Bull Over Sitting Bull

President Obama has put out a children's book citing thirteen admirable Americans, "Of Thee I Sing," which he dedicated to his daughters. One of his choices has angered people at Fox News and has garnered criticism - that of Sitting Bull, the great Lakota Sioux chief. Sitting Bull, of course, orchestrated the defeat of the U.S. Cavalry under George Custer at Little Bighorn. Fox News equated this admiration for Sitting Bull to anti-Americanism.

Sitting Bull himself was not responsible for the massacre against Custer and his men; he was with the women and children in his tribe when that happened. He is regarded as a hero for his stand against the U.S. government and his heroic stand for the integrity and the culture of his people. He was a wise medicine man who, Obama noted, healed broken hearts and broken promises." He was a far more wise and respected warrior than the reckless Custer, who led his men into a hopeless situation at Little Bighorn, where he made his own stand - his last.

Anyway, as Comcast.net's news service noted, Sitting Bull was not the only dubious choice Obama could have made. He also included in his book George Washington (a slave owner) and Billie Holiday (a drug addict), among others. And despite the fact that Southerners fought a war against the Union to set up a separate country in the 1860s, many schools in the South are named for Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, and no one complains about that. No one who watches Fox News, anyway.

And by the way, even though Neil Armstrong blasted Obama's proposed space program earlier this year, the President included him in his book as well.

In a nutty political culture where Obama could be accused of being against cats because he got his daughters a dog, such non-controversies are bound to occur. As much as conservatives pretend to be offended by Obama's exaltation of Sitting Bull, the fact is that the great chieftain is so revered that his portrait has appeared on a stamp issued in 1989 for use on international postal card mail. Yes - Sitting Bull's face appeared on stamps affixed to postcards to be sent around the world! The Postal Service actually deemed him worthy of such an honor!

The only reason Neil Armstrong hasn't been honored on a U.S. stamp is because he's still alive. Living people aren't honored on U.S. stamps. I guess it's Obama's fault that this rule hasn't been changed yet.