Eagle Scout son Buster, rappelling down cliff; part of 50 mile Trek
The 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America is an occasion worth noting by an American president; the organization can count among its former members numerous Presidents, Astronauts, Military Leaders, Legislators, Churchmen, Public Servants, Businessmen, Environmentalists, First Responders and Entrepreneurs who, as scouts, learned basic values of citizenship, responsibility, leadership skills and a code of conduct that has informed their whole lives.
My husband, hearing a public safety announcement about rules for summer safety (“do not dive in shallow water; thoroughly douse campfires…”) said to me the other day, “it’s funny; the government will pay all sorts of money to create these messages, but this is basic safety instruction that every boyscout (and Girl Scout) learns. You’d think the government would want to promote an organization that teaches health, safety and survival skills and encourages learning and self-sufficiency, but it doesn’t. It would cost the government nothing to encourage kids to join scouting, and it would create better citizens.”
This week President Obama has chosen to fly to New York, and appear on The View, to bask in the gushes of the Upper West Side, rather than spend any time at a special-event Boy Scout Jamboree that he could drive to.
President Obama will make history as the first sitting president on a daytime talk show when he visits with the ladies of “The View.” But he’ll be missing out on another historic occasion — the Boy Scouts’ Jamboree marking the group’s 100th anniversary, right in the president’s backyard.
The Jamboree kicked off this week at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where organizers had invited the president to speak to the 45,000 scouts in attendance. All three of Obama’s predecessors have made it to one Jamboree while in office.
But the president will instead be traveling Wednesday to New York for a taping of the ABC show, as well as Democratic fundraisers and a stop in New Jersey. The talk show appearance comes as campaign season moves into full swing, but also amid efforts to cap the Gulf oil spill for good, contain the damage from an unprecedented leak of Afghanistan war documents and battle Arizona over its immigration law — set to go into effect Thursday. Obama also has an out-of-town event planned for Friday in Detroit.
Emphasis mine.
Obama is sending a videotaped message, of course, and sometimes that is what presidents have to do, depending up on their schedules, but as honorary president of an organization that has served the nation well and is celebrating a meaningful anniversary so nearby, doesn’t it seem like there should have been an available half-hour?
After all, he can make dubious “history” as the first sitting president to visit the The View any time he wants to, but the BSA will only have its 100th Anniversary Jamboree this week.
But celebrating 100 years of Scouting history would be about the scouts, wouldn’t it? His “history making” appearance on a ghastly daytime talk program will be all about him.
A no-brainer, then.
I’ve heard people wonder whether Obama is the president of the whole country, or just those districts that voted for him and would do so again, unreservedly, as in the Upper West Side. I’ve heard people wonder if the government wants to promote dependency over self-sufficiency. Perhaps Obama’s choices give us our answer.
Isn’t it also true that President Obama has refrained from signing Eagle Scout certificates, something which the President customarily does?
[The president does not sign Eagle Certificates, I don't think, but usually sends a letter of congratulations. I had heard rumors that Obama was not sending them, but my son got his Eagle letter from President Obama, about six months after the ceremony, but hey, he got one. Also rec'd letters from Former Presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush. Not Carter, though -admin]
As the mom of an Eagle Scout and wife of a former troop leader, I am not at all impressed with the president’s choice of audiences.
My son is in Scouts, and my family is very active in the Scouting movement. Just from observing the work my wife does organizing an annual Cub-o-Ree, I can tell you that volunteers put in countless (literally) hours of their own time to help boys become good men and citizens.
I can also tell you that this year is very, very big for Scouting. The 100th anniversary, and this year’s Jamboree, are important. Scouts are coming to Fort AP Hill from all over the country, and the absence of the President for this historic event is a major, deliberate snub.
And make absolutely no mistake: this snub is about the BSA’s refusal to allow gay leaders and Scouts, and his contempt for the values at the heart of Scouting.
This is not a scheduling problem. (The event was scheduled years in advance.) This is a statement.
Message received, Mr. President.
[My understanding is that while gays are excluded from being Scoutmasters, they are not excluded from volunteering, and certainly not from being scouts. My sons knew several gay scouts while they were in scouting, and it was a complete non-issue for everyone, as it had nothing to do with the skills and values (honesty, trust, dependability, kindness, etc) that they were learning. And frankly, I suspect the troop would have been fine with a gay ass't scoutmaster, as long as he was there to help out, and not simply to make a political point -admin]
Hey, he IS making history. Worst pres yet and, by snubbing the scouts, he continues to make history.
My Irish mother calls folks like him “idjits”. I concur. How short sited of him. But, hey, the Scouts stand for things American, wholesome and real so, best for him to stay the heck away from those nice kids.
