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President Obama speech to troops Ft. Bliss

flounder

Well-known member
President Obama speech today Fort Bliss, Texas August 31, 2012


Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the government's support for veterans. Obama, speaking at Fort Bliss, Texas, reminded voters that he kept his vow to end the war in Iraq and wind down the conflict in Afghanistan, while promising veterans they won't be forgotten. (Source: Bloomberg)



http://www.bloomberg.com/video/obama-says-veterans-won-t-be-forgotten-as-wars-end-gg~zumWvRZ2vYvHSNTKsyw.html



President gives great speech to the troops. ...


Obama 2012 !
 

Steve

Well-known member
it was a nice "speech",.. but when you use the military as a prop for a campaign stop to highlight a claimed success then it is hard to accept as sincere..

the fact is.. we were kicked out of Iraq, because Obama failed to negotiate a status of forces agreement.. thus the date set by bush was adhered to..

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama was a principled opponent of the Iraq War from its beginning. But when he became president in January 2009, he was handed a war that was won. The surge had succeeded. Al-Qaida in Iraq had been routed, driven to humiliating defeat by an Anbar Awakening of Sunnis fighting side-by-side with the infidel Americans. Even more remarkably, the Shiite militias had been taken down, with American backing, by the forces of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. They crushed the Sadr militias from Basra to Sadr City.

Al-Qaida decimated. A Shiite prime minister taking a decisively nationalist line. Iraqi Sunnis ready to integrate into a new national government. U.S. casualties at their lowest ebb in the entire war. Elections approaching. Obama was left with but a single task: Negotiate a new status-of-forces agreement to reinforce these gains and create a strategic partnership with the Arab world's only democracy.

He blew it. Negotiations, such as they were, finally collapsed last month. There is no agreement, no partnership. As of Dec. 31, the American military presence in Iraq will be liquidated.

And it's not as if that deadline snuck up on Obama. He had three years to prepare for it. Everyone involved, Iraqi and American, knew that the 2008 SOFA calling for full U.S. withdrawal was meant to be renegotiated.

Three years, two abject failures. The first was the administration's inability, at the height of American post-surge power, to broker a centrist nationalist coalition governed by the major blocs — one predominantly Shiite (Maliki's), one predominantly Sunni (Ayad Allawi's), one Kurdish — that among them won a large majority (69 percent) of seats in the 2010 election.

Vice President Joe Biden was given the job. He failed utterly. The government ended up effectively being run by a narrow sectarian coalition where the balance of power is held by the relatively small (12 percent) Iranian-client Sadr faction.

The second failure was the SOFA itself.

The Obama proposal was an unmistakable signal of unseriousness. It became clear that he simply wanted out, leaving any Iraqi foolish enough to maintain a pro-American orientation exposed to Iranian influence, now unopposed and potentially lethal. Message received. Just this past week, Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurds — for two decades the staunchest of U.S. allies — visited Tehran to bend a knee to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

He failed, though he hardly tried very hard. The excuse is Iraqi refusal to grant legal immunity to U.S. forces. But the Bush administration encountered the same problem, and overcame it. Obama had little desire to. Indeed, he portrays the evacuation as a success, the fulfillment of a campaign promise.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com

darn facts.. and I would say that every soldier in the room knew Obama was just making a speech... again...
 

Mike

Well-known member
Buckwheat had no choice but to end the War In Iraq. Bush had already signed the papers and the troops were leaving anyway. :lol: :lol: :lol:


All US Forces were mandated to withdraw from Iraqi territory by 31 December 2011 under the terms of a bilateral agreement signed in 2008 by President Bush.
 

Steve

Well-known member
and I thought it was just the few minutes of it that I watched... thanks for the link...

President Barack Obama was greeted with fleeting applause and extended periods of silence ,... during an Aug. 31 speech in Fort Bliss, Texas.

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.

But Obama and his wife are also trying to reach out to military families in several critical swing-states, including Virginia and Florida

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,

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 do 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.

hey,... they can guard the Jaynsville GM plant Obama promised to re-tooled..
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
“As a citizen, it is my civic duty to tell the president to stop leaking information to the enemy,” Smith continues. “It will get Americans killed.”



http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/soldiers-slam-obama-for-bragging-1.1362736#.UEF5TqM7_IU
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
jodywy said:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/31/obama-speech-to-soldiers-met-with-silence/

BHO doesn't give a rats ass about the soldiers...he was preaching to the hispanics that live in El Paso area.
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Obama speech to soldiers met with silence

Obama speech to soldiers met with silence
4:43 PM 08/31/2012
ADVERTISEMENT

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. (RELATED: Obama warm to scientists, cold to soldiers)

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 do 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.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/31/obama-speech-to-soldiers-met-with-silence/#ixzz25EjimbGe
 

Broke Cowboy

Well-known member
BHO doesn't give a rats ass about the soldiers...

