Obama Makes Surprise Air Force Base Visit To Honor Returning War Dead

[tinylittlegnat]

I don't think it's a PR stunt from the look of it. It's not fox news or CNN just the AP and the lighting sucks and if they didn't zoom in you would never know it was him.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jG7bZpfUk



Although I'm sure the people here will have something horrible and negative to say about it.

[chipbutty]

Originally Posted by tinylittlegnat

I don't think it's a PR stunt from the look of it. It's not fox news or CNN just the AP and the lighting sucks and if they didn't zoom in you would never know it was him.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8jG7bZpfUk



Although I'm sure the people here will have something horrible and negative to say about it.

they already did earlier, I'm afraid.

[SeanH]

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=679246

[sufisaint]

So why any cameras at all?

[tinylittlegnat]

Originally Posted by sufisaint

So why any cameras at all?

I read an article that says the AP has a guy who lives near the base and they cover every time fallen soldiers come home. And the other news networks buy the footage.

[sufisaint]

Originally Posted by tinylittlegnat

I read an article that says the AP has a guy who lives near the base and they cover every time fallen soldiers come home. And the other news networks buy the footage.

It is a military base, Dover, I assume, they can control who is there and when cameras can roll. If it was supposed to be private, the President has the means to make it so I would think. I am not trying to pick on Obama, I am just a cynical of politicians and the press.

[tinylittlegnat]

Originally Posted by sufisaint

It is a military base, Dover, I assume, they can control who is there and when cameras can roll. If it was supposed to be private, the President has the means to make it so I would think. I am not trying to pick on Obama, I am just a cynical of politicians and the press.

Very understandable. But the military only lets the press photograph the soldiers whose families give permission thats why it ended after that soldier was put in the vehicle. I believe 8 came home that night.

[sufisaint]

Originally Posted by tinylittlegnat

Very understandable. But the military only lets the press photograph the soldiers whose families give permission thats why it ended after that soldier was put in the vehicle. I believe 8 came home that night.

It is safe to say he knew the press would be there. I have to say it is PR, however, any honoring of those soldiers is laudable.

[sereneone4u]

Let's ask Pookie!

[Colonel Hogan]

Originally Posted by sufisaint

It is a military base, Dover, I assume, they can control who is there and when cameras can roll. If it was supposed to be private, the President has the means to make it so I would think. I am not trying to pick on Obama, I am just a cynical of politicians and the press.

I can't believe you don't know the undercurrent to this whole story. When Bush was President, he outlawed photo or video coverage of the war dead arriving at Dover out of privacy concerns for the families of the deceased servicemen and women.

But the press raised holy hell and screamed that Bush was attempting to "coverup" the true cost of war. Obama lifted the ban on photo coverage earlier this year. Curiously, the media has seemed far less interested in covering the "true cost of war" now that Obama is President.

Other Obama cynics, myself included, would suggest that the President's concern for the welfare and solemn sacrifices of our armed services personnel is indicated less by his presence or absence beside a flag draped coffin than it is by his willingness to give the remaining troops who are alive and still fighting the tools they need to accomplish their mission and maximize their own safety.

That would include making a decision on a request for 40,000 additional soldiers to fight alongside those who are currently in the field. His failure to provide those requested forces are going to make any future 4 a.m. salutes he might make ring pretty hollow.

[sufisaint]

Originally Posted by Colonel Hogan

I can't believe you don't know the undercurrent to this whole story. When Bush was President, he outlawed photo or video coverage of the war dead arriving at Dover out of privacy concerns for the families of the deceased servicemen and women.

But the press raised holy hell and screamed that Bush was attempting to "coverup" the true cost of war. Obama lifted the ban on photo coverage earlier this year. Curiously, the media has seemed far less interested in covering the "true cost of war" now that Obama is President.

Other Obama cynics, myself included, would suggest that the President's concern for the welfare and solemn sacrifices of our armed services personnel is indicated less by his presence or absence beside a flag draped coffin than it is by his willingness to give the remaining troops who are alive and still fighting the tools they need to accomplish their mission and maximize their own safety.

That would include making a decision on a request for 40,000 additional soldiers to fight alongside those who are currently in the field. His failure to provide those requested forces are going to make any future 4 a.m. salutes he might make ring pretty hollow.

I am well aware of context and Obama could have done something in private, there is no law which requires a press presence when unloaded the coffins or he simply could have done it in another way. But I stand by that any honoring of those soldiers is better than ignoring or taking for granted their sacrafice. As far as Afghanistan goes, we should have been out of there years ago and only return when a threat is present. I happen to agree with the analyst who just resigned, there is no strategic need for US to be there. Ther Taliban are no threat, they just want to rule their own land. We are simply creating more enemies by being an occupier.

[bronzeage]

Originally Posted by sufisaint

So why any cameras at all?

Freedom of the press, probably.

Originally Posted by chipbutty

they already did earlier, I'm afraid.

On the other thread, they think Obama is a dick for saluting.

