President Barack Obama stepped off Marine One on Tuesday and distractedly saluted Marines with a disposable coffee cup in hand — a clumsy gesture dubbed the "latte salute" that went viral on social media, and triggered a storm of criticism.
Military Times reported that White House aides posted the video — taken as the commander in chief was on his way to the United Nations —
to Instagram
and
Twitter users scolded the gesture as disrespectful.
Allen West tweeted the salute was proof Obama has no respect for the military.
ABC News noted the unorthodox salute was dubbed the "latte salute," while
the Washington Times used "Semper, Latte" in its headline on the gaffe.
The salute is "the most important of all military courtesies,"
the Daily Caller quoted a Marine Corps manual stating.
"In some situations, the salute is not appropriate," according to the manual, the Daily Caller reports. "In general, do not salute when … carrying articles with both hands or being otherwise so occupied as to make saluting impractical."
But Military Times noted Obama isn't the first president to get the salute all wrong. President George W. Bush was once photographed
saluting while holding his dog.
The newspaper reports the salute has become protocol since the Reagan White House years.
But Carey Winfrey, the retired editor of Smithsonian Magazine and a former Marine,
told The New York Times in 2009 "when it comes to salutes … presidents deserved to be cut some slack."
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