What I dislike most about the President

Set aside the fact that I'm a lifelong progressive Democrat, nurtured in the spirit of John F. Kennedy, ready to "pay any price, bear any burden." In my life I have voted for only one Republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon. Twice, actually, the second time an absentee ballot from Vietnam. I still think he was a very competent president, quite moderate by today's standards. Until, you know, Watergate.

But the current guy, I find it impossible to have any respect for. (A sentence like that would no doubt horrify my mother, the English teacher.) Boils down to one thing, really. He used to sponsor beauty pageants, and boasted that he would often walk into the contestants' dressing rooms, where the girls were often unclothed. Don't get me wrong -- I'm a heterosexual male, and I like seeing naked women as much as the next guy. But that sort of behavior, violating the sanctity of dressing rooms, is beyond the pale. A real man would not, could not do that. Ergo, our current chief executive is not a real man.

I don't care about the bone spurs and the multiple draft deferments. A lot of guys my age dodged military service back in the day, and I find it increasingly hard to blame them. But I certainly do care that he is an absolute stranger to the truth, and encourages that attitude in those around him. And the business about "grabbing pussies" and strolling into dressing rooms to ogle nubile young women, that's a long step too far. Were I ever to be invited to the White House I would, like Stephen Curry, decline the offer.