The White House reported that Valerie Jarrett should replace Barack Obama at the Muhammad Ali’s funeral. The US President decided to spend this time at his daughter’s school graduation ceremony.
While some people can call Obama’s decision disappointing, Ali’s family did not voice a complaint. According to their representative confirmed Bob Gunnell, the President expressed condolences by phone.
Barack Obama chose to spend time with his family. President’s daughter Malia will graduate from high school at the same time with boxer’s funeral. The US President will be presented there by his Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett.
The loss of Ali’s family was not the only funeral that was connected with Barack Obama in the news. 50-years-old Cassandra Butts, who died on May 26 because of the leukemia, knew Obama since law school and was nominated as the Bahamas’s ambassador by him. However, the woman did not start to work and died during the waiting period that lasted for 835 days. This is almost a half of a time period that Bahamas stay without the American ambassador.
Butts’s confirmation was delayed by Senator Tom Cotton. He did the same thing with two other nominees because of the leak in Secret Service’s system. While it was mentioned as an official reason, Butts believed there was a private background. Columnist from New York Times Frank Bruni mentioned the woman told him the Senator held up her confirmation to anger Obama.
“All Cassandra wanted to do was serve her country,” said Valerie Jarrett, an aide to Obama.
“Looking back, it is devastating to think that through no fault of her own, she spent the last 835 days of her life waiting for confirmation.”
In spite of an uneasy fate and friendship with the President, Butts’s funeral was less noticeable ceremony than Muhammad Ali’s funeral. More than 30,000 tickets will be distributed to the public for two memorials scheduled for Thursday and Friday in sports arenas in the city, report Reuters. About 300 fans who could not wait also gathered on Monday outside Ali ‘s childhood home for a memorial led by Islamic leaders, a dance group and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer.
Ali, one of the world ‘s greatest athletes and one of the best-known figures of the 20th century, was hospitalized last week for a respiratory ailment.
He became a symbol of Black liberation during the 1960s for his fierce pride and unapologetic style.
Ali suffered from Parkinson ‘s disease for more than three decades and had kept a low profile in recent years.
