Obama damned if he does, and damned if he doesn’t, w/ regard to funerals

Let’s brace ourselves for another round of political trash talk aimed at President Barack Obama – who’s going to be criticized for everything possible until the day his term expires in January.

OBAMA: Rather be in Texas?

And probably for long after that!

IT’S BECAUSE OF that reality that I’m going to think that the critics ought to pipe down with their latest round of trash – over the fact that Obama says he’s not going to the funeral services to be held Friday for former first lady Nancy Reagan.

Which comes so soon after the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia – another funeral which the president decided not to attend.

Some news reports also have included the fact that Obama didn’t bother to show up back in 2011 for the funeral of former first lady Betty Ford. Does Obama have problems with showing up for funeral rituals for Republicans?

Is this some sort of dis to a woman who some people in our society want to lionize just as much as they do her husband? While certain others of us remember her overbearing nature that seemed to turn up everywhere.

THE WOMAN LITERALLY appeared on television with Gary Coleman in a “Diff’rent Strokes” episode to “Just say no!”

 

I’ll admit that as a political observer, I’m used to the idea of government officials feeling compelled to turn funeral into a spectacle. Some like to talk of the idea that one-time Mayor Richard J. Daley was notorious for feeling the need to show up at the funerals of just about every lowly bureaucrat within city government.

First ladies Obama ...

His presence made the family feel better, and gave them some sense of recognition that their dearly departed loved one was someone who truly mattered.

Obama is definitely of a different generation – having decided that attending a memorial service for Scalia was sufficient. It also was noted that first lady Michelle Obama was on hand when Betty Ford died, and is the one who is expected to attend the funeral for Nancy Reagan.

WHICH IN A sense may be altogether appropriate. The current first lady pays tribute to one of her predecessors.



... and Clinton to pay tribute to Nancy

I just wish the president had a better reason for not showing up – a previously-scheduled commitment that he doesn’t want to break. He plans to be in Austin, Texas to attend the SXSW festival – an event that allows digital startup companies a chance to show off their latest technologies.

It also has a portion that has a film and music festival, and you just know the ideologues are going to create a rant that goes something along the lines of how Obama chose to disrespect Nancy Reagan because he wanted to party down at a rock concert.

Of course, that won’t be true. But when has “truth” ever mattered when it comes to going off on a rant against Barack Obama?

BESIDES, I SUSPECT that deep down the ideologues are glad Obama won’t be there – although they won’t let that sentiment get in the way of their taking a cheap shot at the president.

They’d probably rather have an all-ideologue gathering where they could give Nancy a send-off in line with their own politically partisan leanings. One in which Obama’s presence would be a thorn. For all I know, even the presence of Michelle Obama is probably a blotch on their fantasy funeral weekend for the second Mrs. Reagan.

The one thing no one would ever want is a repeat of that day in April 1994 when President Bill Clinton actually gave the eulogy at the funeral service for Richard M. Nixon.

 

Putting aside any past animosity he may have felt for Nixon, Clinton acknowledged the legitimate accomplishments whose memory were washed away by Watergate. A sense of political bipartisanship that truly feels like a distant memory in today’s political structure.

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