I am old enough to remember President Harry Truman’s sign on his desk: “The Buck Stops Here!” The phrase speaks for itself and surely reminds us of how far the presidency has fallen from assuming responsibility for its egregious errors.

Today, according to the current resident of the White House, everyone except the president is responsible for a slew of really horrific decisions and personal behavior — caging children and separating them from their parents, denying multiple sexual liaisons, lying beyond belief on hundreds of topics, alienating longtime allies, supporting murdering right-wing regimes, hiding secret liaisons with enemies of America, while attacking with a vengeful vigor people once in his employ.

It’s the media’s fault for reporting his words and actions that we can clearly see and hear ourselves, it’s the Democrats out to get him, it’s the crooked FBI and the entire American intelligence community for lying and distorting facts, it’s the Fed chair destroying the economy, and it’s the American people for ignoring his accomplishments.

What are children thinking about this immature and disrespectful behavior, never taking responsibility for his own behavior? How do parents/teachers explain this? Are the political policies he pursues worth the serious decline in assuming personal responsibility? Unfortunately, it seems highly unlikely given the past two years. Putting all politics aside, we deserve and must have a president who is moral, ethical, mature and willing to fully accept the debris of his childish behavior and oftentimes despicable words.

Vinnie Linares

Kula