President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Sunday, his first visit as commander in chief to the site of the war he inherited and has stamped as his own.
Air Force One landed at nighttime at Bagram Air Base after a 13-hour nonstop flight for a visit shrouded in secrecy for security reasons; Mr. Obama quickly boarded a helicopter for the trip to Kabul, landing at the presidential palace for talks with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.
General James L. Jones, the National Security adviser, told reporters aboard the flight to Bagram that Mr. Obama would try to make Mr. Karzai “understand that in his second term, there are certain things that have not been paid attention to, almost since day one.” Gen. Jones said those things included “a merit-based system for appointment of key government officials, battling corruption, taking the fight to the narco-traffickers,” which, “provides a lot of the economic engine for the insurgents.”
At the presidential palace, Mr. Obama and Mr. Karzai walked and chatted along a red carpet as they made their way to an Afghan color guard, where the national anthems of both countries were played, in a welcoming ceremony that lasted 10 minutes.
White House officials disclosed no information about the trip until Mr. Obama’s plane had landed in Afghanistan, and had even gone so far as to inform reporters that the president would be spending the weekend at Camp David with his family. In fact, Mr. Obama’s trip is occurring during the Afghan night, and he is expected to be on his way back to Washington before most Afghanis wake up Monday morning.
This is a good indicator that Obama's looking to bolster his creds by playing up the Commander-in-Chief role. Of course, he'll never do that as well as President George W. Bush. Indeed, the grunts are still warming up to O-Bambi:
Also, at ABC News, "President Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan to Meet with President Karzai, U.S. Troops: First Trip to Afghanistan for Obama as Commander-in-Chief."
Added: Now a thread a Memeorandum.
HotAirPundit has the video:
5 comments:
Enlightening.
Bush is relaxed, unassuming, casual in dress, and obviously heart felt towards the military greetings, speech, and departure.
Obama is stiff, contrived and disingenuous in his mannerisms. The only time he seems genuine is when he is speaking to Europeans, and also, black audiences, when his vocal patterns lapse into faux MLK (who had an authentic preachers zeal, and a message to give to all American people).
I am disappointed. I expected more from our first black president. I say that, because, I believe it is an opportunity lost for the first African-American to be in the position of world leadership rallying the troops. Had Hilary Clinton been elected I would be assessing from the first woman point of view, as an opportunity to show real class as Commander in Chief – so spare me the histrionic leftist’s label accusing me as racist- my street cred is solid in that area.
Bush showed authentic respect for the military. Trust me: our enemies are still watching this president for the weakness he illustrates unfailingly.
Well,
I for one will give him his props for acting presidential in his role as commander-in-chief.
We'd bash him if he didn't pay such visits, so we should be careful about bashing him when he does. Otherwise it makes us look foolish.
I can't stomach watching this.
Sorry, Wordsmith, I can't miss the chance to bash him. The long, long delay on the Afghanistan partial-surge is almost inexcusable. That said, I do want him succeed, because if he does we will.
The big problem here is he's talking to Air Force personnel, not "grunts". The only fighters in the area would be the pilots. Nice and safe. What a brave soul he is, indeed.
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