President Obama Didn't Do Enough To Celebrate Easter, Critics Say
One of the things that's a "thing" today is that people, driven by a Fox Nation story, are complaining about the Obama White House's failure to issue a proclamation about Easter. The White House, of course, hosted an Easter Egg Roll, and the president also hosted an Easter-themed prayer breakfast, at which he said this:
"I wanted to host this breakfast for a simple reason -- because as busy as we are, as many tasks as pile up, during this season, we are reminded that there's something about the resurrection -- something about the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ, that puts everything else in perspective."We all live in the hustle and bustle of our work... But then comes Holy Week. The triumph of Palm Sunday. The humility of Jesus washing the disciples' feet. His slow march up that hill, and the pain and the scorn and the shame of the cross. And we're reminded that in that moment, he took on the sins of the world -- past, present and future -- and he extended to us that unfathomable gift of grace and salvation through his death and resurrection.
"In the words of the book Isaiah: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
"This magnificent grace, this expansive grace, this 'Amazing Grace' calls me to reflect. And it calls me to pray. It calls me to ask God for forgiveness for the times that I've not shown grace to others, those times that I've fallen short. It calls me to praise God for the gift of our son -- his Son and our Savior."
But see, none of that counts, because we didn't have a "proclamation", a tweet from @presssec reminding us about the holiday, or a fundraising letter from Jim Messina that read: "He is risen -- to donate the legal maximum amount for the Obama/Biden re-election campaign!" (White House Press Secretary Jay Carney actually had to field a question on this at today's White House press briefing, to which he responded: "LOL.")
Of course, lost amid this nonsense, which Washington Monthly's Steve Benen calls a "garbage story," is the fact that Obama's predecessor didn't "proclaim" anything Easter-related either. Had Obama issued an Easter proclamation, it would have been the first time since at least 1980 that a president had done so.
Still, one can never underestimate the amazing value of a presidential proclamation. Three years ago today, for example, President George W. Bush issued a proclamation in support of Malaria Awareness Day, which is why we are all now totally aware of malaria.
UPDATE: So, apparently, this site lists a bunch of Easter proclamations that apparently weren't deemed worthy of including in the White House archives, indicating that President George W. Bush issued some statements about the holiday. Of course, it also indicates that President Obama did as well, in 2009, and if you go back to the top of this post, you'll see that he celebrated Easter richly and fully and on the record in 2010 as well. Thus, Easter: it has been PROCLAIMED, brothers and sisters! And, yeah: either way you want to slice this, it is, as I implied, one of the most mindbendingly silly "outrages" to come along in some time.
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First Posted: 04/25/11 07:19 PM ET Updated: 06/25/11 06:12 AM ET