Obama Versus The Eagle Scouts
It’s a story that no doubt already has Republican strategists drooling … and from what we hear, they don’t even know the half of it yet (no surprise there) …
First, let’s start with the “un-spun” facts … namely that tens of thousands of American Boy Scouts who have earned the rank of “Eagle Scout” have not had their award certificates signed by U.S. President Barack Obama, as is customary given his role as honorary president of the organization.
From the Grand Junction (Colorado) Daily Sentinel:
Certificates received by Boy Scouts achieving the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank in scouting, traditionally are signed by the president of the United States, but they have yet to be signed by President Barack Obama.
The White House says the situation will be corrected immediately.
The president is the honorary president of the Boy Scouts because the organization was chartered by Congress in 1916. The lack of a presidential signature is a procedural matter, said Deron Smith, spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America.
A “procedural matter?” One that will be “corrected immediately?”
Hmmm … because in addition to being code words for “ruh-roh,” those excuses sound absolutely nothing like what we’re hearing …
Every President since Woodrow Wilson has signed these certificates, people … and we’re supposed believe that ten months after taking office a “procedural matter” prohibited Obama from doing the same?
Yeah … we’re not buying that. Not even a little bit …
According to GetLiberty.org, “until just days ago, Obama was the first President in nearly 100 years who had personally refused to allow his signature to be affixed to Eagle Scout Award certificates.”
Wait … “refused?”
So what gives? Was this “procedural” slight against all of these Eagle Scouts really an intentional snub? Maybe some sort of a sop to a liberal special interest group that hates the Boy Scouts? Like the Service Employees International Union, for example?
C’mon … surely we can’t be the only new media outlet digging on this story?
Anybody got any news to share?
(Above: A BSA certificate signed by former President Bill Clinton).
Comments
By hammerheadSC on November 25th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
As an Eagle, this is unacceptable. What if I didn’t sign my tax return forms and called it a “procedural matter”? Still be late and penalized.
For him, he gets to just brush it under the rug.
By Nathan Earle on November 25th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Obama is just pandering to the HRC, which is still ticked off about Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (530 U.S. 640), in which the Supreme Court held that the Scouts were free to choose not to allow homosexual scoutmasters to spend time alone with little boys. The HRC really, really hated that decision, and places like HRC enclave Berkeley, Cal., have found ways to get back at the Scouts by denying them access to public accommodations.
By Heyward Harvin on November 25th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
As an Eagle Scout I am not bothered one bit by the fact that several certificates lack the presidential signature. No one has gone through the program to receive a presidential signature. The President just might be busy organizing for a troop deployment to Afghanistan and concentrating on the defense of this nation. It’s entertaining that Sic believes there’s some conspiracy here to deprive Scouts of the Presidents signature. I am also entertained by the fact that your source for the spin is an incredibly partisan website that boasts “Americans for Limited Government” as their tagline. Excellent journalism. But lets be honest, with a President that has done a close-to-flawless job thus far, conservative spinster for-hire in SC have to find something to knock him for. Happy Thanksgiving.
By jaded on November 25th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
BFD
By CL on November 25th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Heyward,
“with a President that has done a close-to-flawless job thus far . . .”
Thank you for the laugh. Until I read that I was annoyed that I was still at work when everyone else had split for the holiday. I still chuckle every time I read that nonsense. I doubt even you believe it (how about the Olympics, the jobs program that has not created any jobs, the jobs “saved” in hundreds of non-existent congressional districts, having to apologize for his idiotic comments on the Gates affair, etc.)
No one is perfect (or even close to perfect), and if you think Obama is, then you need treatment. Heck, even this Scout story disproves your assertion. I think most kids become scouts to get get their Eagle certificate, which they cannot legally receive until the president signs them. If he had just pushed this responsibility off to Biden or someone else and the only issue was the snub, then it wouldn’t be much of a story. But these kids are being denied the certificates they earned because of your perfect president dropping the ball.
By laney on November 25th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
“But let’s be honest, with a president that has done a close-to-flawless job thus far…”
Hewyard,
Please go back on your meds. I doubt that you are an Eagle Scout and you are clinically delusional to believe that Obama has been “close to flawless.”
By varga on November 25th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Maybe there is a reason if this is true that no news organization is working. Where is the news?
