Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is catching flack from all sides for his controversial decision to campaign in Europe and the Middle East.
The fact that Obama is campaigning in Europe — and pretending that he isn’t — has made him the butt of jokes in the British media. “He ventured forth to bring light to the world,” read one headline in a British newspaper. Another British paper, The Times writes:
And it came to pass… that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
Yesterday, there was a rumor that Obama blew off a visit to American troops at a military hospital in Afghanistan. But Obama’s camp blamed the Pentagon for the confusion.
The Pentagon issued a statement today denying the Obama camp’s claims that the Pentagon flat out refused his request to visit the troops. Of course there’s always two sides to a story. Here’s The Pentagon’s side according to spokesman Geoff Morrell:
Sen. Obama is welcome to visit Landstuhl or any military hospital in his official capacity as a United States senator. 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.“
In other words, the decision was Obama’s not to visit the troops. The Pentagon’s position is that Obama is welcome to visit the troops as long as he brings along his senatorial staff and not his campaign staff. But Obama is traveling with his campaign staff which means he is traveling as a presidential candidate and not as a US senator.
So why not just come clean and admit that he’s campaigning over in Europe? What’s Obama’s hidden agenda? I mean, do we really need a president who is at odds with the Pentagon? Especially in this post-9/11 era. I’m just saying.
