President Obama will not attend Nancy Reagan’s funeral on Friday, opting instead to speak at a festival in Austin, Texas. South by Southwest — an annual music, tech, and film gathering — announced last week that Obama would be the keynote speaker on March 11, and that Michelle Obama was scheduled to speak on March 16. It’s the first time in the festival’s 30-year history that a sitting president and first lady have participated. Michelle Obama will be at the former first lady’s funeral, which will be held at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. But White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Tuesday that President Obama won’t be there…. “The president will not attend,” he said at the daily White House briefing. “The president is traveling in Texas.”
So Barack Obama isn’t going to Nancy Reagan’s funeral. Not an issue, right? Presidents- at least in recent history- traditionally haven’t attended the funerals of former First Ladies. The President will instead be attending the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX, a prior obligation that represents part of an important high-tech initiative he’s pushing. So, no…he’s not “skipping” Mrs. Reagan’s funeral, not when you look at what other Presidents have done in similar circumstances. Then again, The Black Guy in the White House © has for years been subjected to the Conservative habit of moving the goalposts whenever it serves their abject, irrational hatred of him.
Judging by the tone and tenor of Conservative butthurt emerging from the Right-wing echo chamber, you might have found yourself thinking that The Black Guy in the White House © had thoroughly disrespected Mrs. Reagan. Of course, when you look at the way Conservatives have treated this President over the past seven-plus years, this overreaction is hardly surprising. If The Black Guy in the White House © endorsed oxygen, Conservatives from coast to coast would immediately hold their breath until they passed out. There is almost literally nothing Barack Obama does or doesn’t do that won’t draw cascades of enmity and condemnation from the Far Right, who hate The Black Guy in the White House © for the mere fact that he exists and consumes oxygen that by rights belong to good, God-fearing, Conservative White Christian patriots.
WHAT’S TRUE: President Obama was announced as a speaker at South by Southwest (SXSW) in February 2016; Nancy Reagan died in March 2016; those two events coincided; Presidents rarely attend funerals for former First Ladies.
WHAT’S FALSE: President Obama made arrangements to attend SXSW after Reagan’s death; SXSW is an “entertainment festival”; the President is planning to “party” at the event….
While it’s true President Obama was slated to appear at SXSW during Nancy Reagan’s funeral, it appeared that many confused the political use of the word “party” with its recreational application. The President’s appearance was planned well in advance, and was the subject of a weekly address aired before Reagan’s death. Michelle Obama was scheduled to attend Nancy Reagan’s funeral as a White House representative, and sitting presidents rarely attend the funerals of former First Ladies.
It’s really kind of sad when Snopes.com steps in to debunk Conservative fury at The Black Guy in the White House © over his “skipping” Mrs. Reagan’s funeral. Just as they have for the past seven-plus years, Conservatives continue moving the goalposts, creating standards that only The Black Guy in the White House is expected to adhere to. It doesn’t really matter what the truth of a matter is; what matters to Conservatives is how much raw butthurt and artificially generated anger they can gin up against a President whose very existence offends their tender sensibilities.
There are very likely things which are legitimate targets for Conservative anger. That’s the role of the Loyal Opposition, but that appears to be not nearly enough for those on the Far Right whose visceral and deeply personal hatred of The Black Guy in the White House © far outstrips anything rational or reasonable. If not attending the funeral of a former First Lady is enough to raise your ire (especially since other recent Presidents haven’t, either), might I suggest you seek professional help for your irrational, misplaced, and wholly inappropriate anger? You clearly are in serious need of assistance with some intractable and deep-seated anger management issues.
Or perhaps you can explain why your anger with The Black Guy in the White House © knows no bounds…even as you probably don’t know (or much care) that then-President George W. Bush didn’t attend Betty Ford’s funeral.
Shame on you for you irrational, highly partisan, and unfair attacks on a President you happen to hate with a fiery passion you probably can’t justify, much less explain. Isn’t it time you lost the butthurt and act like an adult? There are things you can and probably should be legitimately angry about. Instead, you’re venting your impotent rage on Barack Obama after you’ve created a new standard that only he is held to…because all you care about is making him look bad. That all you’re doing is demonstrating yourself to be a bigot and a fool is no doubt lost on you.
Then again, I suspect shame is an emotion the haters and bigots lack the capacity to feel.
