Of COURSE We Heart The Troops
I guess this is a question of priorities. Barack Obama apparently ran short on time in his visit to Germany today, and travelers know how schedules can slip during long tours, even without all of the events Obama had planned. Those circumstances force people to prioritize their time, and eliminate less-useful stops.
So what did Obama cut today? Der Spiegel’s blog reports on Obama’s priorities:
++ Visit to US Military Bases Cancelled ++
1:42 p.m.: 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.
So the Senator's schedule was so full that he had to cut out a planned visit to our wounded warriors in Landstuhl? They weren't a priority? That seems to match up with the contents of an email that I got yesterday. While I am not at liberty to share the details of the email (I do not want to get the soldier in question in trouble with his/her brass but the events that were told to me were verified as actually having taken place) I will just say that the Senator was given ample opportunities to talk to soldiers when he was in Afghanistan and he did not take advantage of those opportunities - unless the cameras were on hand to document it (the famed basketball shot).
We have (sadly) seen this kind of support for our troops out of Democratic nominees for President before. Yet they tell us that we should not question their respect and devotion to the troops. I'm sorry - but if you do respect the troops, you stop and shake their hand when the opportunity is presented. If you are devoted to the troops, you cancel a campaign appearance before a foreign nation in order to spend time with those who were wounded in the line of duty. IT'S THAT SIMPLE!
UPDATE: BlackFive has confirmed and has further witness testimony that Candidate Obama snubbed the troops in Afghanistan.
I had a first hand view of Barrack Obama's "fact finding" mission, when he passed through this base.While I can't name it, it's one of the largest air bases in the region, with up to 8000 troops (depending on influxes and transients in mobilization/demobilization status), mostly Airmen and Soldiers, but some Marines, Sailors, Koreans, Japanese, Aussies, Brits, US Civil Service, contractors including KBR, Blackwater and Halliburton, among others in the news. The overwhelming majority of all of these are professional, courteous and disciplined. Problems are rare.
Casualties are also rare. This base has a large hospital for evacuation—twenty plus beds. I have yet to see a casualty in one, though I am told there are about three evacuations a week through this region, of which two on average are things like sports injuries, vehicle accidents or duty related falls and such. You can tell from the news that the war is going well. The ghouls are now focusing on Afghanistan, since there is no blood to type with here.
This oped is of course subjective and limited, but I will try to present the facts as I saw them. I wasn't able to see much, which makes a point all by itself.
When his plane arrived (also containing Senators Reed and Hagel, but the news has hardly mentioned them), there was a "ramp freeze." This means if you are on the flight line, and not directly involved with the event in question, you stay where you are and don't move. For a combat flight arriving or departing, this takes about ten minutes, and involves the active runway and crossing taxiways only. For Obama's flight, this took 90 minutes, during which time a variety of military missions came grinding to a halt. Obviously, this visit was important, right?
95% of base wanted nothing to do with him. I have met three troops who support him, and literally hundreds who regard him as a buffoon, a charlatan, a hindrance to their mission or a flat out enemy of progress. Even when the rumors were publicly admitted, almost no one left their duty sections to try to see him, unless they were officers whose presence was officially required.
Mister Obama's motorcade drove up from the flight line and entered the dining hall toward the end of lunch time. Diners were chased out and told to make other arrangements for food, in the middle of the duty day.
But don't question his devotion to the troops!
posted by The Lady Logician at
11:49 AM
4 Comments:
The reasoning in the first part of your post is flawed. By this argument, a candidate who really loved the troops would spend ALL of their time visiting military hospitals. That would end up being a full-time job.
A politician that spent all of his time visiting hospitals and no time talking about his policies to the rest of the public isn't very likely to be elected. If you don't get elected, you can't bring about change that you think might help ALL troops (not just the wounded ones).
In other words, there must be a balance between campaign events and human events like hospital visits. A decent and effective politician must find the balance. To make a valid argument, you'd have to show that Obama has the wrong balance. Your post doesn't do that.
By
Bradley Ross, at 9:24 AM
Bradley - that wasn't necessarily the point I was trying to make....so I must not have done a good job of making it. Sorry about that.
My point was not that he canceled it was why he canceled. He canceled because he was told that he could not bring an entourage of media and campaign staff with him to Landstuhl. Remember, Landstuhl is a hospital first and foremost. Their mission is the health and welfare of those wounded in service. A politician, alone, is welcome because he/she is a single person that the staff can work around in an emergency. Imagine (if you will) what would happen if there were a medical emergency in the wing where a candidate and several dozen staffers and reporters are clogging the halls. It's common sense not to have dozens of people clogging the hallways.
If the Senator really cared about the troops he would have gone without the media gladly. THAT is my point. His entire visit gives the appearance that the troops were simply props in one long photo op. Are those the actions of someone who really cares about what these soldiers thing and wants to earn their votes?
LL
By
The Lady Logician, at 12:54 PM
Fair clarification. I guess you and Morrissey were trying to make different points.
By
Bradley Ross, at 1:11 PM
Yep - Ed's a dear friend and he is a blogging "mentor" for me (I know him from my days in Minnesota) we don't always agree on everything.
Plus that post went up before Landstuhl's C.O. came out with his statement although I thought he updated it after the CO's statement came out.
LL
By
The Lady Logician, at 3:28 PM
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