Civil disagreements, with Lynne Varner and Bruce Ramsey of the Seattle Times editorial board, is a weekly feature of the Ed Cetera blog. Here Bruce and Lynne wade into the debate about criticism of President Obama.

Lynne Varner, left, and Bruce Ramsey

Lynne Varner:Anyone who thought President Obama would escape substantive criticism because he is our nation's first African American president should be doing cartwheels in response to the avalanche of heated rhetoric being tossed Obama's way.

From those who disaprove of Obama's embrace of a public health care option to those who think he's getting it wrong on Afghanistan, criticism of the president is robust and undeterred by any pereived racial issues.

That is as it should be. Obama's detractors long ago added to their list of reasons not to like the president the fact that his mere existence would create an affirmative action in political discourse. We would bite our tongue and let him get away with murder.

Columns like this one ought not be confused with attempts to deflect criticism. Have at it. Do it the way it has been done for since General Washington led our country. If you serve the president you disagree with him behind closed doors.

Bruce Ramsey: Certainly the president is catching more flak than he did nine months ago. He was practically anointed then. I think the mainstream press is still easy on him.

Mostly this is because Obama is a liberal, and most members of the mainstream press are liberal. They voted for him. They agree with him. They like him. And that affects what they cover, and how they do it. The big Tea Party protest in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 12 was the largest protest there in years. It was virtually ignored by the mainstream media because they didn't agree with it, and because they wanted to believe that it was "astroturf."

Also, I think, whites who want to really rip into Obama have had to be careful because he's black. They have to attack him in a more respectful way than the way the progressives attacked Bush. When some critics aren't respectful--I am thinking of a few of the home-made signs at the Tea Party protests--they get labeled as racists. Jimmy Carter did that. Locally, horsesass.com did that. The Left will highlight anything that suggests the Right is motivated by race, because that means their opponents are lowlifes whose arguments may be ignored. The fear of being labeled also affects the quality of the criticism (and often for the better).

So, yeah, I think Obama has gotten off somwhat easy. But it is changing, and there is a long time to go. Criticism tends to follow the poll numbers, and those are dropping.

As for the general speaking against the President's military policy: I agree with you. If he can't follow orders, he should resign. I say that not because I agree with the president's war policy, because I don't. I think we should get out of Afghanistan, because I don't see any moral case for the United States to be there, or any profit in it.