Barack Obama's
decision to
cancel a planned visit with U.S. troops at Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center appears to be going viral -- it's all
over the blogosphere and conservative talk radio really
hammered Obama on Friday.
Sean Hannity's reaction was typical:
So if you want my take on this, if you want to remember
one thing about this trip is that Barack Obama chose to work out
rather than see the wounded troops because he couldn't bring Katie
Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Brian Williams with him.
That "work out" remark refers to Obama's much-publicized
exercise session with a German reporter, and whether Hannity's
criticism is accurate or fair is irrelevant to the fact that this
incident feeds into the perception of Obama's foreign trip as a
weeklong photo-op for his adoring media fan club.
Team Obama (and the left-wing blogosphere) have inadvertantly
fed oxygen into the story by trying to push back against the
Right's suggestion that the canceled visit amounted to Obama
snubbing wounded soldiers. This creates an excuse for media to run
stories to "clarify" what happened -- what did military officials
actually tell Obama about bringing his campaign staff? -- so that
the dispute now spills into the weekend. And that means that the
story will be discussed on the Sunday shows (it's at least certain
to be mentioned by George Will on ABC's "This Week"), and perhaps
then to be rehashed in Monday newspaper stories.
Whether or not this is on the level of the infamous Dukakis tank
ride, it is certain to become a regular talking-point in the
Right's critique of Obama.
UPDATE:
The Washington Post's Dan Balz covers the story, as do
David Espo of AP and Alexander
Mooney of CNN. That this Thursday incident merits continued
coverage on Saturday sort of undercuts the claim by
MSNBC's Mark Murray that it is a "minor controversy."
UPDATE II:
Major Garrett of Fox News has a transcript of the Friday press
huddle on the Obama campaign plane in which spokesman Robert Gibbs
attempted to explain the Landstuhl incident. The reader can judge
how successful he was in that effort.
topics:
Barack Obama, Military
