Who is he saluting anyway? I thought one of the perks of being President was that you didn’t actually have to salute anyone as you are the commander and chief.
Now wait a second…the Obama administration is no different in that regard, and frankly, I am glad they aren’t.
Well, if you go by Republican reaction to Obama’s salute to the Marine when he was getting on AF1, it’s not just a perk…it’s absolutely forbidden and only an idiot who is genetically incapable of understanding military regulations would ever do it.
Since that NATO code is for Australia, I think that’s probably more likely to be a parasol.
Oh, they get themselfs some rain in Australia sometimes.
That’s another one of those image problems where nobody can do anything right for trying.
Strictly speaking a civilian, any civilian , from the POTUS down to my nephew, is not expected to give/return a military salute. Even if s/he’s reserve/retired military, s/he is not expected to do so when out of uniform.
Servicemembers saluting POTUS is a one-way requirement. A uniformed member saluting the CinC individually can be responded to by the Prez simply *acknowledging *the salute and addressing the servicemember, at which point the uniformed member recovers to attention. When the salute is made because the POTUS is walking past your position w/o actual interaction it should be as if saluting the passing colors: hold the salute 'til he passes you and either has moved a certain distance or a certain time has elapsed, then drop the salute.
But really, (a) What Sergeant Major is in charge of yelling at the POTUS that he can’t salute back if he feels like it? And, (b) if a POTUS does not return the salute then he’s ignoring the troops and acting superior and scornful, but if he *does *return the salute then he’s being disrespectful because he’s not one of them – so you might as well do whatever makes you feel comfortable and makes fools scream the least. (Supposedly the affectation to return salutes dates to Reagan in contemporary usage, but I’m not sure if that’s right).
Having been to a few similar events, I doubt you could get within a mile of the President with an umbrella. You simply cannot bring an umbrella into the venue and at each checkpoint you will find hundreds of discarded umbrellas.
Well, you gotta be wary of poison darts.
And ricin.
And the Penguin.
And Mary Poppins. I never trusted that bitch.
Now, if only those marines had floated in, hanging onto their umbrellas…
…then this story might actually be, y’know, interesting.
Which brings up a good point. How does the Independent Voter react to these kind of stories? This sort of vindictive nit-picking by the right wing would push me away from the Republican Party so fast… “Honey, the righties are rolling out another hate-filled screed about something minor.” “Thanks, hon. Well, looks like I’m voting for Anyone Without An ‘R’ After Their Name next time…”
Why would I still be angry? I don’t give a rat’s ass about people’s colour. I go by what they do, rather than their skin colour.
BTW, Jesus was “coloured” to some extent, being a Semite, or did you think he was a white guy?
White ricin is no good. Brown ricin is much better for you.
We have had, I think three four star or better Generals become President: Washington, Grant and Eisenhower. When they became President were they no longer Generals at that point?
The President of the United States is a Civilian, whatever his previous job.
Washington had resigned his Congressional commission at the end of the Revolution, though he probably remained in the Virginia militia (reservist). Was re-commissioned federally by Adams after leaving office (and BTW in his lifetime was “only” a LtGen).
Grant and Eisenhower were retired. Eisenhower resigned his lifetime 5-star appointment to run and was reinstated to it by Act of Congress after leaving office.
That brings up an interesting question.
It’s my understanding that retired military personnel retain the right to wear their uniform on certain occasions. Do presidents have that right revoked, or do they just not wear the uniform (even as former presidents) because it would look too banana-republic-ish?
I don’t recall ever seeing a picture of *any *President or former President who had been a military officer of *any *rank wearing a uniform during or after his time in office. For that matter, I can’t remember seeing *any *former high-ranking officer in uniform at any public occasion after retirement, either.
Here is a close as you will come: File:George W. Bush walks with Ryan Phillips to Navy One.jpg - Wikipedia
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/press-past/2013/05/01/the-other-symbol-of-george-w-bushs-legacy
Considering that “Semites” can be either white or “coloured”(as you put it) that’s a remarkably ignorant post even by your standards.
Please go away. The adults are talking.