Obama criticized for deciding not to attend Scalia funeral
WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday tried to fend off criticism of President Barack Obama’s decision not to attend the funeral this weekend of Justice Antonin Scalia, but even some allies lamented the move as a missed opportunity to ease the partisan warfare that has followed the justice’s death.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, will pay their respects by visiting the Supreme Court on Friday, when Scalia will lie in repose in the Great Hall.
Vice President Joe Biden, who is Catholic — as was Scalia — and had a personal relationship with him and his f amily, will attend the funeral Saturday at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception along with his wife, Jill.
Facing questions again Thursday, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, did not offer a direct answer but implied that one reason was the potential for the extensive presidential security detail to be disruptive.
“Obviously, when the vice president travels to some place, his security footprint is at least a little bit lighter,” Earnest said. “But given his personal relationship with the family and given the president’s desire to find a respectful way to pay tribute to Justice Scalia’s service to the country, we believe we have settled on an appropriate and respectful arrangement.”
Administration officials were stung by what they saw as an unfair attack on what they viewed as Obama’s dignified and respectful reaction to Scalia’s death, a reaction they thought contrasted sharply with that of others in Washington who quickly politicized the loss.
Obama has repeatedly expressed condolences to Scalia’s f amily and, while acknowledging their differences, praised him as “somebody who made enormous contributions to the United States.”
Still, some supporters of the administration saw Obama’s decision as another reflection of the capital’s deep partisan divide.
“I feel like there ought to be a more respectful relationship between the political parties,” said Steven Rattner, a financier who led the restructuring of the auto industry in 2009 as counselor to the Treasury secretary in the Obama administration.
“That goes for political campaigns, legislative efforts and attending funerals.”