Regarding Neil Bourgoin’s letter on the Aug. 14 Opinion page, whether Mr. Bourgoin agrees or disagrees with his policies, President Obama is worthy of the respect the office of the presidency of the United States deserves.

Hawaii has con?rmed Mr. Obama’s citizenship and released a copy of his birth certificate. The president is a graduate of Columbia University, where fewer than than 10 percent of all applicants are admitted, and of Harvard University Law School, where he headed the Harvard Law Review. From 1992 to 2004, President Obama was a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, a very prestigious university.

President Obama has been a public servant in his home state of Illinois as a lawyer, community organizer, senator and now serves his country as president. It naturally follows that President Obama’s ties to family, friends and political associates are in Chicago, not Boston, New York or San Francisco.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago whose congregation exceeds 6,000, one of whom in the past, was President Obama. Whether a person is sympathetic with Rev. Wright’s views or no, he has been a noted leader in the United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant Christian denomination. Rev. Wright, as a citizen, is at liberty to exercise his right to free speech.

Mr. Bourgoin ought to be more civil and mindful of facts.

Marlene Engdahl, Bethel