More Wacky Email

From the same friend that sent me the last email, I received the following:

A moment of national pride took place recently in the White House when an American soldier, Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, received the Medal of Honor for bravery above and beyond the call of duty in combat in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Giunta became the first living American soldier to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. He is now one of only eighty-eight (88) living holders of the Medal of Honor…

…In contrast, there was another “first” at the ceremony involving the Commander-in-Chief, President Barack Hussein Obama, in whose conduct the nation cannot and should not take pride: As far as is known, Obama became the first President, the first Commander-in-Chief , not to salute the living recipient of the Medal of Honor after presenting the medal.

It is a tradition in the military for all military personnel, no matter how high their rank, including the Commander-in-Chief, to salute a holder of the Medal of Honor no matter how lowly his or her rank…

…And, as far as is known, it is tradition that every President who has had the honor to present the Medal of Honor to a living recipient, has shown humility, respect, and national pride in that recipient by stepping back and rendering a salute.

It was missing in action in the Obama presentation. He is apparently above all that; “like a God,” as an editor of Newsweek once wrote.

Instead of rendering the traditional salute, after fumbling as if all-thumbs in trying to affix the blue-rib boned Medal of Honor, Obama, equally awkwardly, tried to “hug” the Sergeant. Yes, a “hug” for the soldier who remained at attention with eyes front in military bearing.

But a “hug” is not a “salute,” even in the Age of Obama. While there may be some comedic value in Obama’s pathetic display, it was more emetic than comedic. I didn’t write about it at the time, so as not to distract from Sgt. Giunta’s receipt of the Medal of Honor. But days have passed, and it needs to be said…

…Then again, perhaps it is not too much to expect anyone who would be America’s president to at least respect American traditions, including honoring the Flag, and saluting those who receive the Medal of Honor.© 2010 Rees Lloyd – All Rights Reserved

For brevity, I edited out some of the irrelevance and bullshit, but left the meat of the article in. You can read the original post, which I found here. And you can watch the actual ceremony below.

(The actual presentation of the medal begins around 18:30, if you want to skip ahead.)

The point of the piece, which my friend wholeheartedly endorsed, was that Obama is ruining the country by not adhering to tradition that all of his predecessors adhered to, and this is just further evidence that he’s (ssshhhhhh) not one of us.

The problem with this is that it’s complete and utter bullshit. A pure lie, created by the mind of a man who wants to believe the lie, but a lie nonetheless.

As it turns out, as shown here, it is not a tradition that all presidents have deferred to the medal of honor recipient by saluting them upon presentation of the medal. There are two videos where both Johnson and Nixon both simply shook hands with the recipient, which one might think is entirely appropriate coming from the Commander-in-Chief to a subordinate. As noted, the President usually returns a salute, but as Commander-in-Chief, doesn’t initiate them.

But really, who cares? Even if that was some tradition, why are all these right wing pundits  making issues out of petty nonsense. As I wrote back to my friend:

Why not pick on something substantive, something with a little meat, something that we can all agree to criticize Obama about, like his foreign policy, his relationship with Congress, his policies and accomplishments, instead of this picayune, insignificant crap? I’ll bet this guy thinks he was born in Kenya too.

Seems to me that if you are compelled to create an issue, and substantiate it with no or little research or evidence, bordering on outright falsehoods, then there’s something else motivating you to do so; something that you’re afraid to give voice to explicitly, instead building up the molehill as a mountain, when it clearly isn’t, so that you can point to it as your reasons to criticize Obama.

C’mon. At least be honest. You don’t like the Black Man in the White House.

You’re a racist, Mr. Lloyd.