Let me explain...the decision as to Same Sex marriage was an event that unfolded over years of litigation and came to a denouement when the SCOTUS issued its recent decision...so it was not an unexpected situation allowing for planning.
The shooting of the Marines was an imponderable event . It was totally unexpected so the planning that allowed the WH Light display was not applicable..
Here’s how a flag etiquette expert explained the “delay.”
“The five military personnel who were killed were classified as killed “in the line of duty” by the Pentagon. For this reason, the responsibility goes to the Governors of the each state that had a fallen hero. The President does not typically order that flags be lowered for “in the line of duty” tragedies; if he were to do so, the flags would have to ALWAYS be lowered because of soldiers dying “in the line of duty”. The flags would have remained lowered for YEARS during the wars if this were the process. So it’s not just Obama. The President has ordered flags lowered numerous times when there have been civilian casualties along with military casualties (like Fort Hood). But because these deaths occurred “in the line of duty”, it is a different situation. I
Link?
