Friday, July 25, 2008

Obama Nixed Soldier Visit Under Pentagon Advice

I see rumors are rampant today and McCain is scolding Obama for not visiting wounded soldiers in Germany, but Andrea Mitchell mentioned on the evening news last night (and in the video below) that the Pentagon advised against it and this WaPo story says the same thing. Naysayers are scrambling to get a piece of Obama, doing whatever it takes. 

It's the same old thing, the old guys trying to pin Obama as not one of us -- visiting all those Europeans but not the soldiers. Just like an elitist! That criticism is getting old. McCain is getting old. As if Obama didn't want to visit the soldiers. 

Notice the Obama camp grace in not blaming the Pentagon. 
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama scrubbed a planned visit to see wounded American servicemen and women in Germany because of concerns raised by the Pentagon that the stop at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center could be seen as a political event, according to Obama's campaign.

Although the Illinois senator visited troops in Afghanistan and Iraq on the first part of his overseas trip, those stops were part of an official Congressional delegation, and therefore deemed apolitical. The European tour, which included a speech in Berlin last night before an enthusiastic crowd of 200,000, is funded by the campaign and as such is not official government business.

"Senator Obama had hoped to and had every intention of visiting our troops to express his appreciation and gratitude for their service to our country," retired Air Force Major General Scott Gration, an Obama adviser, said in a statement.


CNN, late to the game, decided to throw in its two cents. The media loves who? This is non story created by the extremists on the right, who are angry that their candidate is getting upstaged by cashier announcements in supermarkets.