When explaining the cases that might warrant the use of the formal “you” (usted) in Spanish, I made the mistake of saying, “Or when you meet people who command respect because of their job, like the President of the United States.”
I must be getting old to step into this kind of mess in a Spanish 101 class. It took a while to settle the students down to a discussion of the gender of Spanish nouns after this. I should have chosen somebody who has been dead for at least a couple of centuries to illustrate my point.
Clarissa's Blog 
Maybe I’m petty, but regardless of what I think of him, I’d still be formal and respectful when speaking to the president of the United States. Hell, I would even try to be civil if I met Stephen Harper.
I would do it with a strained smile on my face, but…
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This is what I was trying to convey: that there is a degree of respect for an office, if not for the human being occupying it. For me, this was a linguistic issue, not an ideological one. When Bush Jr. was President, I gave the same example of the use of the respectful form of address to students.
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Barrack “I have a drone” OSama is an embarrassment, so he deserves no respect right now.
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This is tangentially related. Rank commands respect. That’s the basis for military courtesy, anyway – one salutes the rank, not the individual. Whether or not a promotion is deserved by a particular individual is irrelevant.
The President of the United States is always saluted by soldiers for this reason. It has nothing to do with feelings.
If I remember correctly, the sole exception to this is when someone has been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Protocol requires that all those wearing one are saluted. Thus, a Major General would salute a Private First Class if that individual wore a Congressional Medal of Honor.
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