By Judi McLeod ——Bio and Archives--July 14, 2016
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Seeing how presidents, of both the ex and current variety, prime ministers and other ‘celebrities’ elected to public office have nothing but uncouth to put on display at Interfaith Memorial services intended to honour the dead and to comfort their bereaved, isn’t it high time to clamp down on their increasingly boorish behaviour?
Was it protocol or bully pulpit privilege that allowed President Barack Obama to make a speech about racism at the Memorial for five police officers shot down at the tail end of a Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas?
Wasn’t it racism that anti-white sniper Micah Xavier Johnson used to justify taking their lives?
Who sets the rules for who gets to speak at Interfaith Memorials, and more importantly, why is anyone, president or not, allowed to get away with lecturing all present and millions tuned in via television on racism on the very day of their Memorial?
Shouldn’t the tone and spirit of the last farewells of the departed belong to the ones who matter most--their loved ones who so profoundly and painfully grieve their passing?
Wasn’t the memorial for the five allen police officers supposed to be held for people to pay their “last respects” to them?
What was with the hand-holding George Bush, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama during the playing of ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’?
“At Tuesday's memorial for the five officers killed last week in an ambush attack in downtown Dallas, President Barack Obama was joined on stage by the first lady, vice president and his wife, former first lady Laura Bush, and a dancing former president — George W. Bush. (MySanAntonio)
“During a choir rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the former president, holding hands with his wife and Michelle Obama, began to sway back and forth, smiling and singing along to the music.
What must the children of some of the officers have thought when they saw this, the bopping and smiling of politicians on the same stage with the photos of of their fathers in plain view?
Among the VIPs, there were no more sincere expressions of respect, sincere expressions of grief and sorrow on that stage than there was in Barack Obama’s self-styled selfie with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Nelson Mandela’s 2013 Memorial.
Former President George W. Bush was dragged in disgrace over social media for his bizarre behaviour. The same critiques who portrayed him as a dancing fool gave Michelle Obama a pass for looking over at him and managing an “uncomfortable smile”.
Michelle Obama never dropped his hand or did anything else to restore dignity and decorum to the proceedings.
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“Social media critics said Bush–who swore off alcohol 30 years ago– looked like a party animal, ridiculing his clueless behavior at best as inappropriate, given the solemnity of the moment. (MySanAntonio)
“What an awkward time to be dancing like that,” one user wrote on a CNN video of the memorial. “I feel like Michelle’s face is like ‘what is this guy doing?’ “
“Another viewer said, “Are you kidding me? He’s an idiot. This is not the time or place to be dancing with a big smile on his face! What an embarrassment.”
“On Twitter, @BeardedGenius charged, “Someone tell George W Bush he’s at a funeral.”
“But others defended Bush as feeling the spirit and portraying the unity of the moment.
“Can you imagine being in a room with 2k or more officers and hearing that magnificent song and realizing for one moment…just for one moment…we all were getting along and singing praise? I would be swaying and rejoicing myself. God Bless this beautiful country and God’s speed to those fallen officers in this funeral service,” one viewer said.”
It’s not bopping, swaying, singing and smiling that belongs at a Memorial, but praying, decency and a show of respect.
It’s not safe spaces, and no-go zones that society needs but politician-free zones.
If the politicians of the day cannot be curbed from making public spectacles of themselves at the Memorials of others, then they should be heartily discouraged from attending them.
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