Not for nothing do they call the President the Commander-in-Chief, so his decision to skip the Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery is bound to rankle some. It’s not unprecedented: As ABC 7 reports, President George H.W. Bush never attended one official Memorial Day ceremony during his time in office. Far be it from me to begrudge President Obama for taking a vacation like everyone else (he’s spending the long weekend In Chicago following his visit to the Gulf Coast), but Sarah Palin and the gang at FOX News won’t show him the same kindness. The loudest complaints will come from the Tea Party set, and those should be ignored; but a wartime President’s appearance at a ceremony commemorating the lost and fallen means more than optics to the friends and family of servicemen abroad.

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