From the AP:

WHITE HOUSE - This Thursday, for the first time in nine years, there won’t be a White House ceremony in observance of the National Day of Prayer.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says President Barack Obama will pray privately as he does every day, but his only public acknowledgement will be to issue a White House proclamation.

Republican Congressman Randy Forbes, co-chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, says a proclamation urging Americans to pray would be more meaningful if the president set a public example. Forbes calls it a missed opportunity, but says, “Hopefully we’ll have millions of people around the country that will make up for the void we see at the White House on the National Day of Prayer.”

The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Oddly enough, the last time it wasn’t celebrated came during the last Democratic White House.

President George W. Bush had held a formal White House event for the past eight years marking the National Day of Prayer. There were no official observances during the Bill Clinton administration. The Bush White House also, for the past several years, recognized the Islam observance of Ramadan with a White House dinner. It remains to be seen if the Obama White House will continue that tradition.

This isn’t about prayer. It’s about tradition. It’s about tradition being flaunted. It’s about an administration that wants to so drastically change this country that tradition will disappear. Since Bush recognized it, Obama won’t. It’s that simple. Nothing conspiratorial about it.

Posted on May 6th, 2009 by CJ
Filed under: Uncategorized