EDITORIAL

There is a vast difference between the person who is the president of a country and the office of the president of that country.

The person can be disliked, their positions can be pulled apart by the media and they can be called any number of derogatory names.

But the office of the President of the United States should command respect and when the president goes to another country, he stands on foreign soil as the U.S. and should be treated accordingly.

To this country's credit, we travel on a two-way street when it comes to recognizing the respect that should be afforded the office of a president.

In 2006, Wenyi Wang, a doctor from Flushing who is a Chinese national with some journalistic experience, claimed to be a reporter to gain access to a press briefing on the White House lawn with President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Wang disrupted the press conference by shouting protests in Chinese and English. The Secret Service sprang to action and hustled her away.

She went through the process of being formally charged after spending a night in jail. Although all charges were later dropped, the point—that such behavior in harassing a foreign official would be regarded as criminal— was made.

More recently, President Bush became the target of something other than words and signs. On Monday, a shoe-throwing Baghdad reporter, Muntadar al-Zeidi, took aim at him during a press conference in Iraq.

This made Zeidi, who reportedly has a deep hatred for the U.S., an instant hero to many in the Mideast and elsewhere. Since he was taken into custody, protesters have cried for his release.

President Bush called the incident a "sign of democracy," saying, "that's what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves."

Iraqis supporting Zeidi insist that he was merely exercising his democratic right to freedom of speech—a main goal of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Even so, there are limits and boundaries to everything, including free speech and civil disobedience.

There were many who disapproved of the policies of John F. Kennedy. When he was murdered, it was a crime against all Americans.

President Bush dodged the shoes. But they were hurled at this country and regardless of how one feels about him, every American should be outraged.

Last month, U.S. voters went to the polls and the election results can be viewed as a judgment on the policies of the current president and his administration.

That's the way things are done by the people who live in a democracy.