat.
Therefore, unfortunately I must disagree with at least the "spirit" of your position. I categorically refuse to show (false) respect for the man simply because the electorate was either deceived or threw a tantrum in the last presidential election.
doc