Mayor Sal Panto of Easton, PA got tired of waiting for a proclamation from the White House ordering all U.S. flags flown on government property to be lowered to half staff to honor our Marines killed in the terrorist attack in Chattanooga.

So even though he didn't have the authority, Panton lowered the town's flag early Saturday morning.

The rest of us are wondering why the president hasn't acted.

PJ Media:

In the wake of the deadly attack, many Americans have been wondering why the president has not ordered U.S. flags be lowered to half-staff at the White House and other public buildings in memory of the slain U.S. servicemen.

On Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine Saturday night, Marine Corps veteran Nick Powers called Obama’s lack of a presidential proclamation “ridiculous” and blasted him for having flags flown at half mast for a non-citizen — Nelson Mandela — but not these five slain American servicemen.

Given that he had ordered flags be flown at half-staff following the shootings at Fort Hood, the Aurora Century Theater, Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook, it seems like a reasonable expectation.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. of Easton, PA, decided to take matters into his own hand early Saturday morning when he drove to the city’s Centre Square at 1 a.m. and lowered the American flag to half-staff with the help of a police officer.

Via lehighvalleylive.com:

Panto said he was prompted by a Facebook request from city resident Peggy Cochran, whose husband Pete is a city firefighter and who has two sons in the Marine Corps.

He stopped at Centre Square after wrapping up with an event at Riverside Country Club in Forks Township, he said. A police officer helped him.

“It was the right thing to do,” Panto said Saturday afternoon. “Sometimes the inappropriate thing is the right thing. I’m sure the president just forgot.”

According to flag code, only the president and governor can order flags be flown at half-staff.

Panto freely admitted he overstepped his authority.

“I’m fully aware I don’t have the authority to do this but I feel I just had to remind the president,” he said. “He just needed a little reminder and I’m happy to do that. There’s so many other things going on. I don’t think he realized that this was something that he should do.”

Even Obama supporters have to admit he blew it on this one.  Maybe the body count wasn't high enough for him.  More likely, it just never occurred to him – as it would to just about any other president you can think of.

Kudos to Mayor Panto for doing what the president refused to do.