CNN is scandalized:
President Obama forgets to saluteAs is Politico:
President Obama seemingly preoccupied forgot one piece of protocol as he boarded Marine One on his way to Annapolis Friday.
Obama walked past the Marine at the bottom of the helicopter's stairs and didn't give the traditional salute.
Realizing his mistake upon entering Marine One the president pivoted in the doorway, jogged back down, shook hands and spoke briefly with the Marine, before boarding the helicopter for a second time.
President Barack Obama skipped a presidential tradition Friday, by not saluting the Marine standing guard outside of Marine One....Obama did not violate "protocol." He did not flout a deep-rooted American "tradition."
It's not the first time Obama's Marine salutation made news. In February 2009, Obama shook hands with the Marine outside of Marine One, when normally presidents just salute and board the helicopter.
As Garry Wills explained in 2007:
That is an innovation that was begun by Ronald Reagan. Dwight Eisenhower, a real general, knew that the salute is for the uniform, and as president he was not wearing one. An exchange of salutes was out of order.And as David Alexander of Reuters noted in 2008:
Reagan's decision raised eyebrows at the time....So this became "protocol" simply because Ronnie wanted to play soldier. Out of deference to a president who happened to be an overgrown child, the Marine Corps commandant said, "Sure, whatever you want."
John Kline, then Reagan's military aide and now a Minnesota congressman, advised him that it went against military protocol for presidents to return salutes.
Kline said in a 2004 op-ed piece in The Hill that Reagan ultimately took up the issue with Gen. Robert Barrow, then commandant of the Marine Corps.
Barrow told Reagan that as commander in chief of the armed forces, he was entitled to offer a salute -- or any sign of respect he wished -- to anyone he wished, Kline wrote....
So if Obama failed to salute, I heartily approve. He should never salute under these circumstances. No president should.
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AND: The Weekly Standard's Daniel Halper is also an idiot, as, apparently, is the entire White House press corps. From the pool report:
A few White House regulars were atwitter (and on Twitter) when the President walked directly up the steps of Marine One without saluting the Marine on duty.Oh, please. Get a grip.
