CONSPIRACY THEORY WORTHY OF THE ARAB PRESS

To New York Times contributor John Lukacs, when President Bush returns salutes with a salute of his own, he's signaling that his position is changing from that of President to Emperor. And the Lukacs character really seems to believe this, as though he is "deconstructing" symbolism in some bad novel.

My question is, what is the proper way for a President to acknowledge a salute? The person offering the salute is not really supposed to remove his hand from his cap until the salute is returned, so what is a President to do? I doubt it matters. Whatever this President does will be wrongly interpreted by the New York Times as a step down the slippery slope to autocracy or empire.