Obama’s Debate Misstep: “[Obama]…went off half-cocked, based on hearsay, to make an ostensibly damning criticism…”…in other words, Obama’s a typical Democrat UpDaTeD!
Here’s our next possible “Commander in Chief”, during the CNN debate last night, doing what Democrats do best…spinning tales of misery and woe and using partial facts for the benefit of their rapt BDS-hypnotized audiences, blaming Bush for not supplying the troops, when actually that’s the job of…Obama, and the Congress!
OBAMA: “You know, I’ve heard from an Army captain who was the head of a rifle platoon — supposed to have 39 men in a rifle platoon. Ended up being sent to Afghanistan with 24 because 15 of those soldiers had been sent to Iraq.
“And as a consequence, they didn’t have enough ammunition, they didn’t have enough humvees. They were actually capturing Taliban weapons, because it was easier to get Taliban weapons than it was for them to get properly equipped by our current commander in chief.”
Oh boy. Sounds a bit like our William.
Except Obama won’t just be pickin’ and grinnin’, he’ll be in charge of the very troops and military he doesn’t understand.
The facts are still coming out, and although we can’t say Obama completely lied, well, he should have known better than to orate such a denouement and expect to get away unscathed. At the least, he owes President Bush an apology.
From ABC’s early factchecking…
The Obama campaign offered no details to support the captain’s story, making it impossible to verify. A spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about who the captain was and when and how the candidate learned about the allegation. ABC News said it talked to the unidentified captain, whose account of shortages in Afghanistan was for the most part accurately summarized by Obama, although not verified.
The captain said, however, that the unit did not go after the Taliban for the purpose of getting their weapons, but sometimes used those weapons when some were captured.
The Pentagon has acknowledged forces are stretched, but spokesman Bryan Whitman said that without knowing more, he could not comment on the veracity of Obama’s claim, except to say: “I find that account pretty hard to imagine.”Whitman contended “all of our units and service members that go into harm’s way are properly trained, equipped and with the leadership to be successful for the mission that they’ve been given.”
Obama said the platoon was supposed to have 39 soldiers. A platoon does not have to consist of 39, but can have between 16 to 40 soldiers, according to standard Army unit organization. It is also commanded by a lieutenant and not a captain.
Further, Michael Goldfarb, editor of The Weekly Standard, gives some ‘real war’ vs. ‘war on paper’ facts…
On going into battle shorthanded–it’s normal. If you aren’t shorthanded when you hit the ground, you will be shorthanded almost immediately thereafter, as your unit takes casualties or has to detach men for other duties. All rifle squads, platoons and companies in a combat zone are generally short anywhere from 15-25 percent of their TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) strength, and will remain so as long as combat intensity remains high and the unit stays in the line. On being pulled out for rest and recuperation, a unit will be fleshed out with replacements, who will receive some hasty orientation and training to augment the training they received beforehand. Then it’s back into the line, and the unit will be under strength again.
Well, take heart, Obama fans. At least while he was grinding out these spins, Obama looked mahvelous. Superstar material. Exactly what we need to run this country, and serve as our Commander in Chief.
After this (at best) mischaracterization, and after Michelle’s earlier gaffe, the sheen is coming off of Mr. Obama. Let’s hope Camp Clinton fails to use this against him (I really won’t be at ease until Hillary is officially out of the race) and this doesn’t harm his march to the Demnomobamination. Just Leave Baracky Alone! for a while longer…
We need him around long enough to defeat the worse threat.
Image credit…SondraK
Senator John Warner, Virginia, sends a point-blank letter to Senator Obama of the red face (h/t Ace).
(From comments left at displace…)
Serr8d:
Interesting choice of emphasis. Because what looks pretty relevant to me is this part (which you quote but do not emphasize):
In other words, Obama said that he talked to a Captain who told him X, and said Captain actually backs up Obama’s account for the most part.
But why take my word for it, or Serr8d’s word for it, when you can go to the full ABC News source and see for yourself.
[…] gleefully falls in line with the conservative echo chamber, calling Obama out for his anecdote about an Army captain in Afghanistan during the debate, citing an ABC news blurb […]
From comments at my link, above…
There you go.
