Give Obama the ‘R-S-P-E-C-T’ he deserves

As we head into another fabulous weekend in Las Vegas, let’s turn our attention to a minor story — but an embarrassing one — regarding great music and bad spelling.

Here’s the way the Associated Press chronicled it:

“WASHINGTON (AP) — He bobbled the spelling, but President Barack Obama had nothing but R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the ‘women of soul’ who shook and rattled the rafters of the White House on Thursday night.

“‘What a lineup!’ Obama declared at the outset of a concert that featured a generations-spanning array of soul singers that stretched from musical legends Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle to 20-year-old Ariana Grande.

“Obama paid tribute to Franklin for turning her signature song ‘Respect’ into ‘a rallying cry for African-Americans, women and then everyone who felt marginalized.’

“The pumped-up audience gave a hearty laugh but was more than willing to forgive the president for spelling it ‘R-S-P-E-C-T.’”

Yes, we are a forgiving people, across the land, in all 57 states. You spell it “potato” and in 1992 Dan Quayle spelled “potatoe.” But who remembers that?

I, for one, give the president all the “rspect” he deserves.

IMPORTANT NEWS — Please tune in here on Sunday morning to read my newspaper column. We’ll try to flesh out why you may be racist. And, BTW, if you don’t tune in, you probably are.