More White House officials at Michael "Swisher" Brown's funeral than Thatcher's

[Dennis Capoletti]

The White House sent three officials to attend Monday's funeral
for Michael Brown in St. Louis -- three more than it sent for
former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's funeral last
year.

The administration's handling of the Brown funeral already has
started to raise comparisons between the two.

For Monday's funeral, the White House sent two officials with
the White House Office of Public Engagement as well as Broderick
Johnson, chairman of the My Brother's Keeper Task Force.

No White House officials, though, were part of the presidential
delegation sent last year to Thatcher's funeral. For that, the
White House sent former secretaries of State George Schultz and
James Baker III -- as well as the charge d'affaires to the U.K.
and the former U.S. ambassador.

At the time, the nature of the delegation stirred controversy in
the British media as tabloids claimed British officials felt
snubbed that high-level American officials -- including
President Obama himself -- were not attending.

The White House countered that Baker and Schultz' attendance
were "testimony" to Thatcher's "global stature and reputation."
British Prime Minister David Cameron's office also denied claims
at the time that the administration had snubbed the late prime
minister.

But in the case of Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old fatally
shot by a police officer earlier this month, the Obama
administration has devoted considerable resources. Attorney
General Eric Holder visited Ferguson, Mo., last week and has
dozens of investigators on the ground conducting a federal civil
rights probe.

The administration also said that one of the White House
officials attending the funeral on Monday had a personal
connection.

Marlon Marshall, deputy director of the White House Office of
Public Engagement, is a St. Louis native and went to high school
with Michael Brown's mother.

The other White House official is Heather Foster, public
engagement adviser for the White House Office of Public
Engagement.

The White House also came under criticism recently when Obama
did not attend the funeral for Maj. Gen. Harold Greene, the
highest-ranking U.S. military officer killed in combat since the
Vietnam War.

He was killed in a suspected insider attack in Afghanistan.
Obama was in Martha's Vineyard during the funeral, but Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno
attended.

When Greene's body arrived at Dover Air Force Base days earlier,
Odierno and Army Secretary John McHugh reportedly were there for
the transfer. While White House officials typically do not
attend these transfers, Obama and past U.S. presidents do from
time to time. Obama and top Defense officials attended the
transfer, for instance, of the remains of 30 U.S. service
members killed in Afghanistan in 2011 when their helicopter was
shot down.

Meanwhile, the highest-level administration official at the 2010
funeral for border agent Brian Terry was then-Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/25/more-white-house-
officials-at-michael-browns-funeral-than-
thatchers/?intcmp=obinsite

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