Having worked with the US of A military for the past three years, I can attest to the fact that the soldiers as a group are well aware of this.

I would bet my next pay cheque that most of the soldiers in the audience were only there because they were following orders.

Best to all

BC
 

Steve

Well-known member
A Gallup tracking poll in August shows Republican Mitt Romney leads Obama, 55 percent to 38 percent among veterans. Exit polls conducted in 2008 showed voters who had served in the military preferred Republican John McCain over Obama by 10 percentage points.

I guess Pledging to help them find "new jobs" didn't go over as well as Obama thought it would?
 

Steve

Well-known member
Broke Cowboy said:
BHO doesn't give a rats ass about the soldiers...

Having worked with the US of A military for the past three years, I can attest to the fact that the soldiers as a group are well aware of this.

I would bet my next pay cheque that most of the soldiers in the audience were only there because they were following orders.

Best to all

BC

good to see you back...

a friend put it well... no matter how Obama spins it.. canning a hundred thousand soldiers, sailors, airman and marines ain't going to sit well with the rest...
 

Tam

Well-known member
I guess this had something to do with the soldiers reaction to him

In an interview with the Virginian-Pilot President Obama said he isn’t bothered by charges from a political group called the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, founded by Scott Taylor, a former SEAL from Virginia Beach, which accuses him of overseeing a leaky administration putting lives at risk, and taking too much credit for the death of Osama Bin Laden last year.

“I don’t take these folks too seriously,” the president said
. “One of their members is a birther who denies I was born here, despite evidence to the contrary. You’ve got another who was a tea party candidate in a recent election. This kind of stuff springs up before election time.”

When you have a President not taking accusation from a Military group, claiming he is risking military lives with his politically SELF SERVING motivated TOP SECRET leaks, SERIOUSLY and he shows up to campaign at a MILITARY BASE just what did he expect their reactions would be to him? When the President is sueing a State to limit the military right to extended voting times What did he think their reaction would be when he came campaigning to get their vote?

Him showing up on a military base after he did just these two things he is lucky silence is the only thing he got from them He is lucky a sniper was not the one greeting him. :roll: I might suggest he ask Hillary how you dodge sniper fire when on hostile ground. :wink:

One has to wonder what kind of reception he is going to get in the Golf when he finally gets there? Especially when Romney fresh out of the Convention canceled his planned campaign stops and went directly to the Louisiana to see the damage for himself and Obama is not canceling his four day campaign trip to states he has visited several times in the last month to go to the Coast to see what needs to be done.

AND ROMNEY IS TAGGED AS THE NON CARING DEVIL THAT ONLY LOOKS OUT FOR HIMSELF AND HIS. Seems the only thing Obama cares about is his poll rating in the Swing States, especially those where there are Universities. :roll: :x
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
Broke Cowboy said:
BHO doesn't give a rats ass about the soldiers...

Having worked with the US of A military for the past three years, I can attest to the fact that the soldiers as a group are well aware of this.

I would bet my next pay cheque that most of the soldiers in the audience were only there because they were following orders.

Best to all

BC

Thanks for your post. And hey, don't stay away so long. We need to hear
more from you.
 

Tam

Well-known member
Steve said:
A Gallup tracking poll in August shows Republican Mitt Romney leads Obama, 55 percent to 38 percent among veterans. Exit polls conducted in 2008 showed voters who had served in the military preferred Republican John McCain over Obama by 10 percentage points.

I guess Pledging to help them find "new jobs" didn't go over as well as Obama thought it would?

Well I'm betting that headlines like this are a big part of why the Military don't support Obama


Obama's proposal to trim back military benefits draws fire

Posted to: Federal GovernmentHealthNews
By Bill Bartel
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 21, 2011
President Barack Obama’s proposal to increase the cost of retirement or health care for service members’ families drew fire Tuesday from some military service associations.

The service groups said the Obama administration is wrongly trying to “civilianize” benefits provided to the military and their families.

