Obama Gives A F.U. To American Troops
July 24th, 2008 at 10:50pm Matt Margolis
Wow. Now this is audacity of a dope.
Republicans are, smartly, seizing upon this report from Der Spiegel (which has become a must-read this week):
SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday. “Barack Obama will not be coming to us,” a spokesperson for the US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. “I don’t know why.” Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.
The optics here are not good: Obama has time to get in a workout and give a speech to a crowd mostly comprised of Europeans, but can’t be bothered to visit American troops wounded in action recovering at a military hospital.
Obviously, Obama found it more worth his while to rally for Europeans to get that media coverage of him being a rockstar in Europe than it was for him to meet with members of the military whom he wants to be the commander-in-chief of.
UPDATE: It’s worth noting that the Obama campaign’s excuse for dissing our troops doesnt’ hold water
“The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign,” explains spokesman Robert Gibbs.
This is a sticky wicket for Obama.
On the one hand, he’s been criticized for the (laughable) contention that the trip is not related to the campaign. To clearly delineate those elements of the tour that are related to his role as a senator and those that are undeniably political would seem to be a way to respond to that critique and seperate church from state. Moreover, he’s being doubly safe by avoiding the perception of campaigning in a military hospital and using wounded troops as props.
But then how many politicians include official stops in the course of a trip otherwise related to a campaign (think POTUS or a member of Congress doing fundraising and public business on the same day). Further, Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on this, the campaign-funded, part of his trek. If that was deemed ok, than are we to assume that each of his get-togethers with European leaders is political in nature?
Assuming their rationale was on the level and not just cover to give the candidate a breather, the easier move may have been to still visit Rammstein and Landstuhl but keep the press behind.
Of course, if Obama cared to visit the troops, he’d have made the effort to see them… even without the media.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats
27 Comments Add your own
1. 42 | July 24th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration (Ret.), later elaborated on Obama’s decision to skip the event.
“We learned from the Pentagon last night that the visit would be viewed instead as a campaign event,”
I can see how it would be hard for a con such as yourself to understand how not to treat our troops as a political pawns
Answer for your own sins first Noonan, as any good Christian would…speak of others’ only after.
2. Nevada Pundit | July 24th, 2008 at 11:26 pm
So 42 what you are saying is that it is more important for Obama to do the “right” thing politically than to do the right thing morally and ethically. These are our troops, what he should have done was visit the troops without his band of lapdogs (also known as the media).
Hmmm….just maybe McCain was right when he said it was more important for Obama to win the election than to win the war.
3. gotbrains? | July 24th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
uh, in case you missed it, “members of the military” love Barack Obama.
GWB? John McCain?… not so much.
4. gotbrains? | July 24th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
It’s interesting that it took you toadies all day to come up with a response to the Obama speech in Berlin. I guess Wingnut Central is having a hard time formulating effective talking points?
Did any of you actually listen to the speech? No, not the wingnut talking points and pundit BS about the speech - I mean the actual speech itself. Makes you proud to be an American again. And it reminds you what is great about the idea of America (hint: it has nothing to do with our military prowess).
Don’t you all want to join this movement that appeals to the very best within us - to our very founding principles? Or are you too full of hate, fear, and cynicism to ever be redeemed?
It’s your choice. Every generation has one.
5. Nevada Pundit | July 25th, 2008 at 12:03 am
gotbrains,
If listening to empty words makes you proud then more power to you. Obama has never taken any action to carry through with anything. He talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.
Oh and by the way, it didn’t take all day….just some of us have jobs.
6. cam | July 25th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Nevada Pundit,
The problem that the right has with Obama is that they do not agree with him on his policies. But in light of the disaster that Bush has created over the past 7.5 years its hard to criticize. So it drives you crazy because he is so young, full of energy, well spoken, articulate and charismatic. Quite a contrast to a dull old man who starts every sentence with “friends”
The right talks about white guilt as a driver for the Obama phenomenon. I think the guilt is on the right. Anyone who saw what was done to McCain by the Bush machine in 2000 should realize how low it was. Perhaps it was guilt about the 2000 election that motivated Bush voters to support McCain.
Further, the right likes to use terms like Messiah to describe Obama. This is the ultimate straw man. Obama has never made such claims. Further, Obama supporters have not either. Its time to talk about the issues not style.
