Posted on 10/30/2009 8:00:54 PM PDT by kristinn
At today's White House briefing, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Barack Obama has spent "close to 20 direct hours" in meetings on Afghanistan since Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for tens of thousands of reinforcements was submitted over two months ago with a warning the war would be lost in twelve months without more troops.
Gibbs says Obama also spends "quite a bit of time" thinking about the war in Afghanistan.
Gibbs was asked about a statement by the mother of one of the fallen soldiers, Sgt. Dale Griffin, killed in Afghanistan this week whom Obama met with at Dover early Thursday morning. The mother, Dona Griffin, said she told Obama, Don't leave our troops hanging," when he asked the families if there was anything he could do for them. Gibbs was asked if Obama feels like he is leaving the troops hanging.
He responded that Obama is trying to "understand the full cost of the war."
MR. GIBBS: Again, we haven't gotten into broad specifics on that yet.
On the first part, Jeff, you know, look, I think -- I don't -- I used to have it calculated, I should just go back and do it, the number of hours that he has spent in these meetings is probably now -- well, at the end of today will probably be getting close to 20 direct hours of his time. The group -- the principals that meet with the President additionally take time to get the material ready, and are prepared to answer questions for the President, probably at least twice as much of that of the President's time the principals have spent.
So obviously we -- the President and his team have spent a pretty big chunk of time evaluating very, very closely each of these individual countries, their relationship together and their impact on the region.
At the conclusion of these meetings, he generally is off to the next thing. I think he has spent quite a bit of time after the meetings back in the office -- back in his office, probably primarily in the Residence at night, going back and reading through his notes, as well as -- notes that he's taken on the meetings, and oftentimes will come out with questions that the team will prepare the answers for, for the next meeting.
SNIPQ--Early yesterday morning when he was in Dover and met with the families, the families said that he asked, is there anything we can do for the families. And the mother of -- Dona Griffin, a mother of the last of the dignified transfers, said that she told the President, "Don't leave our troops hanging." When he walks into the Situation Room right about now, does he have any sense that the time he's taking to make these decisions is leaving those troops hanging?
MR. GIBBS: Again, to go back through what's happened, the President believed that additional forces were needed in March and he added them to get us to a point where we could evaluate the outcome of the election. That obviously has been delayed a little bit, but he believes this is a point in which it's necessary to fully assess where we are. I don't believe the President thinks -- I know he doesn't believe that this assessment is in any way doing that. I think he understands and I think, as you heard him say yesterday in the Oval Office, I think his commitment, particularly after going to a place like Dover, is to understand the full cost of the war.
Our troops understand the full cost of the war--and their families know full well Obama is leaving them hanging.
Spc. Jared Stanjer told his mother during his first and last phone call home before he was killed in Afghanistan, "We need help over here. There aren't enough troops."
OMG. No words!
Spc. Jared Stanker. Sorry for the typo.
Let’s put in perspective. It is not 20 hours in two months, it is 20 hours in nine months. Or about 1.25% of his time as president.
Ironically, just about the same amount of total time one would spend on the crapper in a 10 month period.
Does the 20 hours include the tasteless photo op in Dover?
WOW...is the little trip to Dover included in these 22 hours?...what a guy..../s
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| From The Vitamin Press |
Whoa . . . great minds huh!
Then we need to LOUDLY ask how many “direct” hours he has spent on his golf swing, or any other pointless thing he wastes his time on.
Would be a great conrast of priorities IMO.
“I think he’s spent more time on the golf links.”
I bet he spends 20 hours a week on the golf course.
You’ve got to be kidding.
No mortal will ever be able to understand the full cost of a war; all we can do is win the ones we have to fight and discourage the others.
22 hrs. over the past 9 months.
Your husband and son spent that amount of time
in probably two days fighting in the war.
Yeah, real complicated.
Caliphate v. Freedom
Hmmm . . .
Okay, 20 hours. Wow. Each ONE of our soldiers spends 24 hours in Afghanistan EVERY DAY. How many hours has Obama spent on the golf course during this time? Heck of a lot more than 20. Unbelievable.
Quite a Bit of Dithering, Too!
Dereliction of duty? and some profanity.
My good old boy mechanics rebuilt my 41 willys
transmission in twenty hours over three days,
and that’s all the time this jerk has spent
on McCrystal’s troop request?
Damn him, Damn him to hell.
Hey hey LBO we don’t need your F’n show.
to paraphrase his fellow traveler friends of long ago.
Bravo!
That's a remarkable achievement, considering the fact that he's booked solid with World Apology Tours, bowing and kowtowing engagements with Saudi kings, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speeches, traveling around the world pimping Chicago to the Olympics Committee, fighting a war with Fox News, throwing his closest associates under the bus when their radical agendas are exposed, hiding his birth certificate, taking over private enterprises, bailing out Wall Street and the banks, putting generations into debt with his Stimulus bill, and working overtime to take control of the health care sector of our economy.
What a dude! What a CIC!
(barf...)
Obama has easily spent more time this month fundraising and campaigning for the Democratic party and Democratic candidates than he has on Afghanistan. Priorities, you know.
Wow. 20 hours. He spent more time playing golf this month.
Obama, raising the bar of despicable to new heights.
Sounds to me one of his priorities has been making sure his marxist buddy is put back into power in Honduras.
He has spent more than that playing golf & basketball. Obama probably spent more time working on the 'beer summit' than the war!
That really sounds like a search for an exit.
My God. He does not yet understand the full cost of war?
My God. He does not yet understand the full cost of war?
Gibbs says Obama also spends “quite a bit of time” thinking about the war in Afghanistan.
Our troops who are right now in harm’s way will be very happy to hear this, won’t they?
Hey, Gibbie, are you going to be able to survive on unemployment when you join the ranks of the unemployed?
If I could arrange it he would spend a month on the front lines being shot at. What a useless piece of crap.
Are those socialist appeasers that dumb? Seriously, they cannot be that dumb.
And, he spent more time flying back and forth to Copenhagen to lose the Olympic bid.
Awesome graphic; great job.
Anyone know what percent of his time he devoted to puppy selection?
take a look at this brave soldier...it will do your heart good..this is what it's all about!.warning, your screen will go blurry
Injured soldier, Carl Miskotten's altruism bring crowd to tears
Is dereliction of duty impeachable?
He does not care. As long as he has a 747 a staff and press that kisses his ass nothing else matters to him.
Gibbs probably thinks his comment burnishes Obama's laurels. In the past Lincoln and FDR have been praised by many historians as great war presidents. Clearly they will be bumped down in future ratings to make room for Obama.
Every American understands the full cost of war, even without having to go take a photo op at Dover. What Obama doesn't understand is that the full cost mounts every day as he messes around. Americans already understand that and will hold him accountable.
We know he spent more then that on his little outing to the Olympic committee.
If so, we can expect to see the high casualties continue while 0bama has his finger in the air and his head up his ass.
earlier article today said he helps get the girls off to school in the morning and works out with the wookie, and makes it to the office generally around 9 or 10.
Sickening for those of us who have been living with the war for 8 years now.
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