There were over 1000 articles on Google news about the President’s visit to Arlington Cemetery on Veteran’s day this year.
No problem. Such ceremonies are part of the job, after all.
But then, according to ABC news:
his car came to an unexpected stop by the gravesites of casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan. The president and Mrs. Obama got out and wandered amid the headstones, reaching out with a handshake to families they encountered,
Unexpected? Excuse me.
Even those of us only mildly knowledgeable about security matters know that no Secret Service person would allow the President to “wander” among families who (how should I put this) might be angry at a president who won the election by dissing the sacrifices of their loved ones?
Oh well, maybe he did comfort families there. I’m being too cynical, right?
But then there is this: a touching essay on the New York Daily News by someone who met the president on his spontaneous tour.
First the president greets the mourners, precisely two women.
And then? (again from ABC news):
The President patted backs of a dozen other Gold Star relatives and troops visiting buddiesnow in the ground.
He gave hugs. He shook wet, chilly hands. He wanted to know something about each fallen warrior…
And then Obama noticed a tall, bearded figure. He probably didn’t see the mud-caked combat boots I trudged around Afghanistan in a few years ago.
“What’s your name?” a somber President asked as he extended his hand.
“James Meek, sir,” I replied, struggling to pull off my wool glove and pull my hood back from my head. “I’m here visiting a friend, Pfc. David H. Sharrett II, who was killed in Iraq last year.”
That’s when my “cariboufertilizer” detector went off full blast.
The president just happens to stop and visit the newest graves in Arlington. He does what every politician does, shakes hands and pretends to show sorrow. Normal politician stuff.
And then? He just happens to “notice” a “tall bearded figure” and goes over to shake his hand.
The man is a reporter, and not just a reporter, but one from a New York Paper, and to make things even more suspicious, an investigative reporter who works on their Washington Bureau. And this reporter isn’t an ordinary one working the police beat: Nine of his last ten stories are about war on terror/war related subjects.
This reporter just happens to take time off during an ordinary working day to visit the grave of a high school friend. (Note for non American readers: Veteran’s day is a holiday for government and bank employees but not for ordinary folks).
This brings up all sorts of questions.
Does this reporter visit the grave of his friend often, or did he “just happen” to be there in the middle of the day on Veteran’s day? After all, this was not a close high school friend, like my classmate who was reburied in Arlington last year. Nor was it the grave of a soldier who knew him when he covered Afghanistan. This was the grave of a son of one of many of his high school teachers. Nor could he say that he visited the grave on Veteran’s day at the request of a family who lived many miles away: He admits the family comes from McLean Virginia, which is a suburb of Washington DC.
Oh, yes, this wasn’t a photo op at all.
But someone just happened to take a photo, this photo (not shown due to copyright). Note that the photo was taken from behind the reporter who wrote the article, in order to show the President putting his hand out in sympathy?
Yet if the visit was “spontaneous”, wouldn’t the reporters be left behind in the motorcade, or maybe trailing behind the president?
My final question: where are all the secret service guys in the photo? Here is the president, going over to shake hands with a suspicious looking civilian wearing a baggy parka that is loose enough to conceal an Uzi. (Photo of Mr. Meek HERE.)
So, Mr. Meek: Is the Secret Service incompetent? Or is it a cynical photo op?
Take your pick.
But if the set up sounds like a cynical photo op to a sentimental patsy like myself, one wonders why a famous investigative reporter would fall for such a cynical act of manipulation.
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Nancy Reyes is a retired physician living in the rural Philippines. Her website is Finest Kind Clinic and Fishmarket.
13 users commented in " President Obama’s Cynical Photo op at Arlington "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackWhy is it you have to criticize this president no matter what he does. At least we are not starting wars based on lies like the last one… he is just left to pick up the pieces!!!
One, I do not criticize the president “no matter what he does”. Indeed, my essay yesterday praised him.
I was criticizing the slobbering adoration in the article by a reporter over what was a routine photo op by a president.
Outstanding article, Ms. Reyes!!
So’d you punch a baby today? Kick a dog? Knock an ice cream cone out of a little kid’s hand? What the hell is the matter with you.
Nancy, in my profession (journalism) we typically at least make a phone call or send an e-mail to ask a question before we write. It’s pretty outrageous that you would question my very close relationship with my high school English teacher, whose son I have written about in the Daily News four times in the past two years. I live near Arlington National Cemetery and I was there in Section 60 on my personal time before heading in to work — where I’ve been covering the Fort Hood murders. Dave Sharrett’s grave was not the only plot I visited, as my story noted. The other two graves of a friend and a relative are only a stone’s throw from Dave’s. Photo op? Are you kidding?
I agree. Outstanding !!
Cynical much? The fact is Obama could solve cancer and be pilloried by the right wingnut who hate the fact that he’s President – fyi, James Meeks LIVES IN WASHINGTON, he just writes for the Daily News, so it’s hardly surprising he’d stop by Arlington on V Day – more to the point I don’t think much of the daily news (I live in Jersey)however Meeks is widely respected and has hardly been a cheerleader for Obama, if you bother to read some of his stories lately you’d know he’s one of the few unbiased reporters in NY dailies – a truly PATHETIC post attempting to smear the POTUS when he clearly was paying his respects and his presence at Arlington was appreciated by the families who were there that day— SAD.
If Dubya were to have EVER done this, that is visit Arlington Cemetary instead of just laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and just clearing out afterwards, FAUX news would be replaying the tape for days afterwards – but because it’s Obama it’s a ‘photo op.’ Right wingnuts like this poster hate themselves, which is why they project their misery on the world around them; WHATEVER Obama does, they will hate him, bottom line….
Cynical no, realist , yes. Obama and his gang [ Acorn,Jeremiah Wright,Bill Ayers,Anita Dunn,John Holdren,Van Jones, I could go on for hours] have done more harm to this country in less than a year than most do in 4 years.He has changed how the world sees us. There are as as many left wingnuts as right . Just watch MSNBC a few nights.If G.W had done some of the things Obama has done the lefties would be calling for his head. Bottom line,, Obama was not ready. Period. He doesnt even want them to call the attack at Ft Hood terrorism without an investigation. That was probably just the beginning. How long before they bring it here? And what will he do, call in the girl scouts? I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson
Never confuse a blogger with a real journalist.
This piece is pure speculation and opinion. I’m glad the journalist cynically pilloried was able to give the facts.
I apologize to Mr. Meeks, who braved the heavy traffic and security to visit graves in Arlington.
However, here in the Philippines, our reporters tend to be a bit more cynical about politicians and their photo ops, and the presence of ABC reporters and a Getty photographer suggests this was a photo op.
Everything is choreographed in political life. There is always a press “pool” of journalists traveling with every president in the motorcade. They represent their medium (still photogs, tv, print, wires, mags) not their news agency. But nobody asked me who I was or what I was doing there other than the President. Thanks for the apology, but I braved nothing. Those young men and women in the ground were “The Brave.”
Obama arrived on the base 3:19 p.m. local time and received a rousing welcome from 1,500 troops in camouflage uniforms, many holding cameras or pointing cellphones to snap pictures.
“You guys make a pretty good photo op,” the president said.
– Washington Post, November 19, 2009
Stop fooling yourselves, Kool-aid drinkers, it’s always about the Narcissist in Chief Obama. He doesn’t love America (unless his teleprompter tells him to say it) and he certainly doesn’t genuinely support our military or respect the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers. (He can’t even make a decision on Afghanistan and he wants to grant citizenship rights to terrorists from Gitmo.) He’s a failure – just like everyone else in Washington.
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