I meant to say “openly gay.” The official BSA policy does bar openly gay scouts as well as leaders, which was the crux of the BSA v. Dale decision. (Philadelphia just tried to expel the BSA from their own headquarters because of this policy.)
In practice, however, I think the local leaders usually have more of a don’t ask, don’t tell policy.
[That has been our experience. -admin]
Yeah – but, he’s sending Biden in his place – right? That would make it all better.
Re- my comment above. Thank you for the clarification, apparently there was also an administrative lag at work in the letter issuance, so there have been some unfair rumors in circulation. I stand corrected.
I’ve heard from parents in one of our local troops that they would not like gay leaders, assistants or whatever. They want to keep them far from their boys as long as they can. Sounds harsh but…
One astute political observer pointed out that this trip was scheduled for fundraising reasons, but by adding the appearance on “The View,” it becomes official business that we, the taxpayers, are obliged to pay for. Thanks a lot. The Boy Scouts are better off without him anyway.
Obama is going for his overexposure merit badge.
This is another public relations/handlers-epic-fail decision. Stupid stupid and more stupid.
[Yeah... this WH is not any smarter about PR than the Vatican!
-admin]
Trustworthy – nope.
Loyal – nope.
Helpful – not so much.
Friendly – nope, not this one either. (quoting from the BSA Scout Handbook: “A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He seeks to understand others. He respects those with ideas and customs other than his own.”)
Kind – Not that I’ve seen and he did kill that fly on national tv. (Yes, I’m taking doesn’t hurt or kill harmless things without a reason to an extreme there…sorry…but who has he been kind to that can’t help him?)
Courteous – Ask Prime Minister Netanyahu, but I’d say no.
Obedient – possibly, I didn’t know him when he was young and had someone to answer to. But, he’s not making his DOJ obey the laws of the US in the NBPP case or in protecting the military’s voting rights so I’m going with no here too.
Cheerful – no. (Another quote. …”He tries to make others happy.”)
Thrifty – How big is the deficit again????
Brave – I am not sure that he even knows what he thinks is right, much less that he would stand for it if threatened or even laughed at.
Clean – Yes. FINALLY! I found one!!!! Of course, that’s not as hard as it was 100 years ago, but I found one.
Reverent – No, again. I can’t call anyone who let the media call him “sort of a god” reverent.
Twelve core values. Twelve things that my boys have had ingrained in them since 1st grade as Tiger Cubs. And the President of the United States can only manage one. Maybe he didn’t go see the Scouts at AP Hill because they are all better men than he and most of them haven’t even turned 18 yet. Wow.
It’s possible that I’ve been uncharitable here, but now I’m convicted even more to pray for Mr. Obama.
The other thing to bear in mind is that few to none of those Boy Scouts are going to be of voting age come November.
I guess it’s all about getting out the vote in November. He doesn’t want to lose all of those shallow women who watch “The View”. Next stop is the Ellen Degeneres show. I hear he’s been practicing that cute little “Ellen dance”.
Not only is this the 100th Anniversary Jamboree, this is also the last one at Fort A.P. Hill. Due to pressure, the Army has rescinded its traditional role in helping the Boy Scouts host the Jamboree.
The Girl Scouts had a similar event, called a “Round-Up.” The Army backed out of assisting with that, citing their logistics were stretched too thin because of the war in Vietnam.
“I’ve heard people wonder whether Obama is the president of the whole country, or just those districts that voted for him and would do so again, unreservedly, as in the Upper West Side. I’ve heard people wonder if the government wants to promote dependency over self-sufficiency. Perhaps Obama’s choices give us our answer.”
It is my belief that Obama is not feel he is President of “America” at all. He sees himself as the “progressive” leader of the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth.
But America as such he hates. I am convinced of that. He never even fakes saying he likes it. He never says good things about it. He never misses a chance to demean or belittle “America”. He has been perfect there.
He is surely the “God Damn America” President. It is absurd and an exercise in willful denial to think he sat in that Church for two decades – that is One Thousand and Forty Sundays – and did not absorb and internalize the message.
America is in grave danger. It’s President, and most of its Congress and Judges hate it. They have been schooled that way for 40 years. The teaching worked.
It’s us or them. Period. I wish it was different. It’s not. The both of us will not come out of this thing intact. It’s a Thunderdome situation and they hold all the power spots right now. We are way way behind and it may already be too late. We’ll know in November.
Scouts will be here in 2110, and this administration will then be but a footnote.
That’s what I think.
There’s an old aphorism: A man is known by the company he keeps. Nuff said.
Mike Mc.
You make good points. One of the major themes of the OT is how subject the Jews were to pagan influences because they failed to teach their children.
Joe Odegaard
From your finger tips to God’s mind – before 2012!
President Obama appearing on “The View” with that band of cackling harridans?
Is the man a masochist?
