Every now and then a commentator will say  about some politician's display of invective  "He must not have gotten the notice about the 'new civility'" It is easy to deride the president's call for civility in public debate  either when the president or politicians supportive of his policies demonize or otherwise unfairly characterize their opponents (there is no easier charge to make in politics than that of hypocrisy)  or more generally because it may seem strange to exalt civility as a supreme value when extraordinary issues of life and death are at stake