Shunning the troops: Seeking truth in politically-charged atmosphere
He didn’t do it because he couldn’t take his media entourage along. Bush cronies in the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to visit. He didn’t want to make a political situation out of troops’ injuries. A camel in Afghanistan ate his itinerary and he forgot he had a hospital visit scheduled.
The reason for Barack Obama’s cancelled visit with wounded U.S. troops at a Landstuhl, Germany, military hospital on Thursday varies from source to source, depending on party allegiance.
The initial reason for cancelling the visit, which was to have been a part of Obama’s sweeping European trip that ended Friday, was that it would be “inappropriate,” Obama’s camp said.
John McCain’s campaign wasted little time seizing the opportunity to question Obama’s decision. Lt. Col. Joe Reypya, a spokesman for the McCain camp, said that “Visits with world leaders and speeches to cheering Europeans shouldn’t be a substitute for comforting injured American heroes.” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers added, “It is never ‘inappropriate’ to visit our men and women in the military.”
What the McCain camp wasn’t doing publicly was speculating on why Obama canceled his visit. They left the dirty work to bloggers and the news media, who were all to happy to say what the McCain camp wouldn’t. “Obama could not bring any media. Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit,” MSNBC quoted a military spokesperson at Landstuhl as saying. “Apparently, it’s more important for him to have the media take pictures of him at the Ritz Carlton gym lifting weights, than to take a moment leave the press behind and talk to the people who defend this country,” declared one of several blogs commenting on the fact.
Soon, whispers in Democratic circles was that the Pentagon had declared the military hospital off-limits to the Obama campaign. The liberal Talking Points Memo blog quoted Pentagon spokesman as saying that, “because of longstanding Department of Defense regulations, Pentagon officials told Obama aides that he couldn’t visit the base with campaign staff.”
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman confirmed to CNN that the Pentagon had concerns about Obama visiting the wounded troops as a presidential candidate rather than as a U.S. Senator. One can read between the lines of Whitman’s reasoning and reach their own conclusions, but the most plausible theory would be that military officials wouldn’t want the media entourage that would inevitably follow a presidential candidate to be traipsing through a hospital of wounded veterans.
“Generally speaking, the military tries very hard not to get involved in political campaigns,” Whitman said said. “Conducting a campaign speech for example on a military installation is not something that would be appropriate to do.” But, he added, “the Pentagon certainly did not tell the senator that he could not visit Landstuhl.”
So couldn’t Obama have left the press outside and visited as a Senate candidate, alone? No, according to Talking Points Memo, which said, “This left Obama with little choice but to cancel the trip, since the plan to visit with campaign aides had been in the works for weeks.” And, it added, “It’s unclear how Obama could have made the visit at all, given the Pentagon’s directives. No Senate staff was on the trip . . .” But no “Senate staff” is required to accompany a Senator on such visits. Whitman said, “Quite frankly, I expected them to have [Obama] visit.” Indeed, Obama visited Walter Reed upon returning stateside Saturday.
By Saturday, the McCain campaign had unveiled a 30-second ad that had been rushed into production, hammering Obama on the issue. Says the ad, “Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan. He hadn’t been to Iraq in years. He voted against funding our troops. And now, he made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras.”
The Obama camp is attempting to portray the situation as one where Obama refused to visit the hospital because he didn’t want to politicize the troops’ injuries, but that McCain did just that with his ad. Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said Saturday, “This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Senator Obama sought to avoid, and it’s not worthy of Senator McCain or the ‘civil’ campaign he claimed he would run.” The Obama campaign accused McCain of being “an honorable man running an increasingly dishonorable campaign.”
Central to the debate now is whether Obama ever intended the press to accompany him to Landstuhl. Insinuations in some Democratic circles is that the visit was never a part of the public itinerary, available to the press, which would hint that the press was never intended to be part of the visit. But a press briefing Friday clearly indicates that the media was aware of the plans to visit. An Obama spokesman even said the visit had been part of the schedule “for some time.” But, he added, the press “would have stayed on the plane.”
The truth of the matter will be forever debated. The Obama campaign will continue to insist that the press were not to have been part of the visit to start with, and that the visit was canceled to avoid the appearance of politicizing the troops’ injuries. To be sure, the McCain ad is a risky move on his part, because the risk is run of having it backfire if independent voters view it as the Obama campaign insists it is: An attempt by McCain to use the troops’ injuries for his own political gain. However, the claims that are being made by McCain are not without merit. Certainly, Obama could have visited the hospital; that much is crystal clear. The argument that the visit was canceled after the concerns of it being political were raised seems to be nonsense; campaign advisors are paid to analyze and re-analyze every aspect of a campaign, and would certainly have realized without the Pentagon telling them so that a stop by a presidential candidate on a campaign trip would have been viewed as a campaign stop. Thereafter, everyone can draw their own conclusions as to why the Obama campaign opted out of the visit.
July 27th, 2008 at 11:34 am
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBy Saturday, the McCain campaign had unveiled a 30-second ad that had been rushed into production, hammering Obama on the issue. Says the ad, “Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan. … [...]
July 27th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
“everyone can draw their own conclusions as to why the Obama campaign opted out of the visit”
You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts. Remove your self-indulgent speculation, and you come down to some simple facts:
1. The Pentagon instigated this story, telling Obama’s campaign that the trip would be viewed as political.
2. Obama’s campaign then follows the Pentagon’s advice and cancels the trip, as the only staff available to Obama were campaign staff.
3. The media play no part in the story, except where people choose to speculate without any factual basis.
All your speculation is unnecessary. A patriot would simply say that it is a shame politics prevented the visit. To choose instead to speculate on a presidential candidate’s support for the troops, turning those troops into a political football, is a terrible thing.
You would have thought a conservative site would treat the military with more respect than simply as a means to stay in power.
July 27th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
“1. The Pentagon instigated this story” . . . “Obama’s campaign then follows the Pentagon’s advice and cancels the trip.”
Jon, you must’ve missed this paragraph: “Generally speaking, the military tries very hard not to get involved in political campaigns,” Whitman said said. “Conducting a campaign speech for example on a military installation is not something that would be appropriate to do.” But, he added, “the Pentagon certainly did not tell the senator that he could not visit Landstuhl.”
July 27th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Unfortunately, this stupid and infantile pastures are what we citizens have to deal with the next 100 days. The Mcain campaign is very desperate and will grasp at any straw to survive. The Obama camp did what it deemed fit and would have been criticized anyway, if it did otherwise. Just simply amazing what desperate people do.