By Heyward Harvin on November 25th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
CL,
Sorry you were stuck at work so late, i’ve been stuck working on stuff late today, too. But to the point, I absolutely believe our President has done a a ‘close-to-flawless’ job, and you should believe it too. He has gone above and beyond the effort and pro-activeness of any president in recent history. The Olympics ordeal wasn’t up to him, but I (and so should you) definitely give him points for going out of his way to bring the Games to the US. It could surely help the economy. Figured a GOP’er would be on board with the aggressive recruitment of investment into the US. As for the jobs programs which you claim hasn’t created any jobs. Any intelligent person can’t actually believe that. When you invest billions into job creation, you’re gonna get jobs, even if just by accident. You probably mean for your argument to be that it was an inefficient way to create jobs, but even then you have an argument you can’t support. For any statistic we show each other, there is another for the counter-argument. So the truth lies somewhere in the fact that the economy is improving and the job loss rate is improving. The last Republican president had a chance to run the economy and he did so poorly, now its the Democrat’s turn. And Obama has taken the reigns when the horse is in a hole, unlike the last President who started out with a budget surplus. And, since we all favor ‘transparency’ let’s give our President some credit for rolling the Defense budget into the national debt total so we can get an accurate count. But I digress.
Knocking the president for an error on a website which inaccurately listed jobs created in association with congressional district? You cant honestly think that was anything more than an error on some college intern who collected the data. No one in DC thinks theyre gonna convince the caliber of people who would even look at that data that there are 40 something congressional districts in our state. And luckily there arent that many districts here. Think of the mess we’d be if our state politics spilled outside of our borders. I think a good primary date is all the influence we deserve until we decide to start electing competent en mass to our own legislature and constitutional offices.
As for the Gates thing. I’ll give you that one. Regardless of who was right or wrong, a politician should have better sense than to step in that. But then again, don’t we like it when our officials act like leaders and not politicians?
Our President is definately not a perfect person, but he maintains a close to flawless presidency. Everything you knocked him for are minor details (kids not receiving their Eagle Certificate, you’re an Eagle Scout regardless of whether you have the certificate or not, assuming you’ve met the requirements). Plus, the Oval Office has confirmed they are addressing the issue. Bets are these kids are mostly seniors in high school and trust me when I tell you they are more worried about their college applications right now, not where their Eagle Certificate is (anecdotal evidence aside – im sure you can find an Eagle Scout who is waiting for his certificate). Anyway, I need to get back to other things.
Laney,
Supporting the President doesn’t require medical treatment. I thought we liked Patriotism… or do we only promote the President and patriotism when theres a Republican in the White House or at a local Tea Party? And calling someone a liar is a poor way to start a discussion. Civil debate took a nasty turn in our country as soon as Republican’s were out of office. We don’t have to be nice, but we can probably accomplish more if we are.
UPDATE: Just checked my Eagle Certificate: no Presidential signature (issue date 12-15-2004) and my brothers certificate lacks the signature, too (issue date 9-19-2000). Looks like neither recent president was on top of this ‘procedural matter.’ And it also looks like Eagle Certificates CAN legally be distributed without the Presidents signature.
By SnakeMD on November 25th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
The Boy Scouts are actually a para-military organization. They teach firearm safety and have firearm merit badges. Also, scouts are Reverent and usually open their meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance and references to God and country. How can you politically indoctrinate young people when they have been exposed to such conservatism? The Boy Scouts could be replaced with a more liberal leaning organization with more of a focus on the Green Movement and world peace rather than individualism. Sort of a Brown Shirt youth movement. Plus all of their campfires are destroying our forests and polluting our atmosphere.
By No Way! on November 25th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
I would not want my certificate tarnished with such a poor example for a president.
By LIstenUp on November 25th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
SnakeMD is a phony, a conservative poster pretending to be his wet dream of a liberal.
I’m a bit of a liberal, was a Scout, did not make Eagle. I’m more upset than the Eagle above, but am not deluded into thinking it’s a real story or issue. Just the latest attempt at trying to derail this guy before he’s really had a chance to do anything.
By Bobby on November 26th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Who cares. Do you think that if someone doesn’t tell Obama to sign those, he’s going to remember to do it? It’s not like that’s the biggest thing on his mind right now. If he refused, he’d continue refusing.
By Thad Viers on November 26th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Will,
my dad passed away Jan 12, 2009 (8 days before President Obama was sworn in as President). Approx 2-3 weeks after he passed, before the end of January, he received a certificate from the White House honoring his service because he was a veteran in the Korea War. My family was hoping that due to the date of his passing it would have President Bush’s signature…it did not. President Obama’s signature was on the certificate.