Obama announced Monday a plan to cut the federal deficit by more than $3 trillion over 10 years through a broad range of tax increases and spending cuts.

“This plan is a balanced one that asks everyone to do their part,” Obama wrote in his introduction to an 67-page proposal entitled “Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future.”
 

flounder

Well-known member
Recent veterans support Obama over Romney


Wednesday, May 16, 2012 - The Conscience of a Realist by Joseph Cotto

Read more: Recent veterans support Obama over Romney | Washington Times Communities
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter


FLORIDA, May 16, 2012 — If there was ever a demographic in which President Obama could be expected to find a lack of voter enthusiasm, it would surely be military veterans.



Not so, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.



Presumptive — finally — Republican nominee Mitt Romney trails him by seven points among veterans who reported enlisting after the Gulf War. Mack McDowell, a former Army master sergeant who "drool(s) over firearms", once supported Ronald Reagan, but has since come to join Ron Paul's fan base.



Paul has won the South Carolina retiree's favor "because of his unchanging stand against overseas involvement." Unsurprisingly, McDowell has sights set on supporting a candidate opposed to "knee-jerk reaction wars" this autumn, even if this means casting a ballot for you know who: "that Democrat".



Considering that 32 percent of respondents believe the Iraq War ended in anything but a successful manner, a growing sentiment against internationalism should come as a given.



Two other veterans, both registered Republicans living outside of Columbia, stated that they supported Rick Santorum during this year's nominating process. However, in 2008, each voted for Barack Obama. Aside from forming perhaps the most unlikely crossover to be heard of this election season, one remarked that "we can't keep policing the world" after relating feelings of discontent over going to "war for George Bush."



Despite facing widespread disillusionment about the nature of their overseas conflicts, the vast majority of recent veterans do not view the president on favorable terms. Only a meager 27 percent approve of his job performance, and 37 percent disapprove of him outright. The rest remain undecided.



After carefully studying the survey's data, I do not think that most veterans are particularly happy with any group of politicians right now. It seems that it is the general direction of the country that has all too many bogged down, and honestly, who can blame them? While the fundamentalist isolationism of Ron Paul is simply too unrealistic for our age of globalization — which in my view is anything but a positive development — the emotional resonance of his message with war-weary Americans is easy to understand.



Hopefully, a foreign policy can be crafted in the near future that prioritizes the interests of the United States first and foremost. This would invariably draw core neoconservative and libertarian elements alike, riling up partisan purists to no end, but it seems to be the most rational course of action by far.



Needless to say, this would involve extensive compromise on Capitol Hill.



Given the prevailing environment of absolutism to the point of toxicity, I expect that common sense will not make a comeback for quite a while. As usual, what a shame that is.






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com.



Read more: Recent veterans support Obama over Romney | Washington Times Communities
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter



http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/conscience-realist/2012/may/16/recent-veterans-support-obama-over-romney/




Weary warriors favor Obama


By Margot Roosevelt



COLUMBIA, South Carolina | Sun May 13, 2012 3:01am EDT



COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - Mack McDowell likes to spend time at the local knife and gun show "drooling over firearms," as he puts it. Retired after 30 years in the U.S. Army, he has lined his study with books on war, framed battalion patches from his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, a John Wayne poster, and an 1861 Springfield rifle from an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.



But when it comes to the 2012 presidential election, Master Sergeant McDowell is no hawk.



In South Carolina's January primary, the one-time Reagan supporter voted for Ron Paul "because of his unchanging stand against overseas involvement." In November, McDowell plans to vote for the candidate least likely to wage "knee-jerk reaction wars."



Disaffection with the politics of shock and awe runs deep among men and women who have served in the military during the past decade of conflict. Only 32 percent think the war in Iraq ended successfully, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. And far more of them would pull out of Afghanistan than continue military operations there.



While the 2012 campaign today is dominated by economic and domestic issues, military concerns could easily jump to the fore. Nearly 90,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan. Israeli politicians and their U.S. supporters debate over whether to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities as partisans bicker over proposed Pentagon budget cuts.



Mitt Romney has accused President Obama of "a dangerous course" in wanting to cut $1 trillion from the defense budget - although the administration's actual proposal is a reduction of $487 billion over the next decade.



"We should not negotiate with the Taliban," the former Massachusetts governor contends. "We should defeat the Taliban." He has blamed Obama for "procrastination toward Iran" and advocates arming Syrian rebels.



