It Should Be a Joke but It Isn't

President Obama got off the helicopter the other day with a cup of coffee in his hand. The other hand was holding his suit jacket closed. He raised the hand with the coffee cup and saluted the two Marines at the bottom of the stairway.

Here is a picture of what happened.

You would think from what is happening on the right wing that this is the most disrespectful thing President Obama has ever done. That it reveals his callous disregard for the men and women who serve in the United States military. Does anyone bother to ask the question why our civilian leader salutes the military men when he gets off the helicopter?

The modern tradition starts with Ronald Reagan. President Reagan served in the Army Air Corps during WWII and he liked to salute. His aides advised him it was not proper protocol for a civilian president to salute military personnel in uniform. President Reagan asked General Robert Barrow, at the time commandant of the Marine Corps if it was appropriate for the president to salute military personnel in uniform. According to sources General Barrow answered: "Sir, you're the goddam president and you can do any goddam thing you want." So a tradition starts.

It might be good to look a bit farther back in American presidential history. If you wanted a president who clearly understood military protocol you should look at President Eisenhower. He never saluted the Marine detail assigned to the White House. He didn't think it was proper. There are some who claimed Ike never saluted troops when he was president. He did on rare occasion for example when dedicating the Marine Corp War Memorial or when presenting medals. No president going back to George Washington routinely saluted military personnel. It was an issue of military protocol and showed we have a civilian head of state not a military leader.

In fairness let's go back to 2001 when George W. Bush gave this salute as he exited his helicopter ride.

Where was the outrage then as George Bush held Barney and gave a half hearted salute?

Don't we have more important issues at the moment? Bombing raids in the Middle East, Ebola in Africa, immigrants on our southern boarder, unemployment, crumbling infrastructure, rampant poverty, unfair taxation to list just a few. It seems that the media wants to keep us focused on little petty shit like salutes while the big problems we are facing go unaddressed and unresolved.