Like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way, President Barack Obama is purposefully targeting the American people — and even veterans — by barricading Washington, D.C., memorials during the government shutdown.
Following the failure of Republicans and Democrats to reach a budget deal on Monday night, all national parks were closed, including the World War II and Vietnam memorials in the nation’s capital. But unlike shutdowns of the past, the D.C. memorials, which are normally open 24/7 and not staffed, were barricaded off on Tuesday morning.
This posed a problem for groups of World War II veterans scheduled to tour their memorial on Tuesday. With the help of members of Congress and the public, the veterans broke through the barriers while National Park Service staff essentially turned a blind eye.
On Wednesday, just hours after veterans had to once again force their way onto the site, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney blamed Republicans for the shameful treatment of the vets — even though the order for the barricades to be installed came from the Office of Management and Budget.
“The government shut down when the House Republicans decided to shut it down,” Carney said in response to a question from Fox News‘ Ed Henry about what happened.
He accused Republicans of ‘not paying attention’ to postings on government websites that outlined what services would be discontinued during the shutdown.
Carney then announced that the veterans would be given a special permit from the Department of the Interior to access the site that is “consistent with the existing closure order.”
“Look, we honor our WWII veterans, and I would point you to the decisions made and the actions being taken by the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to ensure that these Honor Flight participants are able to have access to that memorial,” Carney told the reporters gathered at Wednesday’s White House briefing.
But Carney didn’t address that the Obama administration had ordered for the barricades to be put in place, an unnecessary cost for the government to incur. Even more outrageous is that the World War II memorial was funded “almost entirely by private contributions,” according to its website.
Obama’s move may also be unprecedented.
In 1995, when the federal government shut down under President Bill Clinton, the Associated Press reported that tourists were still allowed on the grounds at the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials, since “those and other similar sites don’t require supervision by federal employees.” A photo of the Lincoln memorial from 1995 shows barricades in front of the building, however.
In response to the barricades that appeared on Tuesday morning this week, the Republican National Committee offered to pay to keep the World War II memorial open for the next 30 days.
“The Obama administration has decided they want to make the government shutdown as painful as possible, even taking the unnecessary step of keeping the Greatest Generation away from a monument built in their honor,” said Chairman Reince Priebus said in a press release.
.@Reince holding the check @GOP is offering to keep WWII memorial open after WH had it barricaded. #LettheVetsIn! pic.twitter.com/eA2AbzkjSh
— RNC (@GOP) October 2, 2013
Regardless of what previous presidents have chosen to do, President Obama is once again specifically targeting the American people in high profile ways because he didn’t get what he wanted — just like the cancellation of White House tours ‘due to the sequester.’
Except a group of veterans who fought for this country before Obama was born showed him yesterday and today that they weren’t going to let him play politics with their memorial. And the rest of the country should follow their lead.
