海角大神

President Obama stirred up a cupful of controversy on Tuesday by holding a coffee container while performing a kind-of salute to a Marine guard while exiting the presidential helicopter in New York City.

(Note to readers: We will refrain from further beverage-related puns in this piece. It鈥檚 admittedly frothy. But it鈥檚 hard to resist.)

Since then, the image of Mr. Obama with his Starbucks-style paper cup has ricocheted around the Internet faster than you can say 鈥渢an suit.鈥� The photo, distributed by the White House itself on its Instagram feed, is pretty nice as a pure image. Obama鈥檚 descending the short flight of steps with his shoulders back, wearing sunglasses, in bright sunshine. And no, he鈥檚 wearing a blue suit 鈥� not that tan one that got him in so much trouble.

But members of the military salute the president in such settings: After all, he鈥檚 the commander in chief. Since Ronald Reagan, presidents have customarily returned this salute, although they don鈥檛 have to.

Mr. Reagan loved saluting. That鈥檚 not surprising, given his acting background. He taught Bill Clinton how to salute, did you know that? Time magazine had a great piece on it a couple of years ago. Apparently, the Gipper thought Bill鈥檚 technique was a bit sloppy.

Anyway, Obama鈥檚 salute has allowed partisans on both ends of the political spectrum the opportunity to retreat into their preformed ideas about the president and talk about salute-gate on those premises.

The right is outraged at the informality. Can Obama not take the time to return a simple salute, only days after ordering US forces into action against the Islamic State in Syria?

If you already define the president as feckless, it鈥檚 easy to see fecklessness in the gesture. Thus GOP political consultant Karl Rove blasted Obama as 鈥渋nsensitive.鈥� We shouldn鈥檛 be surprised, Mr. Rove said, considering that Obama is a 鈥渃hai-swillin鈥�, golf-playin鈥�, basketball trash-talkin鈥� 鈥� commander in chief.

At Hot Air, Allahpundit snarked that Obama has now entered the 鈥淵OLO鈥� stage of his presidency. He can鈥檛 even be bothered to raise his hand. At least he didn鈥檛 hand the Marine the latte, in Allahpundit鈥檚 view.

From there, some of the criticisms got uglier. At the conservative site RedState, a contributor wrote that America should expect such a move from the 鈥渓ow-bred grifters鈥� who have been 鈥渋mposed鈥� on the nation as leaders.

Meanwhile, on the left folks say they鈥檙e dumbfounded that such a little thing has resulted in an over-the-top response. Inevitably, they鈥檝e dug up photos of Republican presidents saluting badly. Very badly.

For instance, there was the time President George W. Bush kind of saluted with Barney, his dog, while departing Air Force One. In terms of physical dignity, it makes Obama look like Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

The left-leaning group Media Matters posted the Barney photos under the headline, 鈥淭he Media鈥檚 Imaginary Coffee Salute Scandal.鈥�

Look, perhaps the president should not be holding a cup in a semi-ceremonial setting. But it鈥檚 not an impeachable offense.

We鈥檒l agree with Rory Cooper, a Republican-leaning political consultant at Purple Strategies.

鈥淎 proper military salute isn鈥檛 trivial. It鈥檚 also not a scandal. But Command-in-Chief needs to get it right out of respect & for optics,鈥� he tweeted in response to the uproar.