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Home Front: Politix
Obama's cancellation of a military hospital visit leaves unanswered questions
2008-07-26
The varying explanations for the cancellation of Barack Obama's planned visit today to the U.S. military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany are leaving campaign-watchers puzzled.

Obama had been scheduled to greet U.S. troops at the hospital just before leaving Germany this afternoon for Paris, where he met French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace.
Then he found out that there wouldn't be any cameras ...
But first, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs released a statement Thursday night saying the senator had 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."

The campaign amended that explanation this morning. Obama wanted to thank the troops for their service, but "we learned from the Pentagon last night that the visit would be viewed instead as a campaign event.," Obama advisor Scott Gration, a retired Air Force major general, said in a statement.
The Senator could have walked in without campaign aides. He could have spent an hour there. He could have had a military escort to guide him around -- he would have been perfectly safe. He could have had some quiet words with various wounded soldiers and their families. Perhaps shook the hands of some of the staff that make all the great medical care possible. He could have quietly thanked people for their hard work and their sacrifice.

He didn't.
On Obama's flight from Berlin to Paris, Gibbs offered more details. Around July 15, the Pentagon approved Obama's visit. But military officials later invoked a rule on political activity at military bases and questioned whether it would cover Obama's visit, Gibbs said. Obama spokesmen said they were seeking clarification on what the rule is. Gibbs also declined to speculate on why the Pentagon did not cite the rule until Wednesday.

That account, however, didn't square with the Defense Department's explanation. The Pentagon said it informed the Obama campaign on Monday that he and his Senate staff could visit Landstuhl, where wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated, but that no press would be allowed. "Sen. Obama is more than welcome to visit Landstuhl or any other military hospital around the world," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. "But he has to do so, just as any other senator has to do so, in his official capacity. It is not acceptable to do so as a candidate."

"In an election year," Morrell said, "I don't believe that any candidate is allowed to visit a DOD facility with press."
The Messiah did find time to thank the German police, even though he couldn't visit our wounded soldiers.
Posted by:Fred

#4  The campaign amended that explanation this morning.

Sums up the whole campaign quite nicely...
Posted by: Raj   2008-07-26 10:00  

#3  Here it is again, Obama's African agenda. Gration was raised in the Congo by missionary parents. He speaks Swahili and is the President and CEO of Millennium Villages ("Extreme Poverty Ends Here"). He accompanied the Obamessiah on his trip to kenya two years ago. Gration's bio at the link.

Gen(Ret) Jonathan S. Gration

EDUCATION
1974 Bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J.
1988 Master of arts degree in national security studies, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
1988 Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va.
1993 National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.
1999 Executive Program for General Officers of the Russian Federation and the United States, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard















University, Cambridge, Mass.
2002 National Security Decision Making Seminar, the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-07-26 08:54  

#2  What Frank said (except for the "starting" part lol)

On the bright side, I'm sure B.O. boosted the morale of our wounded heroes by NOT showing up. I know having that self aggrandizing SOB use my woundedness for a campaign photo-op would have SERIOUSLY pissed me off.
Posted by: Bin thinking again   2008-07-26 08:49  

#1  he could've got photos from the military photogs, but they wouldn't frame him with the obligatory faux-halo he's expecting from the AP, Rooters, et al. I'm reeeaaally starting to dislike this arrogant POS, empty-headed racist and marxist blow-hole, even more than his wife
Posted by: Frank G   2008-07-26 07:19  

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