This is an ongoing theme. This President either does not understand the importance of his position, the importance of his actions or he doesn't care. It's gotten beyond disgusting.
With the death last week of Justice Antonin Scalia, the crescendo of disrespect coming from the White House is deafening. Sure, the President has a lot on his plate. Nevermind that he's a lame duck -- the man's busy, as he should be. But when news came out that he was not planning on attending the funeral, to be held on Saturday no less, of a man who served on the country's highest court for nearly three decades, howls of protest could be heard. When asked about his absence, his flunkie-in-chief Josh Earnest (I almost long for the days of the laughably bad Jay Carney) said that the President would pay his respects at the Supreme Court but due to his high security footprint, he would be bypassing the funeral and allowing Uncle Joe to go in his stead.
Security footprint? That's straight out of Al Gore's dictionary. Is there no euphemism too risible for these people? Moreover, will that too-high security footprint be left at home when the POTUS visits the Supreme Court today? Is the security footprint higher on the weekends? When he goes on vacation to Hawaii or Martha's Vineyard, is his security footprint any less exalted?
The excuse is a crock. The President has no intention of dignifying Justice Scalia -- with whom he disagreed on several constitutional issues -- with the presence of the man occupying the highest office in the land. No, he'd rather send that sad excuse for a person a heartbeat away from the presidency because, as we all know, Uncle Joe doesn't do awkward things at the worst public events.
But this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. When news of James Foley's gruesome beheading was made public with that reprehensible video, the President could hardly pry himself away from the golf course -- where, presumably, his security footprint wasn't much of a concern from, say snipers -- to make a few pat statements before resuming his quest to lower his handicap (the golfing one, not his myriad other handicaps).
While police officers are being gunned down merely for having the temerity to wear a uniform identifying them as public servants willing to put their lives on the line for our security, the President chooses not to honor their sacrifices but instead sends multiple officials to investigate a righteous shooting of a black teenager by a police officer. Inquests and federal probes are held when blacks are shot by police, but when police are gunned down -- ambushed, really -- the White House is silent. Somewhat ironically, some of the police officers are minorities but, due to the unifying color blue that they all wear in one fashion or another, their races blend together to form a hue that isn't deserving of the President's time.
When a major general was killed in Afghanistan, the highest ranking officer to die in a war since Vietnam, the President didn't bother to send anyone to attend the funeral. Apparently, cemeteries present too great a public risk that, somehow, golf courses or beaches do not.
Obviously, the hypocrisy is deserving of this sarcasm. For someone who pledged to unite and not divide, President Obama has a curious way of going about this. He seems to have bought into the notion that only black lives matter -- or black lives that never wore a police uniform -- and allows all manner of excuses to explain his absence from events honoring uncolored people who died in the service of their country. It's despicable.
Security footprints are as laughable as carbon footprints.
(c) 2016 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles
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