Obama Skips Visit to Wounded Troops in Germany
This is old news, but I had to give the shout out to Election Geek for covering the story about Barack Obama skipping a visit to wounded troops while playing President in Germany.
Note to Obama: Pssst. Visiting wounded servicemen and servicewomen who put their lives on the line defending our Country’s freedoms and the freedoms of others around the world is something else the President should do. As a matter of fact, it’s the least he or she can do while overseas.
Here’s Election Geek’s entire post.
Obama: “Inappropriate” to Visit Wounded Troops
July 25th, 2008“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,” Gibbs said.
Senator Obama skipped a meeting with wounded troops in Germany saying it would be “inappropriate” to do so during the campaign portion of the trip “out of respect” for the troops. In response:
John McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said, “Barack Obama is wrong. It is never inappropriate to visit our men and women in the military.”
McCain’s Senate colleague Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., also took a shot at Obama.
“I noticed that Obama had plenty of time to shoot hoops … but he didn’t have the time to stop by (the Ramstein base),” he told FOX News.
How would it be any more inappropriate than meeting with government leaders while openly bashing the current administrations foreign policy and hinting that they would be better off working with him than the sitting President of the United States?
Nice story Election Geek. I think Barack Obama needs to realize that being President isn’t just about giving eloquent speeches. At some point, Obama will also need to start providing some sort of substance to his supposed policy initiatives. Right now everyone is letting him off the hook. The media is too busy heaping adoration on him instead of asking him appropriate questions about his policies. Barack needs to learn, you can’t just talk, you gotta walk too.
4 Responses to “Obama Skips Visit to Wounded Troops in Germany”
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Obama has shown that he is a neophyte. Many liberals do not see this as an issue and think nothing wrong with him going to the Gym instead. However for many conservatives, this is a wake up call. While its difficult to get excited about John McCain it does make you understand what he is about. I agree with McCain if the presumptive party candidate could not get a visit with wounded troops on a visit to the war zones, he should have been on the phone making holy hell with the sec def. Then he should have just driven down there with the camera’s outside of the hospital and demanded to see the troops. leaving the cameras outside once the visit happened.
Again, you get the story wrong. He didn’t decide not to go because he wanted to shoot hoops or “go to the gym”, you Rush ditto heads.
In order to visit he had to get permission from the Pentagon to land there and/or go into the base, which they didn’t give him until a day or two before hand. And when they finally did, the Pentagon told him he was restricted in his visiting capacity. Mainly they said that it was inappropriate to visit, as it would be seen as “a campaign stop”, and that he would only be allowed to visit with soldiers from Illinois because of his senatorial status for that state. Based on the discussion, he decided it would be better to forgo the whole thing in an attempt to keep the troops from being dragged into what was clearly becoming a political football game.
This was a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If he had gone, the pundits would have clamored about using the troop for political gain. When he didn’t they clamored about his not visiting the troops. If he had gone and left the cameras outside, it would have been a “secret trip” and “wasting tax payers money on a private junket”.
No matter what you do, they spin… Just like the spin in another article on here, complaining that there were (*omg*) rock bands before the event! And don’t people know that people came for the bands, not for him? Sure… you bet. You know, if that works so well, why isn’t McCain hiring bands for before his events? Clearly, that’s all it takes, right? Sure… you bet…
Woody,
So why not be damned by going to visit the wounded? That is a much more politicaly defensive position. The Obama explanation sounds like a long winded nuance. He better be carefull he is starting to sound like John Kerry. This was right about the time that Kerry started falling apart in the polls as well. Whats that the media didnt tell us? His 9 point poll bounce from his overseas trip melted in less than a week? Maybe he can make a three pointer from 50 feet. He seems to get enough time in the Gym to pull it off.
You have missed the point with the bands. We have no problem that the rock star nominee has warm up bands. Its that the media wont report these facts. You can guarantee if McCain was giving away something the media reporting would be all over it and explaining that most people left after they got their goodies instead of listening to McCain.
“The campaign would not answer whether Obama was denied outright from visiting the base. ”
“Gibbs said Obama made the final decision to cancel the visit after consulting with advisers on his Thursday flight from Tel Aviv to Berlin.”
Seems pretty clear to me.