Replies

Let the liberals keep shoving their collective feet down their throats. Especially in public venues like Mrs. King's funeral.

This is one of those times where I'm a bit out of step with the opinion of most posters here - sometimes, I think, we can get too partisan, and forget that a President has responsibilities that transcend day to day politics and political disagreements, and that these responsibilities sometimes need to be honored even if this makes a President and his supporters uncomfortable.

ML King was a Civil Rights Leader and and “anti-war” leader”, and toward the end of his life he had make it clear that he considered the latter as or more important than the former.

This was uncomfortable to many who – then as now - wish to embrace the former while ignoring or downplaying the latter, but his anti-war beliefs were an integral part of King’s life and King’s message, and it’s not surprising that one of his associates from that era would cite both parts of Kings message in a eulogy – in fact, it would have dishonest to Kings memory and his principles to soft-pedal this fact aspect of his life and work because prominent members of the audience might not have agreed with them.

The way I see it the President attended this event not in his role as representative of his party or philosophy, but rather as a sort of “official” representative of an American Public that’s deeply divided and conflicted about many of these same issues, he knew he was choosing to attend an event honoring individuals who espoused values and polices with which he in part disagrees; and he knew that those disagreements would likely be voiced.

In such a situation IMO a President's role is to honor by their presence that part with which they agree, and to react with the class and restraint befitting their role as President of all the people when the part with which they disagree is valorized. Which is exactly what this President did.

But this was an event honoring ML and Coretta Scott King, and as they attempted to honor King’s memory the speakers chosen by the Family owed no responsibility to tailor their comments to insure the comfort of anyone present – even the President of the United States – just as the eulogists at the Funeral of a Ronald Regan would have no responsibility to downplay his opinions and polices for the comfort of Democrats present.

This is one of those times where I'm a bit out of step with the opinion of most posters here - sometimes, I think, we can get too partisan, and forget that a President has responsibilities that transcend day to day politics and political disagreements, and that these responsibilities sometimes need to be honored even if this makes a President and his supporters uncomfortable.

ML King was a Civil Rights Leader and and “anti-war” leader”, and toward the end of his life he had make it clear that he considered the latter as or more important than the former.

This was uncomfortable to many who – then as now - wish to embrace the former while ignoring or downplaying the latter, but his anti-war beliefs were an integral part of King’s life and King’s message, and it’s not surprising that one of his associates from that era would cite both parts of Kings message in a eulogy – in fact, it would have dishonest to Kings memory and his principles to soft-pedal this fact aspect of his life and work because prominent members of the audience might not have agreed with them.

The way I see it the President attended this event not in his role as representative of his party or philosophy, but rather as a sort of “official” representative of an American Public that’s deeply divided and conflicted about many of these same issues, he knew he was choosing to attend an event honoring individuals who espoused values and polices with which he in part disagrees; and he knew that those disagreements would likely be voiced.

In such a situation IMO a President's role is to honor by their presence that part with which they agree, and to react with the class and restraint befitting their role as President of all the people when the part with which they disagree is valorized. Which is exactly what this President did.

But this was an event honoring ML and Coretta Scott King, and as they attempted to honor King’s memory the speakers chosen by the Family owed no responsibility to tailor their comments to insure the comfort of anyone present – even the President of the United States – just as the eulogists at the Funeral of a Ronald Regan would have no responsibility to downplay his opinions and polices for the comfort of Democrats present.