November 08, 2009
Now the Army's largest base has suffered a devastating attack by a deranged Islamist. And how does our Commander in Chief respond? He gives a "shout out" to Joe Medicine Crow, "that noted Congressional Medal of Honor winner".
Tell me something: in a moment of national tragedy, is it really too much to expect that the President of the United States not give "shout outs"? Is it too much ask that he understand the difference between the Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Honor? What we require from our leaders at times like this is not much. They don't have to actually care. What we want is precisely the kind of thing that comes easily to Barack Obama: honeyed words and a show of empathy from a man who thinks that quality is the most important attribute a Supreme Court judge can possess. But somehow, asking the Commander in Chief of our armed forces to to give the appearance of empathy even if the actual feeling was not there - was too much.
Americans expect something more from leaders in times of trouble. Grace. Empathy. Inspiration. A sense of gravity. When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded killing 7 astronauts, Ronald Reagan postponed the State of the Union report to address and assuage the nation's shock and mourning.
And an absolute must-read from JR Salzman about true PTSD:
Posted by: Sarah at
01:10 PM
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Post contains 390 words, total size 3 kb.
As for the PTSD, shameful, shame on everyone who even thinks that would be his problem. My son-in-law was in Vietnam and he is totally disabled with PTSD and the whole family has been adversely affected by it.
And for TT who reads this too, you don't have to comment, Mama already did. ;D
Posted by: Ruth H at November 08, 2009 02:15 PM (CvvEA)
But then, there's that whole Nobel Prize thing... I guess if you get a Nobel Prize for doing nothing, you view other things through that lens as well.
Posted by: airforcewife at November 08, 2009 04:05 PM (uE3SA)
Posted by: Mare at November 09, 2009 09:06 AM (HUa8I)
There's no "Congressional" about it.
The medal is approved by the respective secretaries of the service that awards it, and it is awarded by the President. Congress only authorized the issuing of the medal in general. They passed a resolution creating the medal, and take no part in awarding it. Calling it "the congressional medal..." is only correct if every other medal awarded by the services is also called "the congressional medal of X" as in the congressional army achievement medal" as congress has to approve the creation of all awards.
It is the Medal of Honor, it is awarded, not won. It was awarded much more often prior to the Spanish American War, as it was then the ONLY medal the military had to recognize valor.
Posted by: Chuck Z at November 11, 2009 08:01 PM (bMH2g)
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