Köhler is right to demand respect

The office of president must be treated with the respect and dignity it deserves, writes the daily The Irish Times, commenting sympathetically on the resignation of German president Horst Köhler: "Köhler's purpose was probably ... to contribute an uncontentious explanation for the growing willingness of Germany to contribute to multilateral peacekeeping operations. But, feeling unable to correct what he saw as a deluge of gross misinterpretations, he said he could not stay on in the face of such intense criticism and lack of 'necessary respect for the presidential office'. ... Köhler is accused of being unduly thin-skinned, a prima donna too ready to 'stand on his dignity'. But such expectations of robustness, while applicable to TDs or ministers involved in the rough and tumble of politics, do not sit as comfortably on the shoulders of the circumscribed holders of presidential office. They are the custodians of the office which they must uphold or they have nothing."

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