Obama loves the spotlight. You can bet his team alerted the mainstream media about the visit.
Barack’s unofficial motto:
Posted on 11/11/2025 6:11:21 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Washington — It's a Veterans Day they won't soon forget.
On a balmy 70-degree day in the nation's capital this past weekend, former President Barack Obama boarded an Honor Flight filled with veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars that had just touched down from Madison, Wisconsin.
"Hello, everybody," his voiced boomed over the loud speaker.
"What!" exclaimed one person. Another veteran gasped, his mouth wide open.
"I just wanted to say thank you," the former president continued in a moment captured on video.
Seventy-nine veterans and their families made the trip.
Obama shook hands with them as they exited the aircraft and presented them with a Presidential Challenge Coin, a token to express his personal gratitude for their sacrifices.
"Ahead of Veterans Day, I was honored to welcome a flight of veterans and their families as they arrived in D.C.," Obama said in a statement. "To all those who bravely served our country, thank you to you and your family for your extraordinary service. The sacrifices that all of you made to protect our country will be honored, today and every day."
The Honor Flight Networks is a national nonprofit organization that provides free flights to veterans to visit Washington-area monuments. It initially focused on World War II-era veterans but has expanded its mission to include veterans from the Korean and Vietnam Wars and other tours of duty.
"I had tears in my eyes," said Army veteran Joe Parr. "I just couldn't believe that there were that many people around that remembered us and was there to greet us and it was just unbelievable!"
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I love our veterans. I loathe the magic negro.
Obozo?
CBS?
Commie BS
why is he doing this? he hates our country and our military in particular
I suspect the veterans felt the same way about the Turd’s surprise as they would have felt about finding NVA in an area they thought safe
As a veteran, I wish I could have been there. I would have loved to boot the Kenyan in the keister for making my America the racist craphole it is now for him and his buddy, Eric the Holder. FM
Because he is a malignant narcissist who craves the attention and hopes for adoration.
Yeah, I’d ask him to please GTFO my plane.
Eff dorkbama and the sewer he oozed from. I’ve trained blacks to fly jets and sent some to get STEM doctorates, and ALL were far, far more accomplished and trustworthy than that fake *(&*^^.
This sounds like something SeeBS would have liked to have seen. BS.
Nope, no hand shake. Because he WAS exceptional. Exceptionally anti American.
Obama loves the spotlight. You can bet his team alerted the mainstream media about the visit.
Barack’s unofficial motto:
He’s trying to save his image from how he is being exposed by Tulsi.
I think I'd bail out the overwing hatch just to avoid him and his smarminess.
I SPIT! on Obummer.
Cough cough. Big deal.
militarytimes.com——circa 2017
Here’s how the military rates his legacy
By George R. Altman and Leo Shane III
Jan 8, 2017
President Barack Obama greets members of the U.S. military during a rally with troops at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama will step down after eight years as commander in chief with one of the most influential tenures leading the U.S. military, but not necessarily the political support of service members.
His moves to slim down the armed forces, move away from traditional military might and overhaul social policies prohibiting the service of minority groups have proven divisive in the ranks. His critics have accused him of trading a strong security posture for political points, and for allowing the rise of terrorists like the Islamic State group whom the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were supposed to silence.
But Obama’s supporters define him as the Nobel Peace Prize winner who ordered the elimination of Osama bin Laden and refocused military strategy while wrestling with an uncooperative Congress and unprecedented budget restrictions. They insist the military is more nimble now, and more prepared to deal with unconventional warfare against non-traditional threats across the globe.
More than half of troops surveyed in the latest Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families poll said they have an unfavorable opinion of Obama and his two-terms leading the military. About 36 percent said they approve of his job as commander in chief.
Their complaints include the president’s decision to decrease military personnel (71 percent think it should be higher), his moves to withdraw combat troops from Iraq (59 percent say it made America less safe) and his lack of focus on the biggest dangers facing America (64 percent say China represents a significant threat to the U.S.)
But more than two-thirds support Obama’s mantra that securing America means building strong alliances with foreign powers. And more than 60 percent think his use of drones and special forces teams for precision strikes — instead of large-scale military operations — has helped U.S. national security.
That’s a conflicted response to a president who entered the White House vowing to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan but instead leaves as the first American president to oversee two full terms with combat troops deployed to hostile zones.
Obama poll graphic 1
In a departure memo released Jan. 5, Defense Secretary Ash Carter defended Obama’s “record of progress” with the military by praising the White House moves as creating “a smaller yet more technologically advanced and capable military that is ready for the threats of today and the challenges of tomorrow.”
“America is today the world’s foremost leader, partner, and underwriter of stability and security in every region across the globe, as we have been since the end of World War II,” Carter wrote. “But even as we continue to fulfill this enduring role, it’s also evident that we’re entering a new strategic era … and it requires new ways of thinking and new ways of acting.”
The White House did not respond to repeated requests for an interview with Obama to discuss his defense moves and the military legacy he’ll leave behind.
In a farewell speech during a military honor review on Jan. 4, Obama said he saw his top priority overseeing America’s military as balancing the need to use force with the need to honor the armed forces.
“You committed yourself to a life of service and of sacrifice,” he said. “And I, in turn, made a promise to you … that I would only send you into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary, with the strategy, the well-defined goals, with the equipment and the support that you needed to get the job done. Because that’s what you rightfully expect and that is what you rightfully deserve.”
Still, many troops see Obama less as a wartime commander in chief and more as a politician managing Pentagon affairs. Through his presidency Obama has repeatedly promised to keep the military “the strongest fighting force the world has ever known” but many troops question his stewardship of the institution, particularly when it comes to the defense budget.
‘IT’S THE PRESIDENT’S FAULT’
“There’s no question this era will go down as the third ‘hollow’ army, and it’s the president’s fault,” said James Jay Carafano, deputy director of international studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “For all his promises, the operations tempo hasn’t gone down as much as he hoped, and he has invested little in the military.”
Troops responding to the Military Times/IVMF poll saw years of defense budget fights as the largest blemish on Obama’s presidency. Two-thirds said spending caps enacted in 2011 have had a very negative effect on military morale, and another 28 percent said it was harmful to a lesser extent. Fewer than two percent saw the budget caps as a positive for the military.
Conservatives have attacked Obama for the lower defense budgets for years, arguing that his insistence on pairing military spending with non-defense spending has crippled Pentagon efforts to modernize and recapitalize.
The caps — known as sequestration — have been blamed for shortfalls in parts and repairs, cuts in training time and a gradual drawdown in military manpower. They’ve also contributed to a host of compensation trims, as Pentagon leaders have held down pay increases and stipend raises in recent years to help offset funding reductions in other areas.
snip
“Hello, everybody,” his voiced boomed over the loud speaker.
“What!” exclaimed one person. Another veteran gasped, his mouth wide open.
..................................
I would have reacted in disgust as well.
Obama is such a media whore
DITTO, in spades...
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.