Obama's First Change

While running for the presidency, then senator Barack Hussein Obama pledged that his government would be one of change. As president elect, under new policies put into place by President George W. Bush, president elect Obama began to select his cabinet; but from the looks of things there was no real change taking place - his cabinet consisted of many old Washington, DC hacks including quite a few from the prior Clinton Administration. So where was all this change that Obama had spoken about, when would it come. We did not have to wait long to find out, but I have seen little mention of it, certainly nothing on the major online news media networks that I remember.

On the bitterly cold night of January 20th, just hours after Barack Hussein Obama was sworn in as president of the United States of America, he instituted what may have been his first change in the way presidents have done things for the past 56 years, and that was by way of the cold shoulder. The most telling thing about the change I am about to describe is that it was one that had the effect of being extremely discourteous and disrespectful to the members of the United States Military Services. You see, ever since the day of the presidential inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower in January 1953, each and every president since then - with only one exception - has attended a certain gala event - a ball - on the night of his inauguration. Of course, President Obama attended many balls on the night of his inauguration, just like virtually all others before him. He reportedly attended 10 balls that night, all with no worry about time to attend and no worry about whether or not security would be tight enough at each. As a matter of fact his disregard for security concerns was amazing considering the amount of drug users and other undesirables who would be at some of these events; but that is not the point. The point is that he attended these events and had no excuse not to attend them. He attended such events as: The Neighborhood Ball, The Home State Ball (for two states, both Illinois and Hawaii), the Commander In Chief Ball, a youth ball, and several regional balls. Yet somehow he managed to miss a ball that every president since and including Dwight D. Eisenhower back in 1953 was able to attend, one that he was honor bound to attend if only because of his dependence upon the image of Abraham Lincoln.

The one he missed was the Salute To Heroes Inaugural Ball. This ball is special indeed because it honors a group of very select individuals. The people who are honored, as one can guess from the name of the ball, are all heroes. More importantly they are American heroes - either citizens or legal immigrants. Even more importantly is the type of hero who is honored. You see these are not make believe television heroes, they are not sports figures who earn millions, they are not rappers, they are not talk show hosts, they are not political hacks - or in other words they are not like many if not most of those in attendance at the balls President Barack Hussein Obama actually attended. While they can be any of the above, in fact they could be any loyal American man or woman of almost any background at all, there is something else that makes them heroes, something different about them. That something is that they have all performed their duties heroically. You see, these heroes the real deal.

The people honored by the Salute To Heroes Inaugural Ball are ones who have been honored since 1953 by the American Legion and 13 other veterans organizations, and who should be honored by each and every citizen and legal resident alien (and anyone else) living in the U.S.A.. They have also been honored by each and every president since then with the one exception of Barack Hussein Obama. You see this ball honors those of the United States Military who have achieved the highest honor that this land can bestow upon any of her military service people. They are all medal of honor winners. This year there were reportedly 47 (or 48 depending on which report you see) medal of honor winners in attendance at the ball. Yes, that means there were 48 folks there who risked their own lives doing service for our country above and beyond the call of duty; and guess what - President Barack Hussein Obama turned a cold shoulder to them. He apparently paid them less attention than he would a piece of dog excrement stuck on his shoe. While he sent Vice president Joe Biden to said ball, I would be willing to bet that President Obama himself would take the effort to scrape dog excrement off of his own shoe instead of having the Vice President do it for him.

So with whom did President Obama decide to spend his evening/night at the 10 balls he attended. Well he spent some of it it with these people instead of with the Medal Of Honor Winners: Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Mary. J. Blige, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, will.i.am, Sting, Mariah Carey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kanye West, Kid Rock, Marc Anthony, Cheryl Crow, Beyonce, Usher, Shakira, will.i.am, Samuel L. Jackson, Sting. I have to wonder, other than in movies, what honors have they won for service to their country.

What is the Medal of Honor. Well first of all it is correctly called The Congressional Medal Of Honor. Not because it is awarded by congress, it is actually awarded by the president, but because it was a bill put through Congress that led to its creation and because it is awarded in the name of Congress. This medal is an award, no actually more an honor, bestowed upon servicemen and women of the United States Military forces who have distinguished themselves either in battle or otherwise in the face of the enemy during hostilities. It is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a U.S. Military Service Person. There are three types of Medal of Honor currently awarded, one for the Army (pictured), one for the Navy and one for the Air Force. President Lincoln signed the bill into law, on July 12, 1862 authorizing this Medal of Honor. To date about 3,468 of them have been awarded for heroism "above and beyond the call of duty". Yes folks that means that out of all of the U.S. soldiers, seamen, marines and airmen who have served their country since July 12, 1862, only a relative handful have performed their duties in a manner to become Medal of Honor recipients. Only those few since the time of Lincoln!

