Britain buries Margaret Thatcher as battle for her legacy goes on [video]

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's funeral took place at St Paul's Cathedral, attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and a swathe of public figures today.

Quiet descended along the route her Union flag draped coffin took along the streets from Westminster. But not everybody supported the elaborate occasion's hefty £10m price-tag.

Andrew Malcolm of Investors Business Daily reminds of who didn’t bother to honor that legacy:

But Obama trumped himself this week by declining to send any representative of his administration to the funeral of free-market advocate Thatcher. The Chicago Democrat appointed instead two former secretaries of State in Republican administrations–James Baker and George Schultz–and a staffer from the embassy in London.

As our editorial page colleagues here pointed out, that’s a lower-level delegation to our closest European ally than the group Obama dispatched to last month’s funeral of anti-American demagogue Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Hmm.

Clearly, Obama has no time for such respectful things himself. He’s set a strategy dinner tonight with Democrat senators.

Normally, for a funeral of someone with Thatcher’s historical and diplomatic stature, an American administration would send at least a vice president, even a dufus like Joe Biden.

Of course, Joe might let go with one of his Pakistani jokes. And anyway the vice president’s schedule today is heavily-burdened. He’s scheduled to participate in an online Google+ Hangout.

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EDIT TO ADD:

Did anyone remind Obama that they have great gold courses in Britain?

Images of the Funeral:

GRAND DAUGHTER AMANDA THATCHER

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attended former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's funeral in London on Thursday and was one of a handful of Republicans to do so

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was the highest-serving American to attend Baroness Thatcher's funeral in London on Wednesday

Former secretaries: James Baker (left) served as President Reagan's chief of staff and Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger (seen with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) was secretary of state for Nixon

And look who went...

Big fan: Former Speaker of the House-turned-presidential candidate Newt Gingrich attended the funeral

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