7. tom | July 25th, 2008 at 1:53 am
gotbrains?
Talk is cheap. We all know everything changes once you are actually in office and have to live up to what you said on the campaign trail.
Smoke and mirrors, that is the democratic party.
8. Faceplant | July 25th, 2008 at 2:11 am
“So 42 what you are saying is that it is more important for Obama to do the “right” thing politically than to do the right thing morally and ethically.”
You know what would be the morally and ethically right thing to do for our troops? It would be to vote FOR legistlation that would benefit the troops. And where do each respective candidate rank according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America?
Obama - B+
McCain - D
Damn, that sucks. The least McCain could have done was give up Golf right?
9. Faceplant | July 25th, 2008 at 2:13 am
“If listening to empty words makes you proud then more power to you. Obama has never taken any action to carry through with anything. He talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.”
Example?
10. Faceplant | July 25th, 2008 at 2:15 am
“Talk is cheap. We all know everything changes once you are actually in office and have to live up to what you said on the campaign trail.
Smoke and mirrors, that is the democratic party.”
Hows that gay marriage amendment coming?
11. Leo Pusateri | July 25th, 2008 at 2:24 am
Err eggplant, that’s just like proclaiming, “The sky is blue,” and you ask for an example.
Obama was on the job in the senate all of, what, 143 days, if that?
Before that, he was a “community organizer.”
Big friggen whip.
And then he has the “audacity” to believe that he’s ready to lead the free world?
I got news for you, hotshot. The world ain’t gonna be that free after your messiah gets done with it.
He’ll not only try to reason with the jihadists–damn–he’ll show them where all the good silverware is hidden.
But you go ahead and follow your messiah-lemming right off the cliff and see where that gets you.
Geeze… some people’s kids.
12. What? | July 25th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Leo,
You still have not given examples of how Obama doesn’t “walk the walk” (Whatever that means.)
Also, you have not been paying close attention to what the Bush Administration has been doing in the past few weeks. They have shown signs of opening diplomatic relations with Iran. Shouldn’t you be up in arms about this development since is is “reasoning with the jihadists?”
13. Faceplant | July 25th, 2008 at 2:56 am
“Obama was on the job in the senate all of, what, 143 days, if that?
Before that, he was a “community organizer.”
Big friggen whip.”
Uh, so what? The fact that he doesn’t have as much “experience” as John McCain does not mean his ideas lack substance. What you are presenting is the textbook example of a strawman.
“I got news for you, hotshot. The world ain’t gonna be that free after your messiah gets done with it. ”
Who ever called Obama a messiah? Do I have to bring up all the right wing blowhards undying admiration for George Bush ?
“But you go ahead and follow your messiah-lemming right off the cliff and see where that gets you.
Geeze… some people’s kids.”
So are you going to give me an example or should I just stop wasting my time with you?
14. paper shredders | July 25th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Obama Gives A F.U. To American Troops
15. Danish Artist | July 25th, 2008 at 7:53 am
IQ 42,
“I can see how it would be hard for a con such as yourself to understand how not to treat our troops as a political pawns”
Wow, the liberals have been using the troops as political pawns since day 1.
What’s one more day? Why is the general’s reasons for the non-visit different from the campaingn’s “position of the day” answer. Wait……… the reason has been changed already.
16. Blackandwhite | July 25th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Democrats have criticized the Repugs for years because they use our troops as nothing more than political props. I don’t think Cheney has ever given a speech without our troops protecting his rear.
I am more interested in the candidate who will support the new G.I. bill and provide better funding for their much deserved health care. And an F.U. to those who say this support for our troops is too costly and will not support these initiatives.
17. Fredrick Schwartz | July 25th, 2008 at 8:30 am
I can’t wait to see the first McCain Obama debate!
18. neocon | July 25th, 2008 at 9:09 am
I uh……….also……um…..uh……can’t wait…..uh……for the….uh….first debate.
Without a teleprompter, McCain will wipe the floor with Obama, that’s why Obama is staying away from him. Also, Obama evidently has a question limit:
SAN ANTONIO, Tex. - An exasperated Barack Obama scurried away Monday from the toughest news conference of his campaign, telling reporters who kept shouting questions that he’d spent enough time on the grill.
“Come on! I just answered, like, eight questions,” Obama, looking surprised, told shouting reporters as he fled the room. “We’re running late.”
