Comments | bibliotrope: "One President at a time": Miss Manners on Presidential protocol

bibliotrope

"One President at a time": Miss Manners on Presidential protocol

Jan 21, 2009 13:38

Miss Manners by Judith MartinWhen the Founding Fathers came up with the title "Mr. President," they thought they had devised the ultimate in casual forms of official address. In contrast to the sycophantic titles used toward European monarchs, which they considered unbefitting a republic of equals, this would give the person holding the highest ( Read more... )

presidents

Comments 4

wcg January 21 2009, 21:44:34 UTC

She's right, of course, but it ain't gonna happen.

toraks January 22 2009, 14:17:04 UTC

no longer Mr.President, but still Gov. Bush? A bit inconsistent, perhaps? ;-)

I like that Dr. Biden is referred to that way. Then again, I like being Dr. Smulders-Srinivasan. Even if I'm not that newly minted. ;-P

bibliotrope January 22 2009, 20:11:31 UTC

When I was a kid and JFK was president, I noticed that many people went back to referring to his predecessor as "General Eisenhower." Harry Truman, Ike's predecessor, was referred to as "former President Truman" or "Mr. Truman." There were no living former-governor Presidents then. The other living former President was Hoover, who had been Secretary of Commerce, and like Truman he was "former President Hoover" or Mr. Hoover.

I kind of think Miss Manners has already lost this issue but I think she's right: one President at a time.

toraks January 22 2009, 20:20:19 UTC

It just seems strange that even though he's no longer Governor (even longer ago than Pres.), that's what's considered the right term.

I find the whole idea of calling someone General or Governor or President or any title AFTER they have left the position ridiculous. Former is fine. But it's often just the title, as you've said. If they're no longer whatever it is, it seems wrong to me. Always had.

So I'm arguing that none of them should be called President anymore and not Governor or General or anything else. Unless they're actually holding the office.

So to me, it seems silly to quibble as to whether it's President Bush or Governor Bush. Mr. Bush is what it should be. But clearly that'd require even more of a change that no one's going to pay attention to anyway!