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.
Geez.
And he got a spanking when he arrived.
Gee, Wally. Candidate Osoros sure seemed to have all the answers about the war in Afghanistan during the Pres--ential campaign. Here, take a look....
Is he actually proud of this?
give him a gun! He might shoot himself first ;)
Shoot, I’ve spent 20hrs out of the last 24 in FR.
Not likely. He would not know how to use it.
I read that over and over and over , at first I got mad and then hurt, i'm still hurting.
YO-BAMA! Make up your freaking mind!
So Obama isn’t spending his time doing things presidents do.
Big surprise. I wonder how he spends his leisure time.
Maybe he’s one of the lower-tier trolls from the birther threads. He does have a pattern of diminishing the stature of the Oval Office.
20 hours? He spent more time on the golf course than this.
As well as more time avoiding going to church.
And he accomplished nothing even in 20 hours.
In real life , when you bill 20 hours and accomplish nothing, you’re fired.
How many hours has he spent golfing during that same amount of time????
He’s probably spent more time with SEIU.
Good point and good find!
This little turd almost makes Carter look good. Well maybe not. They are cut from the same cloth.
Wow, 20 hours work is equal to at least four or five rounds of golf. What an effort. He must be really tired now.
[Gibbs said Barack Obama has spent “close to 20 direct hours
in meetings on Afghanistan ].....................
.......................and it really had an effect on his golf game........
Dear Lord, less than three days of work - in the real world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.