(CNN) — [1] President-elect Barack Obama visited military personnel and their families enjoying Christmas dinner at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii Thursday during his holiday vacation.
Obama went to Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay on Oahu where he mingled with Marines and sailors. Obama and the troops also had a traditional dinner including turkey, roast beef, ham and trimmings.
Wasn’t it just a short time ago we heard the left complaining loudly about these kind of visits from President Bush to the troops? Forgive me, but it doesn’t seem to me to be a massive sacrifice on his part to be visiting the troops on Christmas that are lucky enough to be stationed in Hawaii. Given his history, I can only conclude this is at best a half hearted effort with the troops with the larger concern being his image with the voters.
It’s gonna take a lot more than “symbolic gestures” like visiting troops in Hawaii over the Christmas holidays, and playing basketball with them in Afghanistan on a trip designed to highlight your “foreign policy creds.” Barack Obama repeatedly and routinely denigrated the mission in Iraq, not just as a US Senator, but as a candidate for Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Whether or not he meant to demean the sacrifices of our troops, that’s exactly what he – and anyone else – did who either said or implied that they were making the ultimate sacrifice for a “lie” … that their deaths were “wasted” deaths. That’s what he did when he noted over the summer that, even knowing the successes that the surge would have brought to the table – including the sharp downturn in violence – that he still would have voted against the surge.
Agreement. And the fact of the matter is, that until such time as he reverses that stance, these little symbolic gestures are all that; all symbolism, no substance. Rather like Obama and his resume, heretofore.
Since they’re releasing pictures of the event, it is relatively easy to figure out why Obama actually went through with this particular event, as opposed to canceling it at the last minute as he did with an event at Walter Reed; He was able to bring the press and their cameras, this time.
Not an auspicious start.