An American Lion

President Obama speaks at Elmendorf AFB in front of a vintage F-15

Today was a day where I have tried to let both sides have it. I have criticized Democrats and Republicans, equally, I hope, and I have tried to be fair.

I can’t be as fair about this as I would like, so let me set out a bit of a preamble. Of course I respect the President of the United States, no matter who holds that office. I am old school. I don’t care who is the President—that’s the leader of this country. Dissent is to be responsible because dissent is patriotic. When we rant and rave about our little opinions, and, yes, all I’m doing is ranting and raving while people rifle my blog, looking for pictures of hotties, I don’t pretend to have all of the answers. I’ve lived long enough to know enough of them. I don’t pretend to have any moral authority, having never served in the military and having only just recently discovered a penchant for this thing they call blogging. I do note that today was a bit of a watershed for me. I’m not welcome anywhere. I’m a man cast from where I came from. I am not wanted in either of the two main parties we have in this country. I don’t want to throw in with freaks, so I’m contemplating just being an Independent. We’ll see how long that lasts.

What I can’t be fair about is noting that President Obama’s White House political operation is every bit the cheap, crass, image-conscious operation that just blew out of town. If you say that President Obama should get a pass for using the military as props because George W. Bush did it, you win the booby prize. President Obama campaigned on change, and on the visceral reaction to the Bush Presidency that sunk John McCain before he could sink himself. The last election was a referendum on the Bush years, and, brother, that referendum was a mandate for President Obama to come into office and sweep out the trash.

Sadly, what we have instead is a political operation that will not hesitate to use the troops as fodder for photo ops, dog and pony shows, and good visuals on the dying airwaves of the news networks that still fawn all over this administration:

When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska’s Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hanger. But according to multiple sources, White House aides demanded the plane be changed to an older F-15 fighter because they didn’t want Obama speaking in front of the F-22, a controversial program he fought hard to end.

“White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form,” one source close to the unit relayed.

Stephen Lee, a public affairs officer at Elmendorf, confirmed to The Cable that the F-22 was parked in the hanger and then was replaced by an F-15 at the White House’s behest.

The airmen there took offense to the Obama aides’ demand, sources told The Cable, seeing it as a slight to the folks who are operating the F-22 proudly every day. They also expressed bewilderment that the White House staff would even care so much as to make an issue out of the fact that the F-22 was placed in the hanger with the president.

A White House official, commenting on background basis, told The Cable that yes, there were discussions about which plane or planes would be in the hanger, but that they were not meant as an insult to the pilots and other personnel who work on the F-22. The official couldn’t elaborate on why the White House aides felt it necessary to get involved in the matter in the first place.

Even though we have umpteen F-22s in service, the image of one—which is worked on and piloted by members of the military who loyally serve this nation—was too much for the political aspirations and calculations of this White House. Bush did it, Obama does it, oh, it’s all a wash I guess. Well, if that’s the case, then, what’s the point of even having a discussion? Where does the tit for tat end? Who are you afraid of? Are you afraid some half-wit blogger is going to say something bad about you? Wait a minute…don’t answer that.

It’s as if President Obama refused to set foot on the USS Ronald Reagansimply because it was named after a Republican president, thereby rendering the service of the sailors on that vessel dishonorable because they were just unlucky enough to draw an assignment to a ship named after someone or something that he opposes as a matter of party affiliation. I’m reaching there, but you get my drift.

Yes, you cut the F-22. Why denigrate the service of the men and women who are a part of flying and maintaining and keeping those aircraft in service by refusing to be pictured in a room with one? Why insult the pride of those airmen. Do you really think they’re trying to stick it to you? If so, then why did you keep Bush’s Secretary of Defense and most of his generals? Are the political machinations of the Obama Administration so craven that they come before the very things that the members of the military risk their lives flying in every day?