Romney, along with his primary rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, had also accused Obama of "appeasement" toward U.S. enemies - a charge that drew a sharp Obama rebuttal. "Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaeda leaders who've been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement," the president shot back. He has reproached GOP candidates: "Now is not the time for bluster."



If the election were held today, Obama would win the veteran vote by as much as seven points over Romney, higher than his margin in the general population.



FADING COOL FACTOR



The GOP's heated rhetoric, aimed at the party's traditional hawks, might be expected to resonate with veterans. Yet in interviews in South Carolina, a military-friendly red state, many former soldiers expressed anger at the toll of a decade of war, questioned the legitimacy of George W. Bush's Iraq invasion, and worried that the surge in Afghanistan won't make a difference in the long run

.

"We looked real cool going into Iraq waving our guns," said McDowell, 50, who retired from the 82d Airborne Division in November with a Legion of Merit and two Bronze Stars. "But people lost their lives, and it made no sense."



Now he worries. "I really don't like the direction we are going, how we seem to come closer daily towards a war with Iran."



In Columbia, where McDowell lives in a leafy subdivision, the streets are named for American Revolutionary war heroes, and the Confederate battle flag still flies on the capitol grounds. Pizza parlors offer a 10 percent discount to uniformed soldiers from nearby Fort Jackson, one of eight military bases that pump $13 billion a year into the state's economy.



In exit polls, a quarter of voters in January's primary identified themselves as veterans.



Among them were Karen and Kelly Grafton, devout Southern Baptists who live in the small town of Prosperity, outside Columbia, and spend their vacations at Nascar races. They voted for Santorum.



"He just came off a little bit better than the others," said Karen Grafton, 51, a real estate agent who served 20 years in the Air Force. "He stuck to his story about what he has done and what he will do."



The Graftons' votes, however, like many veterans', can't be taken as evidence of a hard-line military stance. Registered Republicans, they cast their ballots for Obama in 2008 because he promised to bring the troops home from Iraq.



"I went to war for George Bush," said Grafton, 48, a retired Army master sergeant who served in special operations units in Somalia and Iraq. "But we can't keep policing the world."



Karen Grafton, a retired Air Force recruiter, said she'll be "glad when we're out of Afghanistan." The military budget? "I'm sure it can be cut," she said. "Everyone has to make concessions." Still, many former soldiers worry that Pentagon cuts could mean stingier salaries, pensions, and education and housing benefits.



CASUALTY STATS ARE PERSONAL



In a squat building on a rutted street in West Columbia, three dozen former soldiers gathered around hot dogs and sodas for the Disabled Veterans of America's monthly meeting. Colorful military banners festooned the walls. The talk was somber.



Could someone volunteer to help care for "a fellow living in a dilapidated roach-infested trailer?" asked Chapter Commander John Ashmore. Could people contribute funds to an ex-Marine whose hospital bills were "overwhelming"?



Ashmore thanked everyone for distributing canned goods to the needy. And he had some news: "Veterans healthcare will be exempt from federal budget cuts," he said. "President Obama has signed a 3.6 percent cost of living increase to your benefits."



"I've already got it spent," shouted one of the group.



At the back, John Rush, 44, sat with a brace on an injured leg. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after two tours in Iraq. "The explosions, the bombs going off. You're scared, you're mad. The stress wears you out."



Rush got out of the Army in 2008, but it took three years for the government to approve his paperwork for psychiatric treatment. He is unemployed, and much of the time he says he feels "confused."



As for voting in this presidential election: "I haven't had that spark to get out and register."



The Pentagon counts more than 6,300 American dead and 33,000 wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Rand Corp study estimates that as many as 300,000 post-9/11 veterans suffer from PTSD or major depression, and about 320,000 may have experienced traumatic brain injuries, mainly from bombs.



For combat veterans such as McDowell, who enlisted at 19, the statistics are starkly personal.



With his direct gaze, erect posture and fondness for war mementos, he may seem to fit the stereotype of a battle-hardened sergeant. But this father of five shudders at the memory of the young Vietnamese-American at Fort Jackson, whose fear of deployment was brushed off by an officer. The soldier tried to commit suicide by shoving a pencil up his nose into his brain.



