Did Barack Obama really give The Heisman to wounded U.S. troops in Germany today? Ed Morrisey broke the story at Hot Air by reporting that Germany’s SPIEGEL ONLINE posted this today,
Obama has cancelled a planned short visit to the Rammstein and Landstuhl US 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 US military hospital in Landstuhl announced. “I don’t know why.†Shortly before the same spokeswoman had announced a planned visit by Obama.
Ed commented,
The message here is that thousands of screaming German fans at the Tiergarten take precedence over visiting Americans serving their country at Rammstein and Landstuhl. Maybe one of the networks following Obama could interview a few of the soldiers about how they perceive that set of priorities from Obama.
Kind of harsh Ed. I’m sure that there has to be some kind of scheduling conflict that made such a trip simply impossible, given his busy schedule…
…or not…as noted by ABC News reporter Jake Tapper,
Obama noted that in a break from his whirlwind schedule, “we’ve got some down time tonight. What are you guys gonna do in Berlin? Huh? Huh? You guys got any big. plans? …I’ve never been to Berlin, so…I would love to tour around a little bit.”
Ed closes his excellent post with this observation,
Obama canceled a previously-planned stop to visit thousands of American service personnel, including troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan being treated at Landstuhl, so he could hold a political rally for Germans and go shopping in Berlin. Now that’s a nice set of priorities for a man who wants to become Commander in Chief.
How prophetic does this cartoon look now?
UPDATE: Obama’s camp tries to explain.