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Home Front: Politix

Obama: I need to earn troops' trust

2008-07-08

No kidding. Long interview in Military Times.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama knows that to win the vote of current and former military members and their families, he has to prove himself. 'Precisely because I have not served in uniform, I am somebody who strongly believes I have to earn the trust of men and women in uniform,' Obama said in a July 2 interview with Military Times as he contrasted his lack of service with that of Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a Navy retiree and Vietnam veteran who has years of experience in Congress working on national security issues.

'I do not presume that from the day I am sworn in, every single service man or woman suddenly says, 'This guy knows what he is doing,'' said Obama, a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, in his most extensive interview to date on a wide range of military issues.

Earning trust, he said, means listening to advice from military people, including top uniformed leaders, combatant commanders and senior noncommissioned officers and petty officers. It also means standing up for the military on critical issues and keeping promises, Obama said. Obama said he hopes the military community will see him as 'a guy looking out for us and not someone trying to score cheap political points.'

Posted by:Steve White

#33 he could earn my trust by dropping out of the race and then off the planet...

Posted by: Alistaire Snavith3832 AKA Broadhead6 2008-07-08 20:11

#32 he could start by being consistent and not lying:

Posted by: Frank G 2008-07-08 17:11

#31 Indeed, tw. And a fair number of African American kids have good reason to be concerned about career preparation.

Posted by: lotp 2008-07-08 17:01

#30 The reasons for choosing to enlist on the one hand, and later choosing to re-enlist on the other are likely very different. I suspect that the groups converge in motivation for choosing the latter.

Posted by: trailing wife 2008-07-08 17:00

#29 I want to add that I know and respect many Black career soldiers who put service and sacrifice at the top of their values list. That poll definitely does not speak about them. It was done by human resources command and looked at the self-identified motivations of kids considering whether or not to enlist.

Posted by: lotp 2008-07-08 16:56

#28 An Army poll taken among recent recruits showed that among the pollees overall the primary reason for enlisting was to serve the country. Results differed a lot depending on which subgroup the recruits fell into. For African Americans, service came in behind career issues.

Obama's tuned into that demographic among the troops, I suspect.

Posted by: lotp 2008-07-08 16:54

#27 Too late doofus. you have already said enough to never earn the trust of this vet. and i can probably find another 25 or so easily within the little ol' factory out here in beeyouiful Skagit Valley, WA.
(PS, your big mouth wife ain't helping you so very much, either)

Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-07-08 15:48

#26 So he is going to earn their respect by paying them off?

It works in Chicago. They call it 'quid pro quo' which is Latin for 'piles of frozen money in the freezer'.

As long as Obama has respected and revered military advisors like Weasley Clark (Hero of the Battle of Pristina Airport) and HalpUsJohn Kerry (failed Presidential goofus), he will have all the military respect & trust he can handle.

Posted by: SteveS 2008-07-08 14:21

#25 And Rosie O'Donnell wants to be slender and attractive. And I want to eat candy and poop emeralds.

At least I am halfway to my goal.

Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-07-08 14:12

#24 I didn't ponder it before, but its a bad bad precedent to try to 'buy' the troops favors. Ask the Roman rulers. It tells you something when you have to buy favor that it treats the military as a separate constituency, one with significant influence not only as an entity of itself but its credibility in the society as a whole that you would make such an effort, and that it is one in which the pay off is in cold hard cash not grandiose symbolism. Competing egos for the office of Caesar bidding up the army. Not good. However, the pursuit of power never was about morality.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-07-08 12:44

#23 So he is going to earn their respect by paying them off? I don't see how that would do it (knowing the people I know in the military) other than, "Thanks for the money, but you are still an ass." or "All I am is a dollar amount to you?" It took years to earn the respect of my firefighter group and there is no money involved in that, so figure that one out mr. lawyer.

Even jf'nk at least took a helicopter ride in Afghanistan (Pampers unavailable for comment).

Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-07-08 12:34

#22 LOL - I heard the US Postal Service was going to issue new stamps... with BHO's resume on them

Posted by: Frank G 2008-07-08 11:31

#21 "I need to earn the troops' trust"

Why don't you come back in 20 years when you actually have something to put on your resume?

Posted by: Frozen Al 2008-07-08 11:27

#20 #16 Military members and their families deserve better pay and benefits, he said, and although money might be hard to find for a generous increase

THERE it is! First predicted here a couple of weeks ago. Watch him release his plan for a BIG military pay increase when he gets to the Gulf. So Cook County, Chicagoesque. One must wonder if he speaks to Jimmy Carter DAILY!

Posted by: Besoeker 2008-07-08 10:55

#19 This guy doenst understand at all.

Deed, not words, Obammesiah.

You gotta walk the walk.

And that means throwing away your BS about a timetable for ~~retreat~~ withdrawal.

Period.

Posted by: OldSpook 2008-07-08 10:51

#18 Not sure Frank, whether it was in that same discussion, but he also added,

"I'm surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured. I wasn't saying anything I hadn't said before, that I didn't say a year ago or when I was a United States senator," said Obama.

Did I miss his resigning from the Senate?

Posted by: Sherry 2008-07-08 10:30

#17 Let me re-phrase: I'll believe that he *wants* us to think that he cares about the military when he starts making a big deal out of doing photo-ops with the troops. Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue - so what do you call it when they don't even bother with that tribute?

Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-07-08 10:30

#16 Military members and their families deserve better pay and benefits, he said, and although money might be hard to find for a generous increase, he supports increasing basic pay to keep up with inflation and private-sector salaries, and he believes housing allowances need to be increased so young service members and their families can afford adequate places to live.

He seems to have confused the military with another special interest group, easily bribed into compliance with cash.

I'll believe he's interested in the military when he actually goes and visits some units & talks to some troops. Have I missed any photo-op visits over the last two years?

Posted by: Mitch H. 2008-07-08 10:25

#15 like his Freudian slip the other day: "My Joint Chiefs of Staff"

Posted by: Frank G 2008-07-08 10:03

#14 What BHO wants is to turn the military into another welfare program. He will spend all the money on "personnel programs" not military training and equipment.

The only thing he would use the military for would be disaster relief around the world, particularly enemy states. So why would they need guns?

Posted by: AlanC 2008-07-08 09:56

#13 At least until Nov. 5, 2008...

Posted by: tu3031 2008-07-08 09:34

#12 It's an exotic world for you 0. You'll have to adjust to an atmosphere with more integrity, trust and honor than you've ever encountered in all your time in Chicago or the beltway. The troops have no intention of being another 'one under the bus' O. In your high flying life these days you missed the story about the Marines who refused to testify in a witch trial in Blue Country. When the chips are down and the situation is darkest, the troops rely upon each other, even on to death or as the Great Liberator called it, the last full measure of devotion. They hear talk all the time. It doesn't take long for the troops to smell a poser among their ranks. The troops have no time for posers. You can buy generals by the handful [just ask Wesley], but you can not buy the loyalty of the troops but through loyalty back to them. It's a two way street. Checking PM on the undercarriage of the bus is not going to get that result.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-07-08 09:10

#11 He needs troop's trust. And I need ten million dollars.

Posted by: JFM 2008-07-08 09:09

#10 ....that everybody who is willing to lay down their lives on behalf of the United States and can do so effectively,

Strangly worded, not that he would know anything about it selfless service anyway, the worthless piece of kak.

Posted by: Besoeker 2008-07-08 08:54

#9 That's it, Obama. Talk to our enemies, let them know you're willing to appease their demands. Convey a perception of weakness such that we wind up with another 9/11 on our hands. Sit down and project your civility with murderous religious militants bent on the destruction of America and the establishment of an Islamic state. Have tea with President Tom whilst his henchmen are working in the background on nuclear devices to be aimed at the US. Break bread with al-Sadr and let him know that we understand and feel his pain even as he issues orders to strike hard at the infidels. Have some warm and fuzzy discussions with Hezbollah's leaders who are in the midst of a campaign to destroy Israel first, and then on to the US.
One cannot reason with unreasonable people. It's a cuddly feeling to want to resolve differences with talks. The hard and cold reality is that the leaders with whom he wants to talk are cold-blooded and hard hearted. They mean the destruction of our nation.

Never ever trust them. Ever.

Posted by: Walter S 2008-07-08 08:44

#8 Yankee hit a nerve. It will be interesting to see if the fruit-tree meme ever hits the MSM. But I bet it gets repeated a lot over a quiet beer, though. One of those old saws educated people scoff at until they become old educated people.

Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-07-08 08:27

#7 Here is an easy way to earn the troops trust.

Don't stab the troops in the back:
don't make their sacrifices go in vain:
don't cut their support off:
don't make disparaging comments about them:
don't make disparaging comments about their efforts:
make sure they stay until the job is done.

Anything I forgot?

Posted by: DarthVader 2008-07-08 07:49

#6 I think I got this figured out:

If you're an opponent of the war and think the United States of KKK-A deserves to lose, in order to vote for Obama, you have to believe (1) he was serious about withdrawal in 16 months no matter what, and (2) he's just BS-ing now to get elected and will pivot again as soon as he's inaugurated.

If you prefer that we win the war, then in order to vote for Obama, you have to believe (1) all that stuff about withdrawal in 16 months no matter what was BS to get the rabid BDS sufferers to vote for him in the primary, and (2) what he's saying now is what he'll really do and we should believe him this time.

Posted by: Mike 2008-07-08 06:20

#5 No, no, no, Jan. You missed the part where he said he, unlike Bush, has no preconceived notions about Iraq.

See? Feel better?

Posted by: Bobby 2008-07-08 05:55

#4 wanting to talk to Iran North Korea and everyone but our military leaders doesn't work very well either.
When did he say he'd go over there again, as though it will make much of a difference now, we already know where he is on these issues.

Posted by: Jan 2008-07-08 01:33

#3 Community organizing skills in a Chicago Ward aren't actually impressive to the military. Maybe Mr. Ayers putting in a few words won't help the earning part either

Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2008-07-08 01:12

#2 Obama: I need to earn troops' trust

Ask John Fucking Kerry for help then.

Posted by: RD 2008-07-08 01:00

#1 So, throwing the war on terror under the bus, something the troops deeply believe in or they wouldn't have volunteered life and limb to fight this war, will gain thier trust?

This guy is too much like his father, make promises to one woman, then leave her for another.

Like father, like son.

Posted by: a yankee 2008-07-08 00:58

00:00