Because their lives are short, nasty and brutish, a certain group of people (I'm betting you'll guess who they are.) are having hissy fits over President Obama saluting or not saluting his honor guard with or without a coffee cup in his hand. (Do these people have lives or do they exist only to freak out over all things Obama?) Anyway, a friend who served in the U.S. military explains why the blather from the right over the non-salute latte salute is just more of the same idiocy served up by the people who make a living being idiotic:
It's a military gesture, between UNIFORMED members of armed forces. Also: No superior is REQUIRED to return the salute of an inferior rank. When the superior officer approaches--and the Prez is MOST superior officer--the Marine sentry salutes; but the president/superior is under NO obligation to return it. And, being in civvies, the President is multiply removed from any obligation. It was President Reagan, who never served a day of active duty in WWII, started this civilian salute crap."
Meanwhile, a reminder to the malcontents out there on how a military salute is properly returned by a guy who was once the CiC.
You show 'em Dubya!
15 comments:
"They" never want to miss an opportunity to criticize the President.
it's the same old same old. The man could find a cure for cancer and so wingers would say he is trying to put hospitals out of business.
the salute protocol is correct.
friend was stationed in the Pentagon for a bit....no one salutes in the Pentagon....your hand would be at your head constantly!~
just much more ado about nothinbg.
Shaw, I have no problem with Pres Obama choosing to not salute... that is, as your post mentioned, his prerogative.
However, if you are going to do so, I believe, out of respect to the person you are saluting, you need to do it right.
His half hearted effort was an affront to the Marine saluting him. This is another example of bad optics, a problem to which Pres Obama has admitted not understanding.
When will he learn these things, or trust when an aide tells him to take care of it, or hire an aide who is not just a yes man?
The Presidency has a public political component. He is not very good at it.
A) Presidents need not salute the military.
B) I believe it was President Reagan who was the president who stated the practice of presidents saluting.
C) Who, with a rationally functioning mind would give a second thought to the "Latte Salute"
Actually RN USA was going to run a post but ultimately decided it was foolish. Why waste the time on this type of non issue? Certainly there are IMPORTANT issued to choose from.
Dave, Mr. Obama has been president for almost six years. He must have passed his honor guard hundreds and hundreds of time during those six years, and his salute must have been captured on film for those hundreds of times. My take on this outrage from certain people on the right is this: they ignore all the times he's done it right but gleefully bleat about this one time he was careless. And you and I can be certain that if he had done this before we would have heard about it again and again and again. So they've turned a gaffe into a circus once again.
For them to trot this out as if it were an indication of his disloyalty to America is petty, vindictive, and craven. If its true that optics are important in a presidency, I submit he's been pretty darn good at it. For every complaint about what he's done that looks "bad," (feet on the Oval Office desk, slight bow to foreign leaders, wearing a tan suit, etc., we've been able to look back at other presidencies where the exact same things were done, and those presidents all managed to survive and thrive despite those optics.
I don't think a majority of Americans cares whether or not he gets a salute off the correct way. We have much more serious issues to worry about these days. I prefer a president who is careful about his actions and reactions to world events to one who worries about how surface things look.
Let's hope what he's doing in the Middle East is the prudent and wise thing to do. Right now, I personally care very much about that, and not saluting protocol.
But don't take my word for it. Here's Brian Adam Jones, editor of Task and Purpose, and veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and of the conflict in Afghanistan:
"In the summer of 2001, George W. Bush saluted the Marine One crew chief with his Scottish Terrier Barney under his arm. It looked absolutely ridiculous. No one, however, questioned Bush’s patriotism. No one said that his dog salute meant that he lacked respect for the Marines or hated the troops in his heart.
But recent presidential history hasn’t been kind (or fair) to the president.
When Maj. Gen. Harold Greene was killed in Afghanistan earlier this summer, critics blasted the president for not attending his funeral. Retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis claimed that Obama “bucked tradition” since Richard Nixon attended the funeral of Maj. Gen. John Dillard when he was killed in Vietnam in 1970 and George W. Bush attended Lt. Gen. Timothy Maude’s funeral when he was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. But for one problem — Nixon didn’t attend Dillard’s funeral, nor did Bush attend Maude’s. Davis later said that he was kidding and baiting Obama critics.
Similarly, a story that has plagued the Obama administration is that he failed to visit the D-Day memorial in Normandy on June 6 every year. The story claimed that there were only four occasions in 69 years that a president failed to visit the D-Day memorial on D-Day, and all four were in the Obama administration. In reality, however, no U.S. president visited the memorial at all until Reagan did it in 1984 (he was a real trend-setter). And it had only been visited by an American president six times in total, including a visit from Obama in 2009.
If someone deserves blame for this, it’s the operative behind the White House Instagram account who posted the video in the first place. Why post a video of a sloppy salute? Isn’t that just begging for the criticism? It was sloppy, ignorant to the sensitivities of the criticisms this president faces, and absent of the high standard created by social media in the 21st century.
But it wasn’t disrespectful."
SOURCE for the above quote.
One of the issues modern day politicians and presidents face is instant availability to pictures. They can't wipe their brow without a picture being available to the masses.
For people to get upset about this incident is silly but had he have not saluted the obamabashers would have criticized him for not saluting.
