Obama Campaign Unprepared for German Base Visit
Not to make a huge deal out of this but Sen. Obama’s campaign excuse about not visiting troops in Germany is a tad lame. Greg Sargent reports:
“We have longstanding Department of Defense policy in regards to political campaigns and elections,” Pentagon spokesperson Elizabeth Hibner told me. “We informed the Obama staff that he was more than welcome to visit as Senator Obama, with Senate staff. However, he could not conduct the visit with campaign staff.”
After being told this, the Obama campaign announced yesterday that it had decided it was “inappropriate” to make the visit as part of a campaign trip.
It’s unclear how Obama could have made the visit at all, given the Pentagon’s directives. No Senate staff was on the trip, and the Obama camp says they received the Pentagon’s directives on Wednesday, after they were already abroad.
No Senate staff were on the trip? None? Obama’s schedulers were smart enough to have the right people traveling with him when visiting military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they went away when Obama went to Europe? Presumably the rules on an Army base in Germany are the same as based in Iraq and Afghanistan. You would think the campaign and the Senate staff would coordinate consistently.
And why would Obama need Senate staff to go with him? How complicated is it to land, shake hands with a few soldiers, talk to a few generals, then get back on the plane?
Macranger has more. While AJ Strata rakes Obama over the coals:
How hard would it have been to visit them and give them a thank you no matter what the restrictions? How hard would it have been to simply honor and respect their sacrifices? Not hard at all in reality. You don’t have to agree with the policies to thank those who volunteered and took their orders to implement those policies. I cannot fathom what was going through Obama’s thick head. These American troops are “The World” too.
“Pentagon Confirms That It Told Obama He Couldn’t Visit Army Base With Campaign Staff” [via memeorandum]
You pearl clutchers seem to forget that when McCain=Bush went to Canada, our ambassador there set everything up for him (visits, dinner, receptions, meet & greets). So why the double standard? Obama’s visit was ‘political’ and McCain=Bush was not?
How about we approach it as adults and imagine what really happened. McCain=Bush is repuiblican, so he naturally got assistance from a Bush appointee. Obama is a dem, so he naturally got turned away for just being a dem.
IOKIYR – Its OK if you’re republican.
So your hand wringing over this story is nonsense, but it did make you feel superior for a few minutes – and God knows you need every bit you can muster. Got landslide?