President Barack Obama is being accused of breaking U.S. Marine code for asking a member of the service to hold an umbrella for him and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan at the White House Rose Garden.
During a joint press conference Thursday, President Obama asked two Marines to help him hold umbrellas to shield both him and his guest from the drizzle, reported the Washington Post.
"I am going to go ahead and ask folks-why don't we get a couple of Marines, they're going to look good next to us," he said. "Just because I've got a change of suits, but I don't know about our prime minister." He pointed towards the press, all of whom were unsheltered from the rain. "You guys, I'm sorry about..."
The marines approached each podium wielding black umbrellas, and the press conference continued.
Suddenly, the President's small but apparently controversial move prompted snarky commentary from the likes of pianist David Burge and Fox News anchor Lou Dobbs.
"Obama vehemently denies abusing government power, while telling a US Marine to hold his umbrella," David Burge tweeted.
"Obama expects our troops to hold damn umbrellas rather than go inside: it's disrespectful, inconsiderate, classless," Lou Dobbs said on Twitter Friday morning.
Some are even accusing Mr. President of breaching Marine code. According to the Daily Caller, under Marine Corps regulation MCO P1020.34F, a male Marine is not allowed to carry an umbrella while in uniform, because he cannot salute.
But in the same list of regulations, it indicates that Marines must follow any order given by the President of the United States.
A photo of President Obama holding out his hand to see if the rain was still falling made the cover of the New York Post with the caption, "Another scandal hits Obama: when it rains, it pours."
Most are dismissing the umbrella 'scandal' as merely another piece of minutiae for spectators to pick apart.
"Marines are always out getting rained on, that's sort of what we do," said Marine spokesperson Capt. Eric Flanagan.
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