Is President Obama’s “Latte Salute” A Dark Brown Stain On The Memory Of Honor Itself?

President Obama offered neither Marine so much as a sip of his Grande Soy Pumpkin Spice Latte.

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You’ve probably heard about it by now, our asshole President saluted a Marine yesterday while holding a coffee cup in the same hand. Never, never have I seen such a rank display of wanton disrespect towards the men (not the women) of our proud military tradition as this and here’s a bunch of people who agree with me, thus proving that I’m right.

https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/514823280587726848

https://twitter.com/weknowwhatsbest/status/514612657144356864

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOb7virrH5E%5D

I wanted to prep you before you had to watch the dishonor displayed in that despicable diplay. Isn’t it despicable? Don’t you want to run off and join up with Red China just to get away from it? Now, watch it over and over until you kind of want to kill someone.

Even the nihilistic and, simultaneously, anarchic publication Gawker.com has their own America-hater and resident psychopath, Hamilton Nolan on the issue and clearly requesting a military coup to return the country to hands that are capable of saluting properly (and coffee-less).

You see, America has a great tradition of the Commander-in-Chief saluting soldiers who are of unimaginably lower rank than they are. This tradition has been going on for so long (about 30 years) that no one can remember that Ronald Reagan was pretty much the first President who ever saluted soldiers consistently. It makes sense, since Reagan was a Lieutenant with the U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Motion Picture Unit and spent the entirety of WW2 making training videos, many of which likely included a lot of proper style saluting.

Little did all the Presidents that preceded him know what abject failures they were and that’s including all the Presidents that actually served in combat roles or became Generals. Failures, every last one. Eisenhower never saluted when he was President, likely because he too hated America and was therefore possibly of Kenyan origin.

/sarcasm off

Where is all this bullshit anger coming from? Mostly people that didn’t serve? Yes.

Here’s why Presidents shouldn’t be saluting anyone…at all…ever. The below is an article entitled Mr. President, Don’t Salute Troops This 4th of July by Michael C. Desch, co-director of the Notre Dame International Security Program. It was published by Veterans News Now in 2012.

…now that we are increasingly electing individuals with little or no military service these presidents are returning the hand salute of members of the armed services more often. While one can find pictures of presidents before Ronald Reagan (who perfected it) returning the hand salute, an admittedly unscientific Google image search turns up relatively few examples of them doing so, and often it is not always clear whether they are actually “throwing the high-ball,” as my late father-in-law a career air force officer used to put it, or just waving.

Conversely, after Reagan it has become de rigueur for presidents to return the hand salute. Bill Clinton, who “loathed” the military and avoided serving in it during the Vietnam War, got off to a rocky start, saluting like Hawkeye Pierce in a M*A*S*H* rerun. Conversely, Barack Obama, who also did not serve in uniform, but was obviously a quicker study, or at least coached sooner, rendered a snappy salute from the get-go. George W. Bush, whose Vietnam-era service was shaky, not surprisingly returned some pretty shaky salutes. Still, it seems that the “militarization” of the presidency is accelerating precisely at the time in which its occupants have the flimsier military credentials. The cynic in me wonders whether they aren’t related? 

And the article concludes…

I am not saying that presidents should ignore the respect paid to them when members of the military salute them. I am simply saying that there is a more appropriate civilian way for them to acknowledge that salute, and thereby honor the service those individuals render to the country. President Truman, for example, was content to simply remove his hat. Since President Kennedy, few presidents have worn hats in public (another deplorable trend, in my humble opinion) so we need other means for them to acknowledge a military salute. I’d argue that a nod in the direction of the individual saluting, a quite word of thanks, and perhaps a handshake would be sufficient. Presidents should, of course, honor the troops — they just should not salute them.

Also, George Bush once saluted while squashing a dog but I can’t put it here since Getty Images owns it. Follow this link if you want to see it. I tried to include as many dog whistles in this as possible, including the title. Let me know if I missed any obvious ones.

And here’s your obligatory victory salute. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

featured image – YouTube