While Barry was in Germany yesterday campaigning (despite their contention that his speech wasn’t campaigning) to be President of All Time, Space, and Dimension™, he was also pre-scheduled to make an appearance to visit US troops at Landstuhl and Ramstein.
At Landstuhl, he was supposed to swing by the military hospital to visit wounded war soldiers.
But, Barry decided at the last minute to cancel his trip to Landstuhl and Ramstein. So he could go shopping in Berlin and see some of the night life instead.
And why did Barry cancel his visit (other than the obvious disdain he has for the soldier he deems beneath his elitist-self)?
Because he wasn’t going to be allowed to use it as a photo op (from NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube):
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The official said “We didn’t know why” the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn.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.”
Camp Obama is spinning it as, “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.”
So, he was in Germany on a trip funded by his campaign. Yet, earlier in the day, while giving a big speech (in English, not German — shame on your Mr. Obama for not being bi-lingual) in front of thousands of people who can’t vote for him — Mr. Obama claimed lied that, “Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world…”
So it wasn’t part of the campaign when it was convenient for him to be stumping for the Germans, but it was campaigning when it was time for him to snub American service men and women.
And this man wants to be their Commander in Chief?
Pathetic.
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OTHERS:
Ed at Hot Air:
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.
No matter what the truth is, the military troops are not going to be very happy with Obama. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, he could have pressed the issue with the Pentagon if he wanted to but instead he took the easy way out and just didn’t show. If he’s lying about this, though, I hope he’s fully exposed because this one is going to be hard to overcome.
Left by dianne on July 25th, 2008 at 3:30 pm