Obama Snubs Nation's Heroes, Becomes the First President
to Skip Ball Honoring Medal of Honor Recipients in Over 50 Years
Submitted by Julie on January 21, 2009 - 10:13pm.
2008 News Politics U.S. Government U.S. Politics World Politics
Barack Obama may have stumbled over his words briefly during his
inauguration, but he made an even bigger blunder later Tuesday
evening.
The newly sworn-in President opted not to appear at what should have
been one of the most important Balls on his agenda that evening -
"The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball."
The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball was begun in 1953 for President
Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration. The event recognized recipients of the
Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award. There were 48 Medal
of Honor recipients in attendance, who were undoubtedly disappointed by
the new Commander-in-Chief's failure to show. Over the past 56 years and
14 inaugurations, no President has skipped this event - until now.
The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball is sponsored by the American Legion,
and co-sponsored by 13 other veteran's service organizations, including
those such as the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Military Order of
the Purple Heart.
Instead of attending this ball honoring our nation's heroes, Obama was
busy making stops at 10 other official balls. Obama and his wife's first
stop was at the Neighborhood Ball. From there they went to the Home State
Ball for Illinois and Hawaii, the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Youth
Inaugural Ball, and the Home State Ball for Delaware and Pennsylvania.
They finished off the night with brief appearances at the Mid-Atlantic,
Western, Midwest, Eastern, and Southern regional Balls.
Celebrities were a plenty at the balls, with Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Mary.
J. Blige, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, will.i.am, Sting,
Mariah Carey, and Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance at the Neighborhood
Ball. In addition, the other nine balls also featured a star-studded
lineup including Kanye West and Kid Rock at the Youth Ball, Marc Anthony
at the Western Ball, and Cheryl Crow at the Western
Ball.
It was the party without all of the celebrities that Obama skipped. The
very people who he sought to have support him during his candidacy and
campaign, who have fought to protect this country, were snubbed in favor
of publicity and the opportunity to rub shoulders - yet again - with the
out-of-touch Hollywood elite! |
