This ‘tea cup salute’ outrage is missing the point that the President of the United States is a civilian position, so when soldiers salute him he doesn’t have to salute back. Actually, he’s not even supposed to salute back.

Here’s what should have happened in that situation:

  1. Obama exits helicopter
  2. Soldiers salute
  3. Obama walks by them sipping his coffee and generally getting on with his day

So why are people whipping up a ‘storm in a coffee-cup’ about this improper salute when he didn’t even need to salute in the first place?