As if cancelling White House tours weren't bad enough, now Obama is threatening to nix the Easter Bunny?
On tickets for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, there is a warning:
“Finally, by using these tickets, guests are acknowledging that this event is subject to cancellation due to funding uncertainty surrounding the Executive Office of the President and other federal agencies. If cancelled, the event will not be re-scheduled. We will notify you if there are any modifications to this event.”
First of all, what kind of poorly run organization doesn't know two weeks out if it is going to have the funds to host an Easter egg party for little children?
Secondly, this is pure nonsense. It's childish, petulant drama. Far more than you'd see from the little darlin's at the Roll.
White House Easter Egg Roll, 1953; The White House
The White House Egg Roll has a touching history--and it's all about children. In 1877, Congress, irked at the damage children were wreaking on the Capitol grounds during the spontaneous annual egg rolls that took place there each year, banned the rolls. Budget constraints they said, as they spoiled all the fun. They couldn't afford to repair the landscaping.
The story goes that while on his Easter Sunday walk in 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes was asked by a group of youngsters if they could roll eggs on the White House grounds that year. The President agreed, and even issued an "official order" that any children wishing to roll Easter eggs on White House grounds on the Monday after Easter would be allowed to do just that. The rest is history.
White House Easter Egg Roll, 1982; The White House
Since then, the only cancellations of the Roll have been because of weather or war. That's right. It was cancelled from 1917 to 1920, and again from 1943 to 1945--for World Wars. Sequester is hardly the equivalent of war, though Obama clearly wants it to been seen that way.
I've thought Obama has overplayed his hand more times than I can count, but he always gets away with it. Surely, surely this would be going too far, even for the Chosen One. Some out there say he's been wanting to do this for some time. I say it's just another opportunity to vilify big, bad Republicans--they of course will take the blame, if Obama can work his magic. Come on, now. Stop the drama and let our little ones have their fun and enjoy the People's House. Ol' Rutherford would want it that way.
White House Easter Egg Hunt, 2012; The White House