He chokes up when he recalls "the geek-faced kid" from Oklahoma who was brought in to fix office computers in McDowell's Iraq bomb dismantling unit. The young man, with no combat training, was sent into the field to hack into terrorists' laptops. Within weeks he suffered a mental breakdown. Returning stateside, he shot his two children to death and killed himself.



"It was sheer terror," McDowell said of the improvised explosive devices that guerrillas hid along roadways. "They'd strap gasoline cans to IEDs. Our soldiers burned alive. You'd hear them screaming, and you couldn't do anything."



Now he is "watching the primaries very closely to see who will be the least careless with soldiers and their families."



IT'S THE ECONOMY, SIR



Despite widespread disillusionment over recent wars, most veterans support some form of military action to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. That doesn't mean they want another ground war: Veterans lean toward a military spending policy that emphasizes special forces and unmanned systems.



Terry Seawright, a Navy reservist who drives a Fedex truck, voted for Obama in 2008 and plans to do so again in 2012. "I like the coolness and calmness of him," said Seawright, 46. "I like the way he handled Egypt and Libya. He said, ‘No troops on the ground.'"



Unless a conflict with Iran or Syria pushes foreign policy out front, economic issues seem more likely to sway the veterans' vote than military concerns - as is true for the country generally. Like other Americans, former soldiers are worried about jobs, the federal deficit, and the cost of living.



Michael Langston, a Baptist minister who served as commander of 110 military chaplains in Afghanistan, didn't carry a weapon but often visited the front lines. "I would go to trauma centers where they worked on soldiers who were burned and disfigured," he said. "We'd roll into villages where every man, woman and child had been massacred, and the Taliban had cut off heads and feet."



Back in the U.S., Langston, 57, suffered nightmares and sweats. Always a mild-mannered man, he began yelling at his kids. When a vehicle backfired in a supermarket parking lot, "I hit the ground and rolled under a car." He was diagnosed with PTSD.



Looking back, Langston, a graduate of the Naval War College, sees "a failed policy. When we leave, these places go back to the way they've done everything for thousands of years."



For all his frustration over military interventions, Langston said the election issues for him are “healthcare, jobs and economic stability.” A lifelong Republican, he voted for Gingrich in the primary but now supports Romney. "The economy is still faltering, the job rate has not gotten any better regardless of the hype, and the gas prices are killing us," he said.



Overall, like the rest of the nation, former soldiers are deeply concerned about the future. Only 24 percent in the Reuters poll said the country is headed in the right direction, with 60 percent saying it is off on the wrong track.



Langston said social issues will not influence his vote. As for "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the now repealed policy that forced homosexuals out of the military, he came around to supporting repeal after initially opposing it. "An individual has a right to be who they are," he said.



According to the Reuters/Ipsos poll, a majority of veterans now agree with him.



With the unpredictability of foreign involvements and the fragility of the domestic economy, it is too early to say who will eventually win the veteran vote.



Karen Grafton, who voted for Obama in 2008 based on his promise to end the Iraq war, now says, "I want someone to get us out of this economic turmoil. That's No. 1. I'm not sure he is the person to do that. But I don't blame him. He inherited a mess."



Asked about Obama's handling of his job, 27 percent of veterans approved, and 37 percent disapproved, with the rest undecided.



In his study, below a movie poster of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," McDowell, the Ron Paul supporter, flipped through pages of an 82nd Airborne Division yearbook, lingering on photographs of dead comrades. He recalled their ages, how many children they had, and how they died.



Partly for their sake, he avidly follows the campaign. He was turned off by mudslinging among Republican candidates, he said. And Obama? "If no one else can get their act together, I'll vote for that Democrat," he said. "My concern is who will do right for the soldier."



(Reporting by Margot Roosevelt; Editing by Lee Aitken and Prudence Crowther)




http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/13/us-usa-poll-military-idUSBRE84C02120120513




Veterans who support President Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qznsnvdP1C8


Welcoming home our Troops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H70vJRRrfk&feature=relmfu











flounder said:
President Obama speech today Fort Bliss, Texas August 31, 2012


Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the government's support for veterans. Obama, speaking at Fort Bliss, Texas, reminded voters that he kept his vow to end the war in Iraq and wind down the conflict in Afghanistan, while promising veterans they won't be forgotten. (Source: Bloomberg)



http://www.bloomberg.com/video/obama-says-veterans-won-t-be-forgotten-as-wars-end-gg~zumWvRZ2vYvHSNTKsyw.html



President gives great speech to the troops. ...


Obama 2012 !
 
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