Sometime you just can't win. I thought the picture was kinda funny. Try balancing a coffee, not spilling it all over while saluting, not an easy task. We really do need to lighten up on all sides.
Of course all agreed... Let us hope for good outcome in the ME... I am glad he's our pres right now... I'd rather be slow and get it right than quick and wrong... I hope we learned that lesson in Afghan and Iraq...
What do you expect from a bunch of WATB*!
*Whiney Ass Titty Babies
RN, scud, Dave, and Anon,
Agreed.
Consider the Stupidest Man on the Internet, Jim Hoft, who headlined his impassioned defense of The Troops “A NEW LOW – Obama’s Salute to Marines – Most Degrading Salute Ever to Men in Uniform.” The lead commenter at PatriotUpdate.com offered this nugget of wisdom:
Obumma just doesn’t deserve the title of POTUS, or CINC, or US Citizen. The lack of respect for the position, for The People, for our nation’s laws and founding principles is beyond comprehension. When his final term is over in 2016, may he fade into oblivion and let the rebuilding begin. Lee Harvey, where are you?
This is what the right believes is true American patriotism. Hoping for the assassination of a president because of a salute. If this doesn't prove they're mentally ill, what else will?
I want (O)CT(O)PUS's reply to skudrunner's demeaning comment on the previous thread to be read here.
(O)CT(O)PUS said...
SKUD: “Sharing of opinions is not a bad thing and no offense was meant.”
Awww! Poor little southern boy being picked on by a big inky Octopus. BULLSHIT! You have never come here to share an opinion in good faith. You come here to taunt and annoy people with sarcasm and sneer and jeer, deliberate errors of omission, outright lies and deception, and petty defamations. If anything, your moniker becomes you – an unguided missile of LIMITED RANGE and ZERO ACCURACY.
Your opinion on climate change, although dishonest and stupid, is NOT what offended me. Rather, this piece of offensive crap:
“First he [President Obama] aids the terror group ISIS/ISIL by advising them when they would have no opposition [;] then he does air strikes against them because his poll numbers have tanked.”
Little do you know: I HAVE A DOG IN THIS FIGHT! My daughter is a high-ranking career officer serving in the military. Two Bronze Stars, Seven Distinguished Service Citations, a Bachelors and a Masters Degree, and fluent in four languages, she has spent her entire adult life in service to her country and is currently serving in the Persian Gulf. I RESENT YOUR PETTY DISRESPECT OF OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF DURING A TIME OF WAR. You see, Mr. Skud of limited range and zero accuracy, when you attack the Commander-in-Chief, you also attack the military personnel serving under him – who are protecting YOUR SORRY ASS from terrorists.
Little do you know her many sacrifices – the numerous deployments to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar; the roadside bomb that narrowly missed killing her but did kill her friends and colleagues; and the recent loss of one of her closest friends, Major General Harold Greene.
Little do you know the sacrifices made by the families of military personnel – the missing person at every holiday dinner table, and the dreaded stranger in uniform whom you hope will never come knocking at your door.
As recently as two days ago, I received a letter from my daughter. She has lost 20 pounds working 18 to 20 hours shifts to protect YOUR SORRY ASS from terrorists! Meanwhile, the only “comment” from a miserable excuse for humanity such as you: The politically bad optics of a cup of coffee in the President’s hand as he salutes the guard. Maybe the President NEEDS THAT GODDAM FUCKING CUP OF COFFEE, but assholes such as you never think of the stresses borne by the President, the stresses borne by troops in the field, or the stresses borne by their families - as long as assholes such as you get in your petty potshots, your stale talking points, and your unrelenting sneer and jeer.
Now, get lost! Go away. And GO TO HELL!
And here is my reply as well:
Shaw Kenawe said...
skud, I hope you see how petty, snide remarks affect people who are personally involved in these current military events in the Middle East. We do not appreciate your constant badgering and belittling of the president.
I did not agree with GWB and how he handled the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but I did not demean him as the CiC and I did not assign cynical motives to what he did as our troops were fighting and dying in the Middle East. You can look on this blog to verify that.
(O)CT(O)PUS and his family are dealing with the uncertainty and stress of having a loved one serving her country in that part of the world, and I have every sympathy and deep respect for (O)CT(O)PUS and his family as they go through this difficult time. His daughter is a true American hero. We are proud of her.
For your information. I, too, have a loved one in the Middle East at this time. My grandson. For security reasons, he is not able to tell me or his mother and father where exactly he is or how he's involved in defending our country against ISIS and other terrorists as well as your and your fellow wingnuts' right to demean and slander the President of the United States.
It turns my stomach to know that service men and women like (O)CT(O)PUS's daughter and my grandson are putting their lives on the line so that you can piss and moan about a president saluting with a coffee cup in his hand.
It makes you and your compatriots look like damn fools.
Be warned. Both (O)CT(O)PUS and I have little patience for that sort of whining and provoction.
You got it right in your first paragraph. This is just carping for the sake of carping, from people who have nothing else to offer. The substance of the "issue" doesn't matter. If word got out that Obama had waffles for breakfast, they would find some basis for getting outraged about it. They'd probably be demanding a Congressional investigation into it by lunchtime.
It's bizarre that a large chunk of the right wing has managed to become, at the same time, both profoundly evil and utterly unserious.
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