By sid on November 26th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Barry is getting hammered from the left and right, and independents in the middle are abandoning him in droves. He guaranteed the Olympics in Chicago and failed. He’s making diplomatic mystakes regularly. Vetting folks for jobs in his administration has been a comedy of errors. He launched an attack on Fox that blew up in his face. He’s delayed making any decisions on Afghanistan for far too long. Hell, he’s even angered a Hollywood liberal who works for the UN. There’s so much more, but the idea that some kid fresh out of college (it seems) thinks he’s done a “close-to-flawless” job up to this point may be even more laughable than anything RBB has ever said. I demand the award be taken back, renamed, and awarded to this lad.
I’m not really concerned with the whole Eagle Scout deal. Good for those who achieved such status. I was busy partying and getting laid (by members of the opposite sex) in high school, but some folks have other interests. I guess if Bush and Clinton didn’t sign the certificates of these young men, then it’s no big deal. But I’d guess Barry probably isn’t a big fan of the BSA. Just my opinion, though.
By Slight Breeze on November 26th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Cheers to you Heyward for responding in such a reasonable, mature matter. While I may not agree with everything you wrote, I do respect the measured response. This kind of civility has been missing in most discussions.
Might be kind of corny, but I feel we are ALL Americans, and we ALL love our country. Too many choose the low road, thank you for choosing the high road.
By Jeffy on November 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Obama is pathetic. He gives a great speech….that’s it. No new ideas, no change, no leadership. Same ole same ole. Now just the Lefty lobbyists are in charge.
By SnakeMD on November 26th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
By LIstenUp on November 25th, 2009 at 10:36 pm
“SnakeMD is a phony, a conservative poster pretending to be his wet dream of a liberal.”
Pretending? Have you ever heard of irony, metaphor, juxtaposition, or even quadripartita ratio?
I’m sorry, I thought this was a high-brow site with most of the folks in here poking fun at both sides. I apologize if I failed in my locution. Next time maybe I should lower my style of discourse. If I say to you it is raining cats and dogs outside in Columbia, do you run outside and find no animals and then post on here that I am a goddamn liar?
PS: I do not operate on snakes. I just patch the wounded and the dead, so I guess I’m a phony by using this screen name. Oh well. Nobody is trying to derail Obama, his own agenda will do him in. And I’m truly sorry you didn’t make Eagle Scout. Only 5% do.
By Judge on November 26th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Harv,
I agree. Obama has been near flawless in honoring his pledge to “re-make” America.
Problem is, most Americans don’t wish to live in his re-made “America.” Obama is a hard-core ideologue and presides imperiously from the radical left. Obama is a multi-millionaire whose own half-brother lives in a shack in a Kenyan slum with no running water. Obama himself spent over $35,ooo.oo on a 1 week stay at the Vineyard this summer. What an elitist! Do as I say, not as I do!
Obama has proved himself a very skillful liar, Harv. Remember, he pledged that he was going to take “public” funding for his campaign then quietly “changed” his mind. He pledged that he would have no lobbyists working for him and his staff is now composed of mostly lobbyists and tax-cheats. He pledged transparency and he has circumvented background checks on his unprecedented number of czars. What a liar! (Harv, who exactly was on the Air Force One flight over Manhattan?) Don’t hold your breath–Obama will never tell!
Just this past April Obama pledged to Poland and to the Czech Republic that he would honor our commitment to place a missile defence shield in their country. Once again, just months later, he “changed his mind.” What a liar!
Obama said his administration would seek to reconcile racial discord and also reach out across party lines. On the contrary, Obama exploits racial tensions and promotes class envy–even proclaiming that doctors habitually remove tonsils unnecessarily just to make money. Obama refuses to compromise his radical leftist views and just recently only invited five Republicans to his first state dinner–but all of his Hollywood millionaire partisans received invitations. He doesn’t govern from the middle and doesn’t seek to compromise.
Obama told us during the campaign that he wouldn’t raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. What a liar! He also told Joe the Plumber that he wasn’t a socialist. What a liar! Obamacare is nothing but socialized medicine. Obama pledged that we had to pass his “stimulus” package to prevent unemployment from increasing to over 9%. It’s now over 10%–another Obama falsehood.
Obama has been a miserable failure thus far in foreign policy. He is an international laughingstock! The bower-in-chief has fist-pumped dictators and bowed to emperors, Chinese leaders, and Saudi shieks. He has demonstrated contempt to our traditional allies such as England and France–(who will ever forget the tacky DVD set of Obama documentaries he presented to the Queen which aren’t even compatible to European electrical outlets?!) yet has reached out to oppressive regimes such as Venezuelan dictator Chavez and Castro (Harv, how many dissents still rot in Cuban jails?)
