Obama Accused Of Tooting His Own Horn By Awarding Himself Distinguished Medal [Opinion]
Social media users have jumped all over President Obama’s latest distinguished award with suggestions the pinning of this medal is the result of some finagling on Obama’s part to buff up his legacy. The clock is winding down for Obama’s time in office, and he is making the most of what little time is left by putting things in order before Donald Trump takes the helm.
Apparently padding his legacy with a new medal of honor is part of that agenda, according to the social media users who are watching Obama in his last days as president of the nation. Breitbart reports President Obama has added “another prestigious medal to his Nobel Prize Collection when he had Defense Secretary Ash Carter award him with the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.”
Defense Secy Carter presents Pres Obama with Dept of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. pic.twitter.com/a5DihpPRnA
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 4, 2017
Carter pinned this medal on his boss’s lapel during Wednesday’s Full Honor Farewell Review, which was held in Virginia at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. The Gateway Pundit reports there were rows and rows of empty seats behind President Obama at this event. These vacant seats “left the impression of less than enthusiastic support for the outgoing Commander-in-Chief.”
When the photos of this prestigious award bestowed upon Obama hit the social media pages, questions followed. A good deal of social media users shared the same train of thought around Obama’s award, like the tweet seen below.
Social media users likened Obama receiving this award to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who has the tendency to shower himself with titles. Tweets of third world dictators being compared to Obama popped up with one suggesting that next he would be getting a “sash” to display his prestigious medal.
Locker Room Talk asked in a tweet “When is Chicago going to give him one?” This was said following a sarcastic sentence expressing how impressive it was to hear that Obama received this honor.
Breitbart reports that Carter was adamant this medal was a “token of appreciation” for Obama. This was to show appreciation for the services that Obama supplied during his time as commander in chief. Along with this award presentation came a speech from the outgoing president, which marks the last time President Obama will speak to the military while he is in office.
When Obama took to the podium, he had some things to say that didn’t appear consistent with his recent actions. According to Breitbart, President Obama stressed the importance of a smooth transition from one administration to the other. He said, “We’ve got to make sure that during this transition period that there is a seamless passing of the baton, that there’s continuity.”
This comes on the heels of the headlines saturated with reports of several alleged roadblocks that Obama is accused of putting in the way of Trump’s administration coming on board. One of the more recent alleged roadblocks reported is Obama’s plans to release Guantanamo Bay detainees before his term is officially over. He plans to do this despite Trump asking the sitting president to refrain from this action. Trump tweeted his thoughts on Obama preparing to release those prisoners, which is seen below.
There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
CNN reports Trump has “warned” against releasing any more Guantanamo Bay prisoners in a recent Twitter message. Obama’s White House Press Secretary, Josh Ernest, said that President Obama would not take Trump’s Twitter message into consideration in his decision-making process of releasing the prisoners from the Naval facility.
[Featured Image by Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Images]