“I’ve heard people wonder whether Obama is the president of the whole country, or just those districts that voted for him and would do so again, unreservedly, as in the Upper West Side. I’ve heard people wonder if the government wants to promote dependency over self-sufficiency. Perhaps Obama’s choices give us our answer.” -Anchoress
Yes, yes, and yes. It’s very clear.
I read tonight that he is appearing on the View to recapture the Soccer Moms that have just ‘slipped away’. I guess the Moms will be so impressed with his TV appearance that it will completely slip their minds that the President ditched their scouts for face time with the well heeled and connected elites.
Our society has evolved to the point where we actually recognize the civil rights of homosexual people. The boy scouts have decided to make their organization exclusive to heterosexuals. I believe they have some good reasons for doing it. But the President of the United States should not support an exclusive organization by appearing under their banner. His decision in this case is really that simple, irregardless of the usual knee jerk outrage.
[So, the president should only appear before public or publicly-funded audiences, not private? Because private audiences still have the right to free association; that's in the constitution. Are you suggesting that the president should not acknowledge constitutionally provided-for concepts? Then I suppose he should not accept being "honorary" president of the BSA. But as long as he HAS accepted it, he should have made a point to spend a few minutes with them. - admin]
I once used an expression asking in so many words if we were looking for an “Old Bomb Ma” and I must confessed that sinner vic liked “IT” but I think that “IT” is much better to pray for him instead cause throwing bombs can only harm God’s Children. Don’t you think?
I hope that he’s forgiven this Canadian and for what “IT” is worth I’m still praying for him.
Peace
(Barbara wrote – “Our society has evolved to the point where we actually recognize the civil rights of homosexual people.”)
On the contrary, our society has devolved to the point where we are actually segregating ourselves and devaluing our humanity based on the narrowness of our sexual dysfunctions.
Celebrating and elevating our individual brokenness does not help any of us to reach the truth of our wholeness.
Mr. Obama is just snubbing a large number of voters… it does not matter.
Congrats to your son for earning Eagle Scout.
I’m with Barbara, Anchoress. While as a private organization the scouts can discriminate against whichever groups they choose (as long as it’s legal), I would not favor government support for those groups.
Maybe if it had been the Young Pioneers or the Komsonol instead of the Scout Obungle would have attended.
I was a Scout at the last Jamboree and I remember how excited everybody was to see the President. Early in the week there was a rumor that President Bush had a conflict and was going to cancel his speech; but he found a way to be there anyway. He made a sincere speech that showed his appreciation for the BSA and its commitment to God and country. It must be a terrible commitment to get a snub and a video from Obama instead.
*disappointment not “commitment”
Proud parent of a Fire Explorer here, and as far as I am concerned, Obama does not belong anywhere near Fort AP Hill. He is doing us a big favor by not sullying the anniversary of a proud organization. And he can stay away the other 364 days of the year as well. I don’t want him sullying the Army any more than he already does by being CIC.
F @ #9: Don’t confuse homosexuality with pedophilia. They are not the same thing and to misconstrue them is quite dangerous and counterproductive.
MikeMc @ #18: I think you are right on target with your assessment. However, when it comes to your Thunderdome analogy, would you rather be in the roll of the progressive or the Patriot? Not much of a challenge there. It’s going to get messy and there will be entire chapters written in future American History textbooks of what is to come, but note well that we will not be the ones vanquished.
Barbara says “the President should not support an exclusive organization by appearing under their banner.” Hmmm. How far are you willing to take that? Has the President ever appeared in front of the NAACP? The League of Women Voters? NOW? Is there an organization in America that is NOT exclusive in some way? His own church was run by a racist, anti-semite/anti-capitalist, so that seems pretty exclusive.
Furthermore, which civil rights do the Boy Scouts take away from gays? I cannot join the American Legion, the V.F.W. or the Girl Scouts. Are my civil rights being violated? If so, how? If not, why not?
Here’s an example from my own life. I am a member of the Boy Scouts. My older brother was a member of the Gay Mens’ Chorus of Portland, Maine. Which is more discriminatory in terms of joining requirements? Which one should the President endorse?
President Obama made a political calculation–probably correctly–that the barking shrews of “The View” would provide him with more political capital than the Boy Scouts. To dress it up as some sort of moral stance further demeans the office of the President.
His choice here doesn’t surprise me. Remember how he didn’t put his hand over his heart for the pledge of allegiance in 2008? I’m sure he puts things like the boy scouts in the same category, i.e., weird American stuff that he doesn’t like.
Don’t confuse pedophilia with homosexuality? Okay, this is something I’ve never understood. While I understand that there are male predators who will molest underage females, that isn’t the case with the boy scouts. How many straight men are going to molest underage males? Or is there some definition of homosexual that makes a deliniation at the age of 18?
