President Obama, facing widespread criticism, finally ordered Tuesday the U.S. flag flying atop the White House to half-staff, along with those at military bases around the country, in recognition of the four Marines and one sailor who were shot and killed during a Chattanooga, Tennessee, attack.
The action put to rest a massive outcry about the president’s failure to lower the flag in the days that followed the assault.
For instance, Easton, Pennsylvania, Mayor Sal Panto Jr., put on his Facebook page, “Why wait? Our men were gunned down on our home soil,” the Stars and Stripes found.
As the days went by, the White House’s full-staff flying of the flag was becoming a sign of disrespect to many, though it took until Tuesday for Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to order flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half staff, too.
The governors of Tennessee, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arkansas and Massachusetts were among the leading politicos who early on ordered U.S. flags to half-staff, in honor of the killed Marines. But many wondered, as the days ticked by: Where’s Obama?
Former Boston Red Sox pitching great Curt Schilling sent out a tweet about the situation, calling attention to the fact some in the nation, particularly in New Jersey, even lowered the flag for pop singing sensation Whitney Houston when she died of a drug overdose. He wrote, as Fox Sports found: “Flags at half mast for Whitney Houston? 4 Marines and 1 Navy serviceman assassinated by a terrorist on our soil … nothing?”
Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who wrote the book “Lone Survivor,” put out a post on Facebook demanding the president drop the flag to half-mast.
“Oh one more thing, Lower the FLAG!!!!!!! Sir,” he wrote.
And Rep. Duncan Hunter’s office sent out a scathing criticism of Obama’s oversight.
“They deserve our respect,” Hunter’s chief of staff, Joe Kasper, said of the four Marines, the Stars and Stripes reported. “The significance of this event should be matched by the lowering of the flag. It’s a simple gesture that will reaffirm to the military and millions of Americans that these servicemen will be rightly honored. This is one that shouldn’t take any second thought on the part of the White House.”
Josh Earnest, White House spokesman, said he didn’t have additional information about the flag’s status.
Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez, the shooting suspect during the Chattanooga tragedy, was shot and killed by law enforcement.
