The whole trip was an exploitation of every leader he met and all of those people that came to see him. But all of the sudden he starts feeling guilty about giving some wounded soldiers a few encouraging words. I'm not buying that.

Your problem is you can't face the truth. You rationalize his motivations, but we both know what they are. He wants to impose a dress-code on people when he was in the Middle East telling them not to wear green, he has the whole thing planned out in every detail but when it comes to our wounded they can go pack sand......and he calls it a mistake.

It was a choice he made. His priorities are not fitting the position he aspires to. He wants to command them but he doesn't want to give them any respect especially after they have sacrificed their bodies. If I was running for President I'd tell anyone who even suggested skipping the visit that it was out of the question.....even if it meant missing another photo-op with another official.

__________________


"We can't screw it up any worse than they have." - Barack Obama

Wanna bet?



"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste...." - Rahm Emmanuel

It appears that you are trying to have it both ways at once.

Obama visited Europe in the style and manner of a president, referring to his “predecessors” Reagan and Kennedy as if he were on the same level. They earned their popularity the hard way, and made no attempt to ride on someone else’s coat-tails. Then you claim that it would have been insensitive for him to visit the wounded military.

Certainly it is evident from this whole extraordinary, fascinating, weird, circus-like trip to Europe that Obama and his campaign have no awareness whatsoever of what is appropriate or sensitive. The idea of a presidential candidate taking on the mantle of president while at the same time pretending that he is just a “world citizen” who happened to be in the neighborhood while conducting a whirlwind tour of the capitals of Europe is an example of narcisstic hubris taken to the extreme. It goes well beyond the ordinary arrogance that all politicians share.

The speech itself was rubbish, with several moments of stunning tastelessness. The assumption that the US and the Soviet Union were equally evil –only the Americans were a little worse - is the very bedrock of far-left policy regarding the cold war. The fact that Obama assumed that view to be true, and at the same time dared to assume the role of Kennedy and Reagan, who spoke out openly about communism and did not do to the relativism dance, is another indication of spectacular arrogance, an ignorance of history that is not acceptable.

Claiming that Americans were a large part of “…what is wrong with the world” is simply left-wing masochism. The audience loved it and screamed their approval – but that crowd, like any huge crowd in any country, would have applauded if he had taken off into the sky in a hot air balloon, dispensing candy to the cheering mob.

The refusal, however, to visit the wounded military is a case of the hubris and stupidity catching up with him. The tussle with the Pentagon was unseemly and absurd. There is no indication that Obama has any personal opposition to the military. That is not the point.

The point is that the idea of him daring to apologize for Americans to crowds of adoring Germans while our wounded soldiers are hospitalized in the same nation is appalling and offensive. There is no way to spin it or get out of it. It was a disgrace.

It is likely that his campaign simply didn’t grasp the seriousness of it, and will certainly not be held accountable by a salivating and prostrate media. But this is a slap in the face to the military from a self-absorbed candidate that will not be forgotten.

This will be a serious challenge for Obama’s worshipers. Cult followers are notoriously opposed to acknowledging flaws in their secular deity. But they must be willing to say “He blew it” – something I have never yet heard any Obama worshiper acknowledge about him. It is likely he will be elected, but he will be far more profoundly divisive than Bush or Clinton. The Europeans love him because he represents a weak, passive America. That will always go over well. But that is not enough.

A few years ago, I would have been encouraged by the sight of Germans cheering an American because of my own affection for and interest in Germany. That is not true now.

Many in those crowds who yell and cheer for him were filled with contempt and disgust for Americans only a short time ago. If this forum has taught me anything, it is the depth of anti-Americanism. Fortunately, there are those who do not accept it. But there are many who do. Crowds can move quickly from hatred to admiration to rage to worship and back to hatred. I don't trust yelling crowds. Worship of Obama will do nothing to change something so deep and serious.

__________________
"Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep; in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety."

Macbeth 3:1

Yet the fact remains that the visit was scheduled, appropriate or not, Obama was going to visit our wounded. Despite the fact that his congressional detail had already left his entourage, he still had SS, which should have sufficed to accompany Obama for a visit to our wounded.

If Obama's handlers thought it wasn't appropriate for him to visit our wounded on a campaign tour, they shouldn't have scheduled the visit.

I'm sorry, but to cancel outright just sends the wrong type of message for a Presidential candidate.

__________________
Big Number of 2008
8,217,246
Obama's Margin of Victory

"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

-Thomas Jefferson

Have you ever considered looking at policy-related actions rather than photo ops and meaningless visits? Let's see, McCain wants them to stay in Iraq to get killed. Gee, I think I'd rather suffer the unimaginable pain of not being visited by some dumbass US Presidential candidate than get killed/maimed in Iraq. What about you?

