NYT: The Story Behind a Canceled Obama Visit (NYT sets the story straight)

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON — For four days, Senator John McCain has sought to keep alive a story about how Senator Barack Obama called off a visit to American troops recuperating from war wounds at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Last week, Mr. McCain’s aides took pains to stay away from the controversy. But by Monday, the criticism had been turned into a television commercial and the McCain campaign had tapped a retired soldier to add a personal face to the story.

(snip)

Mr. Durant said the stop “was canceled after it became clear that campaign staff and the traveling press corps would not be allowed to accompany Senator Obama.”

That assertion is not correct, Mr. Obama’s advisers say. Before his visit to Ramstein Air Base, which is near the medical center, was canceled, the plan called for reporters to stay behind at an airport terminal while Mr. Obama and one adviser met with the troops. Why? The Pentagon does not allow reporters and photographers inside Landstuhl.

(snip)

If the story behind the story of the canceled troop visit has run its course, one question remains: Why didn’t Mr. Obama leave his aides behind, even the retired general, and make the visit by himself?

“Even him going alone would likely be characterized by some as a political event,” Mr. Gibbs said in an interview on Monday, adding, “He decided not to put the troops in that position.”

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/us/politics/29truth.html

[rockymountaindem]

1. That's kind of weak

I mean, all it does is state Obama's viewpoint that even a solo visit by him would have been interpreted by some as a political stunt. It doesn't really expose the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't position Obama was in objectively. Basically it leaves the reader to decide whether or not to believe what Obama's campaign spokespeople say.

[kskiska]

2. Yeah, but at least it laid out the facts,

unlike other articles on the subject. Obama would have been attacked even if he'd gone alone.

[drmeow]

3. Obviously Obama was going to be attacked

no matter what he did. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. They are just looking for anything to bring him down.

[Igel]

4. But it also kills some stories.

Those claiming that it wasn't Obama's decision, so he couldn't be held responsible for it.

It means he was responsible.

Then, in the US, he visits Walter Reed to visit troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, and dutifully leave the reporters accompanying him on the not "public" portion of his day outside the entrance (unstated: per requirements). That makes the news, and shows, the spin is, that he deeply cares about the troops.

The trip in Germany was avoided, Gibbs said, because it could be spun politically and that would be horrible. The trip in Bethesda? Ah, that's different. It's part of a long meritorious pattern, showing how supportive of veterans' issues he is and always has been. In other words, it's spun politically.