Love him or hate him, Democrat or Republican, for him or against him, it's still downright disrespectful to the President of the United States of America!

Every time I see or read something that is this outrageous, it's supporters are always screaming, "Free Speech." Is it really free speech when an advertisement says "Go to hell Barack." When I saw this it reminded me of my travels abroad.  You see, I am not one who has traveled much, so I really have a true and fresh perspective on how the world sees us and I have to tell you it is good.  Whatever positive way America has been viewed in past years, well, it must have changed a lot.

When I visited Israel in December, people from other countries, China, Russia, Belgium, England, and Israel, were always asking me what I knew about their country and its people.  I would tell them what I knew and more often than not they would say, "Well, you know more than most Americans."  I didn't really know how to take that.  It didn't feel much like a compliment.  I do attribute the knowledge I have to that of my innate curiosity and working in the field of communications and media.

When I would ask them what their view of Americans were, 9 times out of 10 they viewed Americans as lazy and uneducated.  Those two words came up more than any other two descriptive words I heard.  Some of the other words I heard were, opinionated, disrespectful or others differences, and a sense of entitlement.  Ignorant came up a number of times too.  I think they were comparing us to themselves.  Most 7 or 8 years old's, there with their families vacationing, already spoke 2-3 languages.  My friends nephew, 13 years old, fluently spoke four languages.

So, when I heard and saw this ad, I gotta tell you some of those same words resonated in my mind too!  Can't we, as Americans, play nice anymore?  Do we somehow think being crude, rude, and disrespectful  is good.  Are we getting this way because we are watching too much reality TV where this kind of behavior is entertaining us?  Do we not reflect at all on how this looks to other people around the world?  If we can't even respect our own differences here in this country, how can we respect others differences around the world?  I wish I knew the answer to this but I think it would take a complete overhaul here in America to even begin to compete globally.

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