Obama Snubs Nation's Heroes, Becomes the First President to Skip Ball Honoring Medal of Honor Recipients in Over 50 Years

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/8627

The Cleveland Leader

Barack Obama may have stumbled over his words briefly during his
inauguration, but he made an even bigger blunder later Tuesday
evening. The
newly sworn-in President opted not to appear at what should have been
one of
the most important Balls on his agenda that evening - The Salute to Heroes
Inaugural Ball.

The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball was begun in 1953 for President Dwight
Eisenhower's inauguration. The event recognized recipients of the Medal of
Honor, the nation's highest military award. There were 48 Medal of Honor
recipients in attendance, who were undoubtedly disappointed by the
Commander-in-Chief's failure to show. Over the past 56 years and 14
inaugurations, no President has skipped this event - until now.

The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball is sponsored by the American
Legion, and
co-sponsored by 13 other veteran's service organizations, including those
such as the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Military Order of the
Purple Heart.

Instead of attending this ball honoring our nation's heroes, Obama was
busy
making stops at 10 other official balls. Obama and his wife's first
stop was
at the Neighborhood Ball. From there they went to the Home State Ball for
Illinois and Hawaii, the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Youth Inaugural
Ball,
and the Home State Ball for Delaware and Pennsylvania. They finished
off the
night with brief appearances at the Mid-Atlantic, Western, Midwest,
Eastern,
and Southern regional Balls.

Celebrities were a plenty at the balls, with Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Mary.
J. Blige, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, will.i.am, Sting,
Mariah Carey, and Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance at the Neighborhood
Ball.
In addition, the other nine balls also featured a star-studded lineup
including Kanye West and Kid Rock at the Youth Ball, Marc Anthony at the
Western Ball, and Cheryl Crow at the Western Ball.

It was the party without all of the celebrities that Obama skipped.
The very
people who he sought to have support him during his candidacy and
campaign,
who have fought to protect this country, were snubbed in favor of
publicity
and the opportunity to rub shoulders - yet again - with the out-of-touch
Hollywood elite.