{"id":57923,"date":"2024-12-26T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=57923"},"modified":"2024-12-26T00:06:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T00:06:25","slug":"potuses-dont-own-these-offices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=57923","title":{"rendered":"POTUSes don’t ‘own’ these offices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I have heard enough of media commentators adding possessive adjectives to public offices … and so I want to vent briefly.<\/p>\n

Repeatedly I hear news talking heads say things like “Donald Trump’s attorney general,” or “Joe Biden’s vice president,” or “Barack Obama’s secretary of state.”<\/p>\n

Let me declare in the loudest voice I can muster: Presidents do not “own” these individuals or the public offices they occupy. We do. You and I. We pay for them with our tax money. We, I submit, are the bosses.<\/p>\n

To be sure, this isn’t a major policy gripe. It’s all about style. I am willing to take swipes at presidents of both parties for committing what I believe is an overreach.<\/p>\n

President Obama had an annoying habit of referring to “my Cabinet,” or “my national security team.” He seemed to take undue possession of the office he inherited on a temporary basis … although I do acknowledge he said he knew he was there just for a brief period.<\/p>\n

The most egregious offender of this style lapse? As my Mom would say: I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. Donald J. Trump!<\/p>\n

During his first tour in the White House, Trump would refer routinely to “my generals” when talking about military matters. He also routinely smothers Cabinet officials — all approved by U.S. senators — in the personal possessive adjectives I find so objectionable.<\/p>\n

What do I wish presidents would say? I prefer the plural possessive description, you know … “our administration,” or “our Joint Chiefs of Staff.” We’re on the same team, at least that’s how the nation’s founders designed it.<\/p>\n\n

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I have heard enough of media commentators adding possessive adjectives to public offices … and so I want to vent briefly. Repeatedly I hear news talking heads say things like “Donald Trump’s attorney general,” or “Joe Biden’s vice president,” or “Barack Obama’s secretary of state.” Let me declare in the loudest voice I can muster: … Continue reading POTUSes don’t ‘own’ these offices<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[540,1424,3688],"class_list":["post-57923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","tag-barack-obama","tag-donald-trump","tag-potus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57923"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57925,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57923\/revisions\/57925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}