Bottom line, most parents are going to be uncomfortable with openly homosexual scout leaders. And Boy Scouts pay enough in liability insurance as it is. There is a long history of “priors” here. You cannot blame the BSA for saying “why take a chance?” Think of it as a convergence of two leftist groups, gay activists, and trial lawyers. Okay, that was snarky but I couldn’t resist. The trial lawyers won.
Finally, President’s used to sign Eagle Scout certificates. Mine was signed by Reagan.
[ I will have to go look at my son's certificates. One made Eagle under Bush and one under Obama--really Bush but the ceremony was put off too long. So, I'll have to take a look. I'm not even sure where they are, just now...everyone has packed stuff up.-admin]
“The View” is an embarrassment for women everywhere. No President should ever appear on it. What’s next, Jerry Springer???
If he had been there, whatever he said would have been denounced. Perhaps he thought that, being as some people will condemn anything, it wouldn’t matter what he actually did.
[Knowing Scouts as I do, and as this Eagle attests, I doubt that very much -admin]
No, Dry Valleys, nothing he said at the Scout Jamboree would have been denounced. At least, not by the audience at Fort A.P. Hill.
Go read my first comment: A scout is courteous. End of conversation. If my sons have nothing nice to say, they keep their mouths shut.
Now, would the media or pundits not like it, maybe. But there will be media and pundits who don’t like his going on the View as well so if your theory holds, President Obama should have stayed in D.C. and worked, which is what he was elected to do. Heaven knows, with 10% unemployment, an oil spill in the Gulf and no federal budget yet, there is work to be done.
No boy scouts in Indonesia (well they may have Indonesian Boy Scouts, but Barack was not a member), so Barack does not get it. Plus they are homophobes and inflame his base.
Scouts must be associated with guns and religion in the mind of President Obama; thus a bitter thing.
I am still at a loss as to why this is surprising in the least.
Aside from the PR, I’d suggest it’s at least as much a failure on political grounds. On The View, he’s going to be reaching today’s voters, many of whom probably were going to vote for him anyway. At the jamboree, he’d have had a chance to speak to, and make an impression on, some young men who are potential and persuadable future voters, both over the next few years and the next few decades. Not to mention potential future leaders. That’s what really surprises me, that a guy with that big of an ego blew off the chance to meet and greet the Eagle Scouts and potentially be the JFK to one of those guys’ Bill Clinton. But of course, had he gone, some of the base would have squealed like Ned Beatty. Can’t have that.
I deserve a merit badge for getting through an episode of The View without clawing my eyes out.
As an Eagle Scout, and the son of a career-long Executive Director for the organization, and as a priest: I find this surprising not in the least.
In response to dry valleys:
Scouting tends to be fairly politically neutral, as far as the Scouts themselves are concerned. A chance to see the president, and for the lucky ones, shake his hand, would be a real honor for these guys, who tend to be patriots more than activists.
It should come as no surprise, however, that the Scouts firmly hold to a set of values. The organization is geared toward character-building, and this includes a theistic view. My lack of surprise has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with basic, fundamental moral values which have become political issues over the years.
Heard said ‘never to ascribe to malice what is easily explainable as incompetence.’
Going on “The View” plays to our President’s core competencies: campaigning, and speaking with people who are of the same mind.
Going to the BSA’s 100th Anniversary Jamboree exposes our President’s weakness: an inability to communicate with people who are not like him in terms of politics.
Our President could have done both events since he has Air Force 1 at his disposal. That his staff did not recognise the capabilties inherent in flying machines; and the willingness of the The View’s staff to accomodate our President’s schedule is sheer incompetence.
It must be hard to be a Patron with so many bumblers on staff.
As an aside, I wonder if young men make our President nervous? Other than our Marines guarding him, one never sees young men or male children around him. I wonder if that’s a testament to being essentially fatherless and un-learned in being a role model to growing males.
I know the Scouts would have listened politely to what he said, I mean the usual elements of the press. I can certainly understand being worn down by media who are intent on condemning everything right down to what he eats.
It was not my intention to say anything negative about scouts, albeit I left my comment too short for that to be clear.
Also, none of my friends are sophisticated or “biens pensants”. I haven’t been attending Ivy League colleges Islington dinner parties in the recent pat, I assure you. In fact I lead an impeccably working-class life.
So it’s a scandal that the president believes adult women are more worthy partners for political conversation than male children?
Something tells me we wouldn’t see any comparable outrage were Obama to fail to visit an anniversary of the Girl Scouts.
[Of course we will. Scouters are scouters. And the children are citizens, aren't they? They have parents, don't they? Wouldn't it be better for a "leader" address forming minds over minds that are made up? How narrow your view is! -admin]
He described whites and blacks as “mongrels” on the View. What kind of a person uses this kind of language. The guy really freaks me out.
Boy Scouts … you know, not really Obama’s demographic.