I was proud to see him there
I salute you, Mr. President.
Last week, in the middle of the night, President Obama went to Dover Air Force Base to attend the transfer ceremony of 18 fallen Americans returning in caskets from Afghanistan. He also paid his respects to their families.
These grim ceremonies usually happen without much notice. Media images of fallen troops coming home in flag-draped caskets have been very scarce during the last eight years since the wars began.
President Bush never witnessed the return of the dead, and his administration had a policy of barring news photographs of the caskets, knowing that he would lose support for the war if Americans regularly saw such images.
But, it must be said that Bush did go to Dover a few times to meet with grieving families.
And yes, I'm aware that a small percentage of military families don't want the media there.
Some people think that 'hiding' the caskets puts up a wall between the realities of war and the rest of Americans...that we need to be reminded of the hard cold facts of war, of the ultimate sacrifices paid.
Anyway, it didn't take long for the rabid righties to jump all over President Obama's Dover visit...whining about everything from his 'bringing cameras' to the way he saluted the caskets.
I say, if you want to remind America of the sacrifice of these fallen troops and their families, you bring cameras. The President's visit put the national spotlight on the saddest reality of the war in Afghanistan...right when he's struggling to make the best decision on the next phase of our involvement there.
It shows me that our Commander in Chief takes his job and responsibilities very seriously, and it probably helped him to put a human face on his decision...going there to see the horrible consequences of war. He was showing his awareness and respect for our military people as he decides whether to put more troops in harms way.
I read somewhere that Lincoln used to go to a certain window where he could see the funerals of Civil War soldiers -- sometimes 30 or 40 a day -- so that he could be reminded of the terrible cost of war.
And about that salute -- the military has been saluting Presidents for a long time, but they only started returning salutes recently...when Ronald Reagan (the actor) started it. All the Presidents since have continued the practice. Some of them made me laugh as they stepped off a helicopter and gave a jaunty crooked little salute.
I come from a military family and I know the proper way to salute -- a straight line running from elbow to fingertips, fingers and thumb tight together, the arm brought swiftly to the brim of the cap, no palm showing, and then lowered quickly to the side.
Every member of the Army and Marines that I asked about President Obama's Dover salute - some hard-nosed old drill instructors - said that he executed it perfectly. Also, that the guy in uniform next to him had a bent wrist.
UPDATE: As usual, MoDo says it better than anyone else;
