Actually, I did not know. I had no idea and I had not heard a word. I was knee deep in work and putting together a series of articles for an east coast paper and steered clear of current events to focus and concentrate my efforts. And then Memorial Day came. That is when I learned our fearless (and I use that term in jest) Commander-in-Chief bailed on our military’s Fallen to attend a BBQ in Chicago.
Just prior to Memorial Day we saw the military death toll crest 1,000 in Afghanistan; this just after an Obama administration pushed to develop a military service medal for exercising “restraint in combat.”
No, he is not the first the President to not be present at Arlington. Bush was in Normandy for Memorial Day in 2002. It is safe to say that the Obama defending Americans playing the Blame Bush game and cite (if they have not already) he failed to be at Arlington for a Memorial Day tribute. They are right; he wasn’t at Arlington on this day 8 years ago. He was in a foreign land where 29,000 US Service men lost their lives and where another 106,000 were injured and MIA – not at a BBQ in his old stomping grounds.
Having dedicated so much of my life to serving in the military I have an appreciation for the Fallen. This appreciation comes from the visceral understanding that some of those that have Fallen, did so, so that I may not – literally. It is daily that I mourn their passing and every second of my life that I cannot help but be thankful to them for allow the extension of the gift of life that they have so graciously granted upon me in their truly selfless commitment and dedication to service and country.
On Memorial Day, I appreciate a President that goes to Arlington and stands before the Fallen representative of all and says “thanks” from the highest free authority in the world. Not this year. This year a BBQ was more important than those who gave more to this great nation than this usurping president would ever think of giving. He celebrated, while the rest of the nation mourned. He respects the US Military men and women as much I respect a thief in the night. It becomes difficult to not view him in the same dim light of distrust.
The problem with this man is his blatant disrespect for the country that allowed him to ever happen. The problem with members of this country is that they fail to understand why he is the problem. Here we have military veterans that support him to such a degree they force themselves to overlook his egregious despise for who they are and what they represent to America herself.
Ironic is the fact that after his Chicago visit and Memorial Day washed out BBQ is the renewed vigor in Chicago gun ban efforts. One cannot help but connect the dots. Gun ban back room discussions are more important than honoring our Fallen Armed Forces men and women.
One Memorial Day some years ago while still in the military, I listened to a faceless President giving a very eloquent “thank you” to the Fallen while paying homage to the serving and granting best wishes to those aspiring to serve knowing they may Fall, and one day lay at rest behind another faceless President paying tribute from the highest seat in the land. My thoughts were on the bitter reality that it should have been I being thanked by that faceless President; not a friend. I had recently returned from a deployment that was destined to ensure the unit came back “light three.” Though the three had to be, one did not have to be who it was; it should have been me and he gave himself to me they day after giving me a family heirloom tied to his neck with a leather strap and making me promise to return it to his family for him.
Walking the long walk up the Reservation’s dirt road, they knew why I was there, why I was walking and what I was bringing. They put him to rest that day. From that, I appreciate Memorial Day for what it is.
We have a problem in America when the Commander-in-Chief cannot appreciate the Fallen. We have a problem in America when Americans see such disrespect as acceptable presidential behavior and move to dismiss it, deny it and attempt to justify it.
We have a problem in America when a Liberal Democrat cannot differentiate between himself and a US President who is anything but.
We have a problem in America and that problem is the President. A president that does not respect his own nation. A usurper that allows the denouncing of his own land before his own congress and fails to see that being respected is more important than being liked. We have a problem in congress that, for 30 seconds applauded after being directly ridiculed IN THEIR HOUSE, by a foreign president.
We have a problem in America.
We have a problem in America when Americans cannot see the problem in America.
