Opinion Target: Barack

And Democrats worry that Obama,hampered,too,by his own inexperience and dispassionate style,is increasingly weakened by what they fume is a party that fundamentally disrespects him and his office. The relationship was foreshadowed in 2009 when Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” during a presidential address to Congress — a remarkably rare outburst on the House floor. Since then,Congressional Republicans have turned down requests for White House meetings,refused to return the president’s call and walked out of budget talks.

Then,on Wednesday,Speaker John A. Boehner became what historians say was the first ever to tell a sitting president that no,he could not deliver an address to a joint session of Congress on the date of his choice. On Thursday,Representative Joe Walsh said in a Twitter message that he would fly home to Illinois rather than serve as “a prop of another one of the president’s speeches.” It seems they simply do not like the man. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,the minority leader,said this year that his first goal was to see Obama defeated.

Obama has had his own contributing role. Often when he has met with Republicans he has taken a scolding tone that irks them. But the dynamic has irked many Democrats. “I think it is unprecedented of a leader in the Senate of either party to say the most important goal he has is to make the current president a one-term,” said Senator Barbara Boxer,Democrat of California. “That is about respect,that is about priorities and it is just wrong.”

Julian E. Zelizer,a political scientist at Princeton,said that when it comes to Obama,Republicans “just keep gaining confidence to force his hand.” “While there might be a few people whose words have become nastier than usual,I think this is really the new normal in Washington with a president who is always on the ropes,”Zelizer said. “I am not convinced that is about lack of respect so much as the feeling that this is a weak president.”

Indeed,Boehner’s spokesman said there was nothing personal about the disputes. “They may have different visions for government,” he said,but “the speaker has great respect for the president,likes him personally and looks forward to hearing his speech next week.”

The White House press secretary,Jay Carney,said Thursday that the administration spent “zero” time worrying about whether Republicans in Congress are showing the president the respect that the office deserves. The president himself eschews making things personal,so his aides follow suit — at least when it comes to any hint that his critics’ attacks are for reasons other than his policies.

There is the persistent and deeply uncomfortable question of race. Many African-Americans have complained that some of the disrespect for Obama stems from distaste among some whites at the idea of seeing a black man in the Oval Office. But White House officials,echoing their boss’s aversion to suggestions of racism,never play that card,not even in private conversations with reporters. One administration official said that Obama “made it clear” when he came into office “that there wouldn’t be people crying wolf on race every day.”