How about these?
Posted on 08/31/2012 2:28:31 PM PDT by grundle
President Barack Obama was greeted with fleeting applause and extended periods of silence as he offered profuse praise to soldiers and their families during an Aug. 31 speech in Fort Bliss, Texas.
His praise for the soldiers — and for his own national-security policies — won cheers from only a small proportion of the soldiers and families in the cavernous aircraft-hanger.
The audience remains quiet even when the commander-in-chief thanked the soldiers’ families, and cited the 198 deaths of their comrades in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The audience’s reaction was so flat that the president tried twice to elicit a reaction from the crowd.
“Hey, I hear you,” he said amid silence.
The selected soldiers who were arrayed behind the president sat quietly throughout the speech.
CNN and MSNBC ended their coverage of the speech before it was half-over.
The president’s speech to the soldiers is part of his constitutional duties as commander-in-chief.
But Obama and his wife are also trying to reach out to military families in several critical swing-states, including Virginia and Florida.
That outreach, however, has been damaged by repeated flubs from the White House, including its public emphasis on soldiers’ wounds rather than on their accomplishments, and Obama’s effort to distance himself from the anti-jihad campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For example, Obama gave Vice President Joe Biden the task of developing a post-war agreement with Iraq’s government in 2009. The effort failed, reducing U.S. gains from the campaign that killed almost 4,500 troops, and as well as thousands of jihadis and Sunni insurgents seeking to regain power. The subsequent withdrawal of nearly all U..S. troops has allowed Iran to increase its influence in Iraq. In turn, that influence helps it support Syria’s dictatorship against Sunni insurgents.
White House officials are trying to avoid additional flubs. On Friday, for example, White House officials rushed to debunk a report that the president had used an autopen to sign condolence letters to soldiers’ families.
Throughout Friday’s speech, the loudest reactions came when the president name-checked the nicknames of the soldiers’ brigades. Major military units have their own rival cheers, and those could be heard from portions of the audience when he referred to individual units.
The troops’ silence continued through several obvious applause-lines.
There was isolated cheers when Obama said his withdrawal policy would ensure “fewer deployments … more time to prepare for the future, and it means more time on the home front, with your families, your home and kids.”
The silence deepened when the president lauded his strategy of withdrawal from the war. “Make no mistake, ending the wars responsibly makes us safer and our military even stronger, and ending these wars is letting us dos something else; restoring American leadership,” he said amid complete silence.
When he said demobilized soldiers would find jobs because “all of you have the skills America needs,” he got little reaction.
There was no reaction when he promised stepped-up recruitment of soldiers for police jobs.
He won some applause when he announced his support for soldiers injured in combat.
The most enthusiastic applause came when he lauded the soldiers’ military mission, and promised continued support for that professional task.
An anecdote about his meeting with a wounded soldier was met with a tepid response, until he described the soldier’s determination to recover and return to his unit. “He’s where every soldier wants to be – back with his unit,” Obama, said, generating applause.
Similarly, his declaration that “around the world there’s a new attitude toward America, a new confidence in our leadership” yielded only silence, while his next sentence — “When people are asked ‘Which country do you admire most?’ one nation always comes out on top, the United States of America” — prompted relative enthusiasm.
The White House’s video-feed cut off 10 seconds after the president finished his speech, before the audience’s reaction overall could be gauged by viewers.
There was isolated cheers when Obama said his withdrawal policy would ensure “fewer deployments … more time to prepare for the future,.....
The silence deepened when the president lauded his strategy of withdrawal from the war. “Make no mistake, ending the wars responsibly makes us safer and our military even stronger, and ending these wars is letting us dos something else; restoring American leadership,” he said amid complete silence.
When he said demobilized soldiers would find jobs because “all of you have the skills America needs,” he got little reaction.
There was no reaction when he promised stepped-up recruitment of soldiers for police jobs.
Poor guys have to go where they’re ordered to go...but they can’t order them to like it...or to smile.
They know they were being used as props, and they all know what Hussein thinks about the military.
Once they've dubbed in a lot of cheering sounds they'll release it.
I may not know all 57 states in the Union but I do know you should be facing the Flag during the “Pledge of Allegiance” or the “Star Spangled Banner.”
It’s over. He knows that now.
I am SO glad my son is at Fort Bragg now instead of Bliss. Think the shoot-down of the Chinook carrying the SEAL team was the final straw for him. Should NEVER have happenend!
Can’t be over fast enough. Especially for the guys in Afghanistan getting blown away almost every damn day thanks to abu bama’s good buddies,
If it was anyone other than Obama, I would feel bad for him. There are many times when Obama gives what should be positive, military-centered applause lines, pauses, and doesn’t even have one soldier clapping. Is there peer pressure to remain silent? Do 99% of our soldiers hate Obama as much as most decent Americans do? Or were the troops standing in formation for four hours before Obama showed up, and even those who still like Obama for his diversity are too bored to care?
The vast majority of our soldiers know who really cares about them, and you can bet your behind they know it isn’t the “won” or any democrap.
And (unusually) accurate.
Once again, Obama ( and the press) is (are) out of touch with the real world and the military in particular. Why didn't they applaud? Because they were pissed! This is the Friday before a long holiday weekend. They were ordered to attend. Otherwise the crowd would have been like all Obama’s crowds lately... exceptionally small. If they had not been ordered to attend they would have started the 96-hour liberty of the Labor Day weekend. With the speech, they were trapped on Ft Bliss until Obama was “wheels in the well” out of El Paso. Some would have attended but not nearly as many because many, many would have swooped!
Yes, but it's a silent movie.
Well.... they did try, and it was a rush.
My hat is off to you. After only 6 minutes I wanted to put myself out of my misery! I had to stop watching!!
How about these?
“’Hey, I hear you,” he said amid silence.’”
Says it all.
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Another LIE
Since he kept talking, he apparently didn’t ‘hear them’.
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