Yes, you remember president Abraham Lincoln. He is the same president upon whose bible President Elect Barack Hussein Obama laid his hand while swearing into office. Lincoln, whom Senator Obama quoted and referred to throughout his own candidacy. Lincoln who sent northern soldiers to fight against their brothers in the south so that slaves could be freed and all men would truly become equal while at the same time preserving the Union. Lincoln, the president who was in office when the Medal of Honor was created, and who signed the bill authorizing its creation. Lincoln the first president to award said medal to anyone. Lincoln, the man upon whose image President Obama leans so heavily. I wonder, would Abraham Lincoln have snubbed Medal of Honor winners on the night of his inauguration had such a ball been held back then. I doubt it very much, it is not fitting with the history of that great man. I think, and this is my personal opinion, only a lessor man would do so, a much lessor man in my opinion.

Now as for the people whom in essence seemingly were ignored by President Obama, those living Medal of Honor winners who were in attendance at the 2009 Salute To The Heroes Inaugural Ball - who are they? I don't know, I do not have their names, but you can be assured that they deserved much more from our 44th president. If you want, you probably need do just a bit of detective work to find out who attended. You see there are only about 98 living Medal of Honor winners today, and 47 or 48 or them attended this ball. Even without knowing who they are I can tell you something about them, and the words I will use are to be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 32, Volume 2, Revised as of July 1, 2002, from the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access [CITE: 32CFR578.4][Page 395-396]. You can see them by visiting this link: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2002/julqtr/32cfr578.4.htm; but I will also reprint them here. These words tell you more than I ever could about who are the men and women who have received the Medal Of Honor (please note the below is specific to the Army but the words pretty much describe those of all branches of service who have received the medal):

The Medal of Honor, established by Joint Resolution of Congress, 12 July 1862 (amended by Act of 9 July 1918 and Act of 25 July 1963) is awarded in the name of Congress to a person who, while a member of the Army, distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party (figure 1). The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his comrades and must have involved risk of life. Incontestable proof of the performance of the service will be exacted and each recommendation for the award of this decoration will be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit. Eligibility is limited to members of the Army of the United States in active Federal military service.

Did you catch this part: "...distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States..."

What about this part: "The deed performed must have been one of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his comrades and must have involved risk of life."

Do you see it? Do you realize the type of people who are the winners of the Medal of Honor? These heroes are not the plastic type, they are as I said above - the real deal. They are people who have gone beyond anything that others have done in the service of their country, and many have paid with their lives while doing so. Yet, there was no time in the president's busy but gala schedule to attend a ball honoring them.

What about this one: "Incontestable proof of the performance of the service will be exacted and each recommendation for the award of this decoration will be considered on the standard of extraordinary merit."

Do you understand that one? What it is saying is that in order to receive the medal of Honor, the act performed must have been proven upon the standard of extraordinary merit. Heck our current president apparently did not even have to prove, by way of producing even a birth certificate, that he was a natural born citizen of the United States. Our president is the same man who during his campaign promised great respect for our military. Yet, he evidently again fails to prove himself, and his words, by way of not giving the same respect as others before him, since 1953, have given to these brave few who performed deeds "...of personal bravery or self-sacrifice so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual above his comrades and must have involved risk of life." Medal of Honor winners - who are they? They are the people of the United States Military who first won their medals during Lincoln's war. These are people who "conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States" did the right thing for their country. That is who they are, the winners of the Medal Of Honor; but who is President Barack Hussein Obama? In my opinion President Barack Hussein Obama is the man who now holds the distinct dishonor of being the first president throughout a 56 year span and 14 presidential inaugurations to show the Medal of Honor recipients disrespect by not attending the inaugural ball. On January 20, 2009, at the Salute To The Heroes Inaugural Ball, the Medal of Honor recipients were ready to honor their new president as they had done without fail at 14 inaugurations prior this one; but in a change from those prior 14 inaugurations this president was not willing to honor them. Is that the change he promised us?

All the best,

Glenn B

references:

http://www.medalofhonor.com/

http://www.history.army.mil/moh.html

http://www.clevelandleader.com/print/8627

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/8666

http://www.cmohs.org/medal/medal_history.htm

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2002/julqtr/32cfr578.4.htm

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=42681

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Medal_of_Honor#cite_note-regulations-0

http://www.heraldextra.com/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,558/func,view/id,429847/catid,2/