Why Obama Snubbed The Troops

[Lil Red]

+J.M.J.+
[url="http://hotair.com/archives/2008/07/25/why-obama-snubbed-the-troops-no-photo-op-allowed/"]from hot air:[/url]
[quote]NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube get the skinny on the abrupt cancellation of Barack Obama’s visit to Landstuhl and Ramstein yesterday. The campaign tried to excuse it by claiming that it wouldn’t be appropriate to visit while on a campaign-funded portion of his trip, but that wasn’t the real problem. When Obama found out he couldn’t use the visit as a photo op, he canceled:

[quote]One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers.” In addition, “Obama could not bring any media. Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit.”

The official said “We didn’t know why” the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn. “He (Obama) was more than welcome. We were all ready for him.”[/quote]

In fact, those same rules applied for the CODEL trip to Iraq and Afghanistan. They serve to keep politicians from exploiting military facilities for political reasons, and to ensure that all visitors get treated fairly. Andrea Mitchell, also of NBC, complained of this very issue during the earlier visits with the troops when she told Chris Matthews that the media couldn’t get access to Obama when visiting troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This makes the decision track very clear. Obama and his team set up the visits to military installations before going overseas. After seeing how the media got excluded in Iraq and Afghanistan, they decided it wasn’t worth traveling to Ramstein and Landstuhl to visit the severely wounded troops because they couldn’t bring the campaign and get the photo ops they wanted. Instead, Obama went shopping in Berlin.

As I wrote yesterday, that’s certainly a revealing set of priorities for a man who wants to lead these troops as Commander in Chief.[/quote]

[homeschoolmom]

[picchick]

Interesting....I wonderwhere his feeling lie.

[Madame Vengier]

He's such a nice guy.

Obama for King of Israel 2008!

[BG45]

[url="http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/DoD_spokesman_says_Obama_camp_was_remindd_of_political_rules.html"]http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmart...ical_rules.html[/url] Obama campaign nixes troop visit

[url="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/07/pentagon-tells-obama-not-to-vi.html"]http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/07/pe...-not-to-vi.html[/url] Pentagon nixes Obama troop visit

[CatholicCid]

You have to add an "e" in "remindd" for the politico blog to work.
They seemed to cover it nicely as well, covering both sides explanations.

It's interesting to see the Spin. Obama's campaign says they were told not to come. The Pentagon says that it only reminded them of regulations concerning press present.

From the quotes given, the Pentagon's side of the story sounds more reliable imho.

Edited July 25, 2008 by CatholicCid

[CatherineM]

I wonder what he bought while out shopping?

[BG45]

Sorry about the link problem Cid, but yeah. I love politico when I want balance.

[Mercy me]

Character is doing the right thing even when no one else is looking.

[Justin86]

[quote name='Mercy me' post='1608594' date='Jul 26 2008, 09:09 AM']Character is doing the right thing even when no one else is looking.[/quote]

Character is something Chicago politicians like Obama do not have.

[kujo]

I think he would've been criticized one way or the other. If he'd gone through with it, we'd be talking about how sleezy it is to be using injured soldiers as a political backdrop. Now that he didn't make the visit, we are talking about how he "snubbed" them.

[Mercy me]

The way I see it is like this. If he was going there to see the troops because he wanted to support them then he would have gone anyway. The fact that the press and campaign staff wouldn't be allowed would not factor in unless they were the reason he was going.

[Justin86]

[quote name='kujo' post='1611490' date='Jul 30 2008, 01:31 AM']I think he would've been criticized one way or the other. If he'd gone through with it, we'd be talking about how sleezy it is to be using injured soldiers as a political backdrop. Now that he didn't make the visit, we are talking about how he "snubbed" them.[/quote]
Probably not. In either case, what's the point of getting the support of Germans? That did him no good at all.

[Proud2BCatholic139]

Just because he could not bring a political advisor doesn't mean he couldn't go...

I think Obama is scared of moveon.com or .org one of the two.

I beleive he did it because he was afraid what the "far-left" was going to say about him...or maybe a lot of his campaign funding comes from that website and he has talking points...

Who knows.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Proud2BCatholic139

[Mercy me]

What kind of leader would he be if he were afraid of what people were going to say. If that is true then he is follower which is what I suspect.

[picchick]

[quote name='Justin86' post='1608994' date='Jul 26 2008, 02:47 AM']Character is something Chicago politicians like Obama do not have.[/quote]

Dude....where are you from?

Will you stop bashing Chicago? Yes, by saying that it is just the Chicago politicians you are bashing Chicago and it is really bumming me out. Yes Chicago politicians stink horribly. But there are PLENTY of politicians that smell worse and they are not even from Chicago. Please quit it.

Obama is the way he is because he is Obama. Not because he is from Chicago.

[dominicansoul]

Yes, please stop bashing my future home....if you ask me, all politicians are somewhat shady characters no matter where they are from.