19. HeyHey | July 25th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Obama is going to clean Grandpa’s clock in the debates.
Webb GI Bill - Both Bush and McCain were against the bill initially then they changed their tune saying they were for it all along.
The McCain’s so called town hall meeting are being stacked with people who are given pre approved questions. They are a sham.
20. Dave in Atlanta | July 25th, 2008 at 11:53 am
This is a non-issue. If Obama *had* visited the hospital, the Right would be blasting him for pandering.
Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs is on record as saying “…The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign” per the Pentagon’s “longstanding Defense Department policy that prohibits military personnel or facilities from association with partisan political campaigns and elections”.
If he’d gone ahead with the visit, he’d have been criticized. Now that he’s not, in keeping with what he sees as a sense of propriety, he’s criticized.
This is a non-issue… just old-fashioned attack politics.
21. slaw | July 25th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Politico is reporting that it was the Pentagon that put the kibosh on the trip. Saying it would be viewed (with or without the media) as a campaign stop.
22. Sarah Bloch | July 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Deleted - off topic.
23. Tractatus | July 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Politico is reporting that it was the Pentagon that put the kibosh on the trip. Saying it would be viewed (with or without the media) as a campaign stop.
Shhhh! Stop ruining everything with the facts. Can’t you see that nonfactual talking points are all these wingnuts have left?
24. Kahn | July 26th, 2008 at 2:38 am
Thats not what my contacts in the Pentagon say.
Is calling the troops liars supporting them now?
Faceplant, ah yes. The very non-political Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Founded by a man who speaks of revulsion for the President and who worked on John Kerry’s campaign staff. An organization heavily staffed by non veterans who overwhelmingly attended very liberal colleges. - Yep, good source.
25. phnx | July 26th, 2008 at 7:59 am
Just to clear the air from all of the leftist BS:
“Sen. Obama is welcome to visit Landstuhl or any military hospital in his official capacity as a United States senator,” Morrell said in a brief interview. “But there is a DOD policy which governs campaigning and electioneering at military facilities that would have to be respected if he were to visit. That distinction was relayed and made clear to campaign, and they made a decision on their own based on that guidance.”
Morrell, in a subsequent interview, added that military officials told Obama he could only visit the military facility with his Secret Service detail and Senate staff.
“We made it clear to him that campaign staff and press would not be permitted to accompany him,” Morrell said of Obama. “We relayed those ground rules. They made a choice based upon the information we relayed to them. It was their choice. We had nothing to do with it.”
Bottom line, if it can’t be a photo op for campaign purposes then its not worth it.
26. phnx | July 26th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Just to clear the air from all of the leftist BS:
“Sen. Obama is welcome to visit Landstuhl or any military hospital in his official capacity as a United States senator,” Morrell said in a brief interview. “But there is a DOD policy which governs campaigning and electioneering at military facilities that would have to be respected if he were to visit. That distinction was relayed and made clear to campaign, and they made a decision on their own based on that guidance.”
Morrell, in a subsequent interview, added that military officials told Obama he could only visit the military facility with his Secret Service detail and Senate staff.
“We made it clear to him that campaign staff and press would not be permitted to accompany him,” Morrell said of Obama. “We relayed those ground rules. They made a choice based upon the information we relayed to them. It was their choice. We had nothing to do with it.”
Bottom line, if it can’t be a photo op for campaign purposes then its not worth it. So much for Obama’s support for the troops.
27. Faceplant | July 27th, 2008 at 7:09 am
“Faceplant, ah yes. The very non-political Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Founded by a man who speaks of revulsion for the President and who worked on John Kerry’s campaign staff. An organization heavily staffed by non veterans who overwhelmingly attended very liberal colleges. - Yep, good source.”
Every single one of the five founding members servied in the US Military. So did their Veterans Membership Associate, their Director of Gov’t Affairs, and their Policy Associate.
As opposed to the AEI, who the vast majority of fellows, and scholars have NEVER served in the military. But you take their word as gospel.
Of course nobody claimed that the IAVA wasn’t biased. Of course they are biased. They support those that ACTUALLY support the troops. Not just with words, but with their votes. It isn’t the IAVA’s fualt that Republicans routinely vote against veterans benefits bills.
Leave a Comment
Please report any inappropriate or abusive comments to abuse@blogsforvictory.com. Please include the blog entry title and the comment number.
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed