Obama Cancels Military Base Visit: "Inappropriate"

UPDATE:
When Obama cancelled his military base visit, he was responding to a Pentagon ruling:

"We learned from the Pentagon last night that the visit would be viewed instead as a campaign event," the adviser, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, said in a statement.

"Senator Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perceived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go."

Reuters has more from the Pentagon:

The Pentagon in a statement cited longstanding Defense Department policy that prohibits military personnel or facilities from association with partisan political campaigns and elections.

"We told him he could visit Landstuhl (Regional Medical Center in western Germany) with his Senate staff, but not with his campaign staff," said Army Lt. Col. Elizabeth Hibner.

John McCain, whose spokesman said Obama was "wrong" to cancel the visit, knows about this policy. His campaign explicitly referred to it during his "Service to America" tour:

With Department of Defense rules prohibiting political campaigning on military bases, it was determined that in some cases McCain could visit the installations as a senator but could not engage in any political activity or have news media present.

McCain campaign officials said Thursday they intentionally did not campaign on military property.

"We follow the rules," said senior McCain adviser Steve Schmidt.

(END OF UPDATE)

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ABC News reports that Barack Obama was planning to visit two U.S. military bases in Germany, but decided it wasn't the right time:

The German magazine Der Spiegel is reporting on line that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. has "cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl U.S. military bases in the southwest German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The visits were planned for Friday."

"Barack Obama will not be coming to us," a spokesperson for the U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl told Der Spiegel. "I don't know why."

Obama senior adviser Robert Gibbs told us in a statement, "During his trip as part of the CODEL to Afghanistan and Iraq, Senator Obama visited the combat support hospital in the Green Zone in Baghdad and had a number of other visits with the troops. For the second part of his trip, the senator wanted to visit the men and women at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to express his gratitude for their service and sacrifice. The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign."

John McCain's campaign has been quick to call most of Obama's activity abroad inappropriate. Now that Obama has chosen not to do something, you might think they would be pleased. But you would be mistaken:

"Barack Obama is wrong. It is never 'inappropriate' to visit our men and women in the military," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in response to the news.

Comments

[yehryte]

Let's see... Barry went to Europe and stated it was as a citizen and not a politician­... Is that truthful?

Had scheduled a visit to a hospital to visit troops... but when he was restricted to only have a few join him and no tv cameras but only meager dod photographer, he drops the appointmen­t... So, was that for the troops or himself?

Lastly, his military record... NONE....

McCain is no perfect, but he served honorably, and performed voluntarily without tv cameras and not political gain...

McCain 2008 - He record stands on it's own

[mccabe49]

Really there were no TV cameras for McCain?? Then why did I see him ON TV in Iraq? Was that some kind of reenactment? LOL you rightwingers are such fools and clowns

[dawlishgal]

Are you including his capitualtion to his captors as part of "he record?" McCain ought to shut up about his own self-labeled "heroism." "Hero" is a label best applied by others; certainly not by oneself when one is a collaborator with the enemy. Only Obama's good taste is keeping people from being reminded that McCain did capitulate and did allow his photo to be used for enemy propaganda. I don't blame him for capitulating--- the way he was being tortured, I would have done so myself. The difference is that I would not be labeling myself a "hero" afterwards, especially while trying to tear down my competitor­..

[Sabreen60]

The 0 cam-paign needs to push back with an ad stating McLiar's failure to vote for veteran$ benefits. They just need to state the facts.

[donorman]

They will push back. As soon as they get back from the gym.

[Sabreen60]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/military_blog_obama_072508w/

[Youth4Obama]

Desperado 2: The McCain Campaign - Coming to a theatre near you.

[genseric13]

A US Senator in Germany always has the absolute right and privilege to visit wounded troops. It's always considered a boost to morale by the local commanding general. Any US Senator who, allegedly was persuaded to not visit by a current administration is a complete coward. He didn't visit because it just didn't fit into his schedule or because it couldn't be turned into a campaign commercial. Be honest, quit being a bunch of pathetic cheerleaders.

[RustyGranite]

Yeah?

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/03/mccain.pentagon/index.html

Since you think he seemed concerned with a photo-op instead, can you all tell us what alternate activity he was doing that afternoon that was so intensely covered by the media?

Don't worry, I'll wait.

[machivellianX]

He is the ultimate politician to the point if disgrace. Appeal to everyone and in the end you appeal to no one, stand for everything and in the end you stand for nothing. The only change we'll have is that B.O. likes cream in his coffee unlike Bush.

[dawlishgal]

Yeah right. The Bush administration and the morons who still support it will blame Obama no matter what he does, and morons will believe them.

[tandrmcdonald]

The Pentagon cancelled the Obama visit with the troops, because the Bush/McCain propaganda machine told them to block the Obama visit. Trust the Republicans to turn this incident into an "Obama blows off a visit to the troops" media bloodletting.
Does anyone still wonder why so many people really hate the current Republican rulers?
Gramma Rose

[yehryte]

The Pentagon cancelled the visit? Which piece of propaganda was this from? DailyKos..­. MoveOn... the DNC...

[MrZrule]

John McCain is slinging arrows. Barack Obama is not responding too directly, instead gathering the fallen arrows to add to his debate quiver. I can hardly wait.

[jmanlefty]

Visit Walter Reed, or go to San Antonio TX to BAMC. Politic like John does, up to the door of the hospitals? Visit without the cameras, and be done with it?

[SURRYMARK]

Obama really does have a problem here in that he has allowed himself to be defined by all of the things he might have to apologize for. He should know that there is no end. He'd be damned if he didn't see the troops, or if he did. He should be thinking of FDR, or Churchill, or Truman, or even that idiot Reagan. If Obama wanted to see or even overtly campaign with US citizens in a hospital, he bloody well should. If he is going to say that doing that is "inappropriate," then he should think it through: "do I think it's inappropriate or am I letting my strings be pulled?" These are really critical issues for a president.

[rcozad]

I can see the vein's standing out on McCain's' neck now if Obama had made the trip and had reduced the soldiers to possibly unwilling props in a campaign tour! It is one thing to see the soldiers, and Marines pressing up to get a picture with him, quite another to be in bed helpless and unable to move. So Obama made the right decision hard as it may have been to make after spending a lot of money on the trip.
At this point I am reminded of my years as a manager in a very large corporation setting policy and encouraging employee inputs. Every time you conducted the exercise two basic groups emerged:# 1) Full of ideas eager to share with the group and, regrettably, the other #2) Void of ideas but all too willing to snipe and criticize every suggestion! McCain has very willingly settled into the mastermind of the #2 group. Obama is a very astute judge of character and has properly cataloged his opponent ( McCain) as having no ideas but always very eager to snipe and disagree ( as well as being disagreeable). If we want a perpetuation of a falling nation fading into second class status we have definitely found our man in McCain!

[genseric13]

BO is like M-adonna, if there are no cameras there, what's the point of going? We need more people to remember something Jesus said, I paraphrase, " blessed are the ones who do something good when no one is watching".

[RustyGranite]

Again I implore, what great photo-op did Obama pass the soldiers up for that night?

Tell me what he was doing that night that made it on national TV instead of visiting soldiers?

[dawlishgal]

Oh baloney...­.Obama is going to have somebody "watching" no matter what he does, and the Bushrovian neocon lying crooks who are now for McCain will try to exploit it either way. If he does something, he will be pilloried for having done it; if he doesn't do anything, he will be creamed for that. Limbaugh puts words into the mouths of these utter morons who vote against their own best interests for thugs and crooks who will kill their children for no good reason and rob them blind to line the pockets of their cronies.

It does get a bit frustrating when one realizes that their votes count as much as those of people who actually think for themselves and who actively seek INFORMATION rather than parrot propagandistic bullcrap.

[lennix]

i have never seen so many lies going around mccain has flip flop all though the campaing and everybody in the msm and cable keep giving him a pass obama has a great trip and msm trys over and over again to tear it apart becuase he did not blow it this is dirt not just on mccain part but also msm and andrea mitchell is showing her true colors like the rest the respect i had for her as a news person has gone are they trying so hard to make him lose? it's becuase they are the ones that is the real race batiers and unamericans not the poor whites or the black or brown they are the ones that fed this mess to us to keep us blind to the truth thier no real repoters any more just a bunch of puppets for the big boys they rather have another bush in the whit house they something new becuase they too do not what change they all are in it togather except ollberman and rachel maddow the rest is scum

[Changeizgood]

Scott McClellan testafied in a "Inquiry for Impeachment Hearing on C-Span2 Friday. Did anyone here see it. If not, I recommend you do. He testified that the Bush Administration has a connection to Fox Noise, and NYT. Interesting testamony, if you want to know who is spreading all the administration's propaganda for ratings over the last seven years.

Is it any wonder, that the fake news and propaganda, by Bill Kristol and O'Reilly, and the DC Imp Squad at Fox, can't be trusted with the truth, anymore than the Bush "Secret" Oil Administration now serving. But the ship's going down and the Rats are jumping ship, out of MORAL DISGUST AND A HOPE OF ENTERING HEAVEN.

Haters always distract to keep the truth from coming out about themselves.
They are hypocrits and seldom practice what they preach in their own "Churches at home.

Obama has just asked the World to step up and help to rid All OUR Country's of the AlQueida Terrorist Camps, and the World Resoundingly agrees with his methods of striking, at those, who attacked us, now we see Fox's drivel have beat the War drums on.

C-Span has it on their site. C-SPAN.ORG and you can hear it. The inquiry scared the Rethugs crapless, it was all true what Kucinich said as well as Ashcroft.

Time to Clean the Stench before a real Representative of All the People, enters the DC sewer.

[herronsmith]

Did you ever go to punctuation school? Your sentence structure, or lack of, makes reading your post a bloody nightmare. Get a period already.

[antv]

It sounds like someone already got their period... Juvenile jokes aside, I agree that the post does lack in the readability department, but there's no need to bully him/her about it.

[yehryte]

Your arguments are neither well reasoned nor are they truthful. I believe if you do your own research, you will find that all politicians change their stands in response to either fluid facts or the political winds... I believe Barry's change with the political winds and McCain follows fluid facts...

[Unshriven]

Clearly, it is McCain who is using injured troops to score political points. Disgustilng.

[simplecitizen]

Shameless McCain. He will sacrifice everything he says he ever stood for in his desperate attacks on Sen. Obama. In this dangerous world no single country no matter how strong can go it alone. We should be hopeful that Obama can generate the kind of support we need as a country moving foward inorder to halt the terrorists attempt to destroy our very fiber. He is dynamic and brillant. How refreshing it will be to have a President who respected around the world and who has the intellect to make the right decisons for our country. If Sen. McCain had any ideas or any thoughts on how to fix the things that are wrong here or in the world lets hear them and stop these pathetic attacks on Obama.

[timbonotes]

No offense but I just can't seem to recall what McBush ever stood for. Maverick Smaverick

[ggmome]

OH! The great deceivers of this country never relent on the fabrications they conjure up to attack. Just shows you that 'desparate people, perform desparate acts'....

[2grainsofsalt]

A storm in a teacup.

[PumaAnn]

McCain definitely found a way to take the air out of the Obama sails with this misstep.

*whoosh*

Obama on the run.

[whalertly]

the main problem is not that he canceled the trip, but that he scheduled it at all.

[Jezreel]

Why is it problematic that a U.S. Senator would schedule a visit to wounded soldiers to express the gratitude of our nation for their sacrifices on behalf of our national security?

[presto]

It's not a problem. They didn't say it was.

[ilikbshbtntgeo]

It's a problem if the trip is paid for by the campaign. If you're there as a senator you get to see the troops. If you're there campaigning you don't.