Sunday
07Sep2008
Obama Didn't Serve in Military, But He Thought About it
Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 11:40PM But Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama did sign up for the Selected Service after high school and knew some Army brats. Oh, and did he mention Hawaii has military bases?
Obama told George Stephanopolous on ABC’s This Week:
STEPHANOPOLOUS: Did you ever consider joining the Armed Forces to protect and serve our country: if not, why?
OBAMA: You know, I actually did.
STEPHANOPOLOUS: When?
OBAMA: “I had to sign up for selective service when I graduated from High School. And I was growing up in Hawaii, an I have friends whose parents were in the military, there are a lot of military bases there, and I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and you know, honorable option.”“But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”
Since 1979 was peace time he decided not to pursue the military. Riiiight.
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Reader Comments (11)
Seems to me that if a kid wanted to be President since the third grade, it would be a good idea to serve in uniform. And if a leftist peacenik kid wanted to be President it would be a very good idea to serve in uniform when there is no war. Obama's claim rings hollow from any direction it's approached.
Roger that, Indigo. He's been a liberal his whole life and for him to suggest he didn't serve because it was a time of peace (as if he would have signed up if Vietnam were still roaring along!) is to imply he would have joined had it been a time of war.
I know I'll get jumped on by the leftist trolls but... Obama is a coward; physically, mentally, and emotionally. He refuses to go anywhere there is the least hint of danger and won't do anything that puts him out there by himself.
He's part of a herd with the herd mentality and rarely spends his fair share of time in the outer band of the herd. He also never accepts a challenge even when it's in his own best interests to do so. Instead he rationalizes why he doesn't. The rationalizations are thin at best but he thinks of himself as a thoroughly modern male. If that's a thoroughly modern male in the U.S. we're in trouble.
He can't help he's a coward. Most cowards can't but the presidency isn't a job that lends itself well to cowards.
On a positive note he is openly saying he thought about military service as part of his life.
I thought about it, too, and backed it up with 15 years and counting of duty.
Look Barack, if your hero is JFK, remember "Profiles in Courage"? JFK was a war hero, even Harry Truman saw a ton of action in WW I.
Ever since McGovern, the democratic candidates have been squishy and soft.
It is interesting that people still feel like they have to defend not serving in the military. I remember when I was growing up and Vietnam was a dirty word, no one would have said that service was noble or anything like that.
If he is thinking about serving in the early eighties, it seems that he could just be honest and say that among democrats in my time, serving in the military would be one step above treason.
Let's be clear, military service is a career. We don't have to make it into something which makes someone a knight for soldiers to be proud of their job. I would be suspicious of any military person who needed the respect of strangers to do their job. It seems to point to a person that likes the "idea" of service more than the service they have actually rendered. -- true for any profession, actually.
Obama did not say that he thought about joining the military. He said he did not really consider joining the military because there was no war on. Go figure. I guess he was not interested in the pay-grade.
robert, I guess he thinks the anticlimactic drawdown from the Vietnam war will placate his leftie friends and his explanation that he toyed with serving (not really) in the military will placte the patriots in his party or perhaps, perhaps these illusional disgruntled Republicans he's courting.
It isn't bad that he didn't serve or didn't want to serve, although it is a liability for a C in C, but the fact that he would pimp it as if he had thought about it.
BA, I left this out of the video transcript, but will add it. This is how it opens:
STEPHANOPOLOUS: Did you ever consider joining the Armed Forces to protect and serve our country: if not, why?
OBAMA: You know, I actually did.
STEPHANOPOLOUS: When?
Obama says he DID consider serving.
There isn't anything wrong in not serving in the military. I believe that particularly for lifers, or careerists, the military is a calling and vocation. It isn't for everyone, although it woudl be nice if all young men served for 4 years, but it shouldn't be compulsary. The issue is how Obama spun it to say it was because it was peacetime he decided to not serve. Give me a break! Just be honest!! It isn't a disgrace to not serve, but it is a disgrace to lie.
"disagree" is absolutely clueless. God, please tell me that most democrats are smarter than this.
john - what is your argument, or are you just going to appeal to your athority again? You cary a gun (sometimes), I get it -- do you have anything else going for you? Oh, I remember, you play a guitar. So where do you get off sitting in judgement. You think you are hot stuff for being in the military, plenty of people love their jobs, but you don't see them demanding respect for them going to work each day. I don't get it, maybe I am clueless, but I don't think it is something to be proud of. BTW John - not a dem. That seems to be your standard insult, you are as creative here as you are insightful.
Within the context of school activiities, baseball, etc. his son has earned a reputation for being "strange". Another word which could be used is "disturbed".
I'm afraid one day he's going to "snap".
Soldier has been told in no uncertain terms to "keep your son away from my child".
They tell me some of these concerned parents have called Child Protective Services regarding this issue.
Dad has showed his 7 year old son hard pornography in an attempt to ensure he doesn't become gay. Ironically, now the boy has a fascination with penis. Appropriate, because they say dad gets excited with trannys::::He wants to lift her skirt and fondle her penis.
He sure married the right girl.
Parenting classes would be in order. And a little psychoanalysis.
The Gods tested his attraction to transsexuals by sending people by, likely during the period where he felt he had to prove he was a "real man", ironically.
Fruit loop.