Obama will skip Nancy Reagan's funeral to attend SXSW festival

U.S. President Barack Obama is taking some heat today over his decision to follow through with a speaking engagement at this year'sSXSW Interactive festival the largest event of its kind for marketing executives to exchange business cards over free booze and barbecue.

Billed as "a conversation about civic engagement in the21stcentury" between Obama and Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith, thekeynote event was met widely withexcitementwhen it was announced in a post onthe Austin, Texas-based festival's websiteMarch 3.

Butthen, three days later, former U.S. president's wifeNancy Reagan died.

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced Monday thatit would be hosting a private funeral on March 11 for Reaganat her husband's presidential library in California, prompting White House officials to quickly confirmthat Michelle Obama would be in attendance.

Nothing was said ofthe president's intentions, however, until Tuesday.

"The president will not attend," saidU.S.Press Secretary Josh Earnest when asked about Reagan's funeral at a White House briefing. "The president is travelling in Texas."

American news outlets were quick to point out whyObama would be in Texas, and that his SXSWspeechwas scheduled to take place on the day of Reagan's funeral.

Twitter outrage hasensued.

Much of the criticism Obama is facingfrom Republican politicians and bloggersis about how he plans to go"party" with "hipsters" on the day ofReagan's funeral, but it should be noted that the SXSWfestival is divided into three distinct sub-festivals: Interactive, Film and Music.

TheSXSW interactiveconference consists mainly of presentations, panels andnetworking mixers focused on "cutting-edge technologies and digital creativity."

While the interactive component of the festival has earned aless-than-favourable reputationfor being lame and rifewith obnoxious marketing typesin recent years, it's not the same thingas the SXSWMusic festival centred on band showcases.

The music festival does contain some conference elements, however,one of themthis year being a keynote speech delivered by Michelle Obama.

"On Wednesday, March 16,First Lady Michelle Obamacomes to SXSW Music to discuss theLet Girls Learninitiative, which aims to break barriers for the 62 million girls around the world who are not in school today, more than half of whom are adolescent," reads a description of the event.

SXSWMusic is best known for its concerts, however, whichtakeplace followingSXSW Interactive when all of theswag-toting cool dads have left tomake way for masses ofindie-rockhipsters (who likely know Reagan best from pop-culture parodies of her Just Say Nocampaign.)

Still, many on Twitter are conflating Obama'skeynote speech with the culture of music festivals, sometogive the presidentprops for choosing SXSW over Reagan's funeral.

Others are pointing out that Obama had already been slated to speak at SXSWwellbefore Reagan died, and that his actions aren't meant to be disrespectful.

Indeed, the Obamassent out the following statement after news of Reagan's death started circulating Sunday:

"Nancy Reagan once wrote that nothing could prepare you for living in the White House.She was right, of course. But we had a head start, because we were fortunate to benefit from her proud example, and her warm and generous advice."

Gawker, for its part, posited that the president simply doesn't care about appearances at this point.

"Obama does not give a anymore, according to a White House briefing, and certainly doesn't care about Nancy Reagan's funeral," writes Sam Biddle. "Instead ... he'll be headed to Texas for the annual horror-confluence of indie music and startup culture known as SXSW."

"I can say with complete certainty that I would rather go to a generic funeral than make a third trip to SXSW, but would I rather go to this specific funeral, for the astrology-obsessed wife of a historically bad president?" he continued. "Hard to say I would probably choose neither and just stay home under the covers."

Not uncommon for White House reps to attend funerals on behalf of presidents

Obama was criticized in a similar fashion a few weeks ago foropting to attend the visitation for Justice Antonin Scaliainstead of going to his funeral.

The White House representative at that funeralwas vice president Joe Biden, who had a personal relationship with Scalia dating back to the 1980s.

As ABC notes, it's more common for first ladies to attend the funerals offormer first ladies than it is for presidents.

Neither Obama nor former President Bill Clinton went toformer first ladyBetty Ford's funeral when she died in 2011, thoughMichelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and former first lady Rosalynn Carter did.

The last time a sitting president attended a former first lady's funeral was actually in 1962, whenthen-President John F. Kennedy went tothe funeral of Eleanor Roosevelt.