"We have two national holidays that celebrate our military members - Memorial Day for those who gave their lives for us, and Veteran's Day, for those who served. Independence Day has one purpose and one purpose only - celebrating the birth of our nation."
That was my key objection. Independence Day commemorates the fact that we declared ourselves to be a nation run by civilians, governed by rule of law, not a monarch or military power. It's traditionally been a time when families, friends and communities come together to celebrate our freedoms, including the right to disagree (and even be disagreeable  ), as long as differences stay within the boundaries of the rule of law. It seemed like half his speech was about the military, which felt out of place to me. (Perhaps this was the speech he wanted to use on Veteran's Day?)
I also agree that the selectivity of the invitations crossed the line for a supposedly non-partisan event paid for by tax-payers. That was clearly a partisan move and not in keeping with the significance of the day. Seems like that's not celebrating our nation's principles, but ignoring at least one of them.
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