Remember- what Barack Obama told the troops in Afghanisan?
“This Is My Favorite Thing To Do.”
Fast forward Berlin–
After the outrage yesterday that Barack Obama had decided to blow off a visit to see the wounded troops during his campaign stop in Berlin, the Obama Camp tried to lay blame on the US military.
They told reporters this morning that the military “prevented” Obama from seeing the wounded soldiers.
(It happens all of the time!)
Lynn Sweet at The Chicago Sun-Times reported:
Though the Rammstein visit had been planned for days, Obama senior strategist David Axelrod said that that Pentagon notified Obama military advisor Scott Gration only yesterday or the day before that he should not come.
The Pentagon “viewed this as a campaign event and therefore they said he should not come,” Axelrod said. Obama has been at the base in previous overseas trips. He visited with troops–even played basketball–when he touched down in Kuwait during the Iraq and Afghanistan leg of his swing.
However, the Pentagon has come out with a different version on the story.
The Politico reported:
Chief Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell confirmed to Politico that Department of Defense officials cautioned Barack Obama’s campaign that his planned visit to wounded American troops in Germany could not be political in nature and that he would be barred from bringing along campaign staff and reporters. He also said that Cindy McCain recently requested to visit sailors aboard the U.S.N.S. Comfort and was denied.
“Sen. Obama is welcome to visit Landstuhl or any military hospital in his official capacity as a United States senator,” Morrell said in a brief interview. “But there is a DoD policy which governs campaigning and electioneering at military facilities that would have to be respected if he were to visit. That distinction was relayed and made clear to campaign, and they made a decision on their own based on that guidance.”
It’s bad enough that Obama went shopping and worked out instead of visiting wounded troops.
It’s worse that his campaign lied about it.
UPDATE: The Pentagon confirmed that it told Obama to leave his photo staff back in Berlin.
UPDATE 2: Blackfive has thoughts on Barack’s decision to boot the wounded troop visit.