[Colonel Hogan]

Originally Posted by sufisaint

I am well aware of context and Obama could have done something in private, there is no law which requires a press presence when unloaded the coffins or he simply could have done it in another way. But I stand by that any honoring of those soldiers is better than ignoring or taking for granted their sacrafice. As far as Afghanistan goes, we should have been out of there years ago and only return when a threat is present. I happen to agree with the analyst who just resigned, there is no strategic need for US to be there. Ther Taliban are no threat, they just want to rule their own land. We are simply creating more enemies by being an occupier.

In that case, I would think you would have to ask yourself what was the point of the President sending in 17,000 troops in February if he was just going to turn around and remove them less than a year later -- which is exactly what he needs to do if he is not going to follow the advice of his commanding general.

And I do not believe this is that difficult of a decision. Whether your analysis (and others) is right or whether Obama was correct when he characterized Afghanistan as "a war we cannot afford to lose" does not require months of reflection nor does the truth of either premise hinge upon who wins a revamped election.

If our national security interests depend on a military victory in Afghanistan, then let's get about the business of securing that victory.

If not, pack up and get out.

He either needs to raise or fold. Sitting pat is not a strategy which serves to honor our returning war dead three or four months from now.

[chipbutty]

.

Originally Posted by bronzeage

Freedom of the press, probably.



On the other thread, they think Obama is a dick for saluting.

yeah, I saw.

I still think it's important to distinguish the difference between the public agenda of a politician and that person's private feelings. In this instance he was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't; perhaps his advisors weighed up the stats either way and came up with he'd lose less ground by saluting than not. Personally, I don't see it as an insult, but understand some veterans might.

[mariondepriest]

i thank the man has no reason to do this kind of thing to our people the only weapon he might have fired would be in a drive by in chicago.

[bronzeage]

Originally Posted by chipbutty

.

yeah, I saw.

I still think it's important to distinguish the difference between the public agenda of a politician and that person's private feelings. In this instance he was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't; perhaps his advisors weighed up the stats either way and came up with he'd lose less ground by saluting than not. Personally, I don't see it as an insult, but understand some veterans might.

I don't think that much thought went into whether he would salute or not. He was standing with an Honor Guard and when they saluted, he did too. I think anyone else would have reacted the same way.

The real problems that conservatives have with the photo is that its evidence of their short sighted and poorly executed policies. Eight years after the first US soldier stepped on Afghan soil, dead ones are still coming back. I don't think they care about dead soldiers. What they care about is handing their intractable failure to their political opposition and now they have to face watching him solve the problem.

It makes then cranky.

[busybody]

Here is the criticism

His "concern" was so genuine

The NO PRESS there, except for an "accidental" AP 'reporter'

The COLORED FOOL's "people"

used the footage (they didnt expect to get cause the "press" wasnt supposed to be there)

IN A COMMERCIAL FOR HIS HEALTH CARE PROGRAM HOURS LATER

[Wrong Element]

Originally Posted by bronzeage

The real problems that conservatives have with the photo is that its evidence of their short sighted and poorly executed policies. Eight years after the first US soldier stepped on Afghan soil, dead ones are still coming back. I don't think they care about dead soldiers. What they care about is handing their intractable failure to their political opposition and now they have to face watching him solve the problem.

It makes then cranky.

It also has to be a bit embarrassing for them that Bush, he of the weeks and weeks at a time chilling at the ranch, never once made his way to Dover.

Maybe if a DuPont or two had thrown a fundraiser.

[Peregrinator]

Originally Posted by mariondepriest

i thank the man has no reason to do this kind of thing to our people the only weapon he might have fired would be in a drive by in chicago.

Look! A genius!

[RobDownSouth]

Originally Posted by Wrong Element

It also has to be a bit embarrassing for them that Bush, he of the weeks and weeks at a time chilling at the ranch, never once made his way to Dover.

Maybe if a DuPont or two had thrown a fundraiser.

In fairness to Dubya, he met with hundreds of families and next-of-kin of servicemen and women who died fighting his voluntary and unnecessary war, just not when any dead bodies were nearby.

Perhaps he inherited his mother's well-known phobia about dead bodies (when Dubya's sister died as a child, Barbara Bush couldn't bring herself to attend the funeral....that's one helluva strong phobia, folks!)

We do know George W. Bush had some documented phobias, the biggest one was horses.

[Luke_Atmydik]

Originally Posted by Peregrinator

Look! A genius!

Pookie would not think so.

[busybody]

err

who said they DIDNT TAKE REPORTERS WITH EM?

A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. Obama to Dover, where he arrived at 12:34 a.m. aboard Marine One. He returned to the South Lawn of the White House at 4:45 a.m.
<...>
The images and the sentiment of the president's five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.

[busybody]

why did the WH

use the PHOTO

as a backdrop to HEALTH CARE REFORM???????????????

[IrezumiKiss]

Originally Posted by Peregrinator

Look! A genius!

Y-you could read that?

I thought he was a graduate summa cum laude of The Busybody Boys' School of Good Breeding And Elocution.

[chipbutty]

Originally Posted by IrezumiKiss

Y-you could read that?

I thought he was a graduate summa cum laude of The Busybody Boys' School of Good Breeding And Elocution.

spooky, warn't it?