Obama’s paralyzing indecisiveness regarding Afghanistan has emboldened are enemies and demoralized our troops. Studies show our troops in Afghanistan have never been more demoralized than under Obama and a record high number of soldiers were killed in Afganistan in October. Obama’s dithering is killing American troops. Indeed, he is weakening America’s reputation in the world, and Chavez has openinly proclaimed his agenda to mine uranium for Russia and Iran and to develop nuclear technology. Chavez would never pursue such a openly brazen policy under President Bush’s watch. Additionally, North Korea continues to export their nuclear technology unabatedly, and responds to Obama’s verbiage with additional missile launches.
Obama’s decision to close GITMO and to try KSM in a civilian court in NYC demonstrates his utter insensitivity to the people of NYC and demonstrates his contempt of the American taxpayer who will pay literally hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary security and housing costs. The kangaroo trials of KSM and his co-conpirators will drain our coffers even more yet establish the unbelievable legal precedents that non-American terrorists are not only extended Geneva Convention rights but are also afforded Constitutional rights reserved for citizens.
Incidentally, the rest of the world’s economies are rapidly improving from the recession. Americans are now told that it will be “years” before we recover. Obama’s reckless fiscal policies have added more debt than any prior administation in our nation’s history. When Obamacare and Cap and Trade pass–and both will pass—our children and grandchildren will inherit oppressive and unprecented debt.
Near flawless you say? Let’s hope not!
By UpstateChris on November 27th, 2009 at 9:01 am
To stay on point, as an Eagle Scout from like 25 years ago I can honestly say that I didn’t even know at the time that the President was going to sign my certificate…I wasn’t exactly a political activist at 15 and didn’t really care. Given what I know now, I am not sure I would even want Obama’s name on my certificate…it would cheapen it.
To get way off point, I would like to say that SnakeMD needs to put down the crack pipe and Judge needs a regular column here.
By Tom on November 28th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Richard Nixon’s signature is on my Eagle Scout certificate which is dated December 1974. Techincally, it should have been signed by Gerald Ford (who is the only Eagle Scout to sit in the White House to date.) I have often been tempted to put white out over it.
By No Way! on November 28th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
I agree with Judge! What a miserable failure of a president we have! He is running the country into the ground as fast as he can. He either knows it or just lacks the basic education to understand it. As it consider it, maybe he was a socially promoted African-American. We see this in many professions. There should not be social promotion due to race. It should be based on qualifications, which our president sorely lacks!
By not_convinced on January 9th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
@Judge, excellent compilation of evidence to refute obama’s “close to flawless job”… what an utterly amusing joke harvin.
Transparency? Really harvin? Sounded nice in his campaign and executive order which he tossed to the public on jan 21st (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ExecutiveOrderPresidentialRecords/), but where is the substance? Where are these televised health care debates we were promised countless times? (http://www.puppetgov.com/2010/01/07/cspan-blacked-out-of-obamas-promised-transparency-on-healthcare-debate/)
What about foreign policy, reaching out to Middle Eastern societies? That speech he gave in Cairo sure sounded great, but, where is the peace he promised, the halt to Iran’s nuclear programs? His administration is getting schooled by Israel and Iran, they say and promise Obama one thing and turn around do whatever they want. Case in point, Israel agreed to a 10 month moratorium on settlements, which Obama lauded as progress, but failed to realize did not include settlements in East Jerusalem and those already under construction… Netanyahu is basically playing games with Obama. And to say that Iran is playing games is as dramatic an understatement as one could make. All those promises to sit down and chat with Ahmadinejad are making all the difference… right? Obama and the rest of the P5 tried to negotiate a deal with Iran where they would send their enriched uranium to be processed by other European nations. Iran offered only a fraction of the uranium the UN deal called for, and then offered an ultimatum, either renegotiate the UN deal or Iran would process the uranium itself… Great diplomacy Obama. Real successful.
The most amusing aspect of Obama’s failure this past year has been in domestic issues. What ever happened to closing down Guantanamo? What about this health care bill he said would be passed by the new year? Last time I checked the democrats had a majority in the Senate, shouldn’t be a problem getting work done. Yet they repeatedly run into speed bumps along the way, resulting in shady back room deals cut for those middle of the road democrats so that they will vote along party lines. Bipartisanship? I am not convinced…
By Kathy on January 21st, 2010 at 11:33 pm
My son who was awarded Eagle in August of ‘09 does not want nor requested a letter of commendation from the president. Had our president been any other person, I’m sure he would have made the request.
By Tony Walters on January 31st, 2010 at 7:16 pm
My son received his Eagle today and the “Procedural” problem still exist, it was not signed by Obama.