__________________
If a neocon whines about big government wealth redistribution, just ask him what he thinks about the portion of that big government that sends aid to Israel.

his decision was wrong he was told not to bring camera's ....obama didnt want to visit the troops for real reasons he wanted the photo op and needed them as props.....so he didnt visit at all ..........

thus your mesiah showed what i already knew he is a typical liberal president who will fuck the troops in the ass in the end cause he doesnt respect them nor care about them


no need in denying that he will for you know it also , if you didnt you wouldnt as your ilk is be so quick to start the fucking spin cycle

Dude, when I was 18, I was a fascist. Even my bestfriend, he's indian, a confident christian and a coloured, was fascist. I'm a pacifist now. So is he. It's not always about what you did wrong, but often enough about what you have learned. If you watch Obama closely, his body language, his voice tone, the way he reacts to unexpected tough questions, you'll quickly notice that this man has nothing to hide.

__________________
"I think that gay marriage should be allowed."
- John McCain on an episode of Hardball, 2006, before the commercial break

"I do not believe that gay marriage should be legal."
- John McCain on the same episode of Hardball, after the commercial break

"John McCain does not speak for the John McCain campaign."
- Tucker Bounds, Spokesman of the John McCain presidential campaign.

The straight talk express. You gotta love it.

Agreed. I don't get why blind partisans can't see that. An image of him with the troops would have been some kind of smoking gun for the McCain camp to show Obama as someone who thinks he's already the Commander-In-Chief.

That being said, I would have prefered to see an image like that since Obama, after all, is online with Bush and Maliki about drawing up an exit strategy.

About Obama's speech in Berlin: It occured to me and some friends that if you're anywhere around maybe 12 to 15 yrs old, all you can probably remember from the news when Americans went abroad is that massive protests went on, flag burning, and in Cheney's case, a few bombings following close behind. It would not have been until this event that you actually saw something positive like this since 9/11, if that was even in clear in your memory.

to top the issue off..........today on Meet the Press he talked again on how he felt his decision wasnt wrong and brokaw pressed him he still felt he did no wrong

then to make matters worse , when the story broke and andrea mitchell said the pentagon told him he couldnt go....which now is proven to be a LIE which the media assisted the obama camp with....but once again when obama needs help the media always steps up for him

uh huh.....do you tell fortunes too? I have watched him and he always seems uncomfortable to me when he speaks off the cuff, like he’s always reading from something he just thought of ahead, before speaking to make sure he doesn't make a mistake, the hesitancy is very apparent. Which is great, more should have that ability, but hardly off the cuff and "open".

The only times I have seen him respond spontaneously is when he has gaffed, like the talking to Iran without pre conditions, the surge won’t stop sectarian violence and will enhance it, other nuggets where in he lets loose, telling us what he REALLY thinks. And yes I am sure there are times were everything has been just fine, it’s a matter of what you agree with or not.

__________________
No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


Mortgage Backed Security survivor

No, this is a man who realizes he needs to give the impression that he has nothing to hide.

He's a scumbag...

__________________
Obama's New "57 State Patriotic Pin":




Sayeth John Drake - 10/13/08: "OK, you're right, I admit to LYING"

Think of all the children who were too young to remember a crowd of foreign people waving American flags, and not burning them.

__________________
“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Yes, indeed - hatred of Americans simply for being Americans is very frightening and troubling. Any bigotry and prejudice based on nationality is frightening.

That is why I don't trust screaming crowds in any country, certainly not just Germany. Crowd mentality is always dangerous. We have seen how quickly implict hatred of Americans turns into explict hatred.

What happens if the Beloved One is not elected? Those same crowds will turn back to anti-Americanism. Attempting to please crowds is not a way to govern a nation.

__________________
"Our fears in Banquo
Stick deep; in his royalty of nature
Reigns that which would be fear'd: 'tis much he dares;
And, to that dauntless temper of his mind,
He hath a wisdom that doth guide his valour
To act in safety."

Macbeth 3:1

No, I don't think it's anti-Americanism, as our leaders like to portray it. It's simply that other free nations, recognizing the power of America, hope to see us set good standards, because everybody else follows our lead. When we don't keep to our principles, look at what happens with Russia and China.

By coming out for the "Beloved One" as they did in Germany, what they're saying is that they hope American leadership works harder to broker peace by setting good examples, instead of beating the war drums every single time there are differences between nations of different values.

yea and if you want to examine what’s happened since “then” there would be some explaining to do.
Especially amongst our European "brothers". Gratitude indeed has a short half life.
And DON’T say gratitude for what……

__________________
No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


Mortgage Backed Security survivor

oh boy........

__________________
No individual can plan his own existence in their view.

So the state planners must arrogate to themselves the right to manipulate any sector of the economic system if the good of “society” or the “general welfare” is paramount.

Ipso- if the rights of the individual get in the way, the rights of the individual must be sublimated.

The Road to Serfdom
FA Hayek (interpretation)


Mortgage Backed Security survivor