So a pro-Bush military guy says “big deal, every unit in Afghanistan is understaffed and underequipped, quit your bitching,” and this is supposed to diminish Obama’s point? I guess I don’t follow.
I think the key word is “was”, not “is”.
And, funding, Congress? How does Bush play into that? Pelosi, Reed, Obama, Clinton playing games with the funding.
War is not a perfect science or solution. Put away your video games and study some history.
Serr8d:
Speaking of studying history, why not remind yourself who was in control of Congress in 03-04. Hint: It wasn’t the party that contains Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and Clinton.
Basically every part of Obama’s story checks. Goldfarb shoots from the hip without researching the facts, and when the story comes in, Goldfarb starts picking nits, and explaining, explaining, explaining.
Here’s his first entry: “Obama heard wrong”
“There is a lot about Obama’s story that makes no sense. … captains command companies, not rifle platoons. A rifle platoon is normally commanded by a 2nd lieutenant, sometimes (if short handed) by a senior sergeant. So for starters, Obama betrays a woeful ignorance of military organization and the chain of command.”
But then later …”As [ABC Newsman] Jake Tapper reported earlier, the captain was in fact a lieutenant at the time, so he obviously could have been a platoon leader.”
That’s very different Never mind.
Next, Emily Latella Goldfarb is on about the platoon levels: “Then he [Obama] remarks that the platoon was under-strength because 15 of its men had been “sent to Iraq.” Sorry, the Army doesn’t work that way. Platoons are organic units, consisting of three rifle squads, a heavy weapons squad, and a headquarters section. You can’t break it up. It is the smallest building block in the infantry that can conduct fire-and-movement tactics.
But then he writes: “The actual story is more prosaic …. Over a period of some months, individuals in his platoon *were* transferred (not detached) to other units, … and the unit was fleshed out with drafts from other units. Happens all the time, has always happened. … a unit will be fleshed out with replacements, who will receive some hasty orientation and training to augment the training they received beforehand. Then it’s back into the line, and the unit will be under strength again…”
Ok, so Obama got that part of the story right too? He rightly described that the unit that can’t be broken up was in fact broken up, but he used “transferred” rather than “detached.” After first pro-claiming, “the Army doesn’t work that way” Goldfarb does an about face to “Happens all the time, has always happened.” Whatever you say, Emily.
After the story is confirmed, we get a new lede. Goldfarb prepares his getaway :”Obama story impossible to verify”
Doesn’t that just take your breath away? So a confirmed story is now impossible to verify. Why exactly? Because it came from a soldier and not the Pentagon. “ABC News said it talked to the unidentified captain, whose account of shortages in Afghanistan was for the most part accurately summarized by Obama, although not verified.”
So even though Goldfarb admits, “What the captain said was that it was sometimes difficult to get parts in theater, and on occasion his soldiers used captured weapons.” He disses the captain by saying, his story needs to be verified by the Pentagon: “Aside from Tapper’s faith in the captain as credible, the story remains unverified ….”
You see “the troops” that Goldfarb pretends to love and support, their word doesn’t really count for anything, particularly when it confirms that young, smart Democratic presidential candidates listen more attentively than talking heads.
Then Goldfarb starts explaining, explaining, explaining….. sigh, explaining away. The begrudgingly but admittedly true example isn’t enough evidence to justify the conclusion, the topic is too trivial for a commander-in-chief candidate to be concerned with, and besides, Obama said it wrong.
“If Obama were running to be quartermaster in chief, this story might have some relevance. … his basic narrative of the commander in chief neglecting equipment needs in Aghanistan isn’t supported by this one account. Moreover, does Obama think (a distortion of) one captain’s anecdote is an appropriate basis for making broad claims about military matters in a campaign to become commander in chief?”
But Obama answered the big-picture credentials of commander-in-chief: The Iraq war, in lives and treasure, was a major mistake, a blunder of such proportion, that the difference in degree becomes a difference in kind. It exhibits by its maker, a lack of sound judgement, a judgement so thoroughly lacking as to point to a fundamental character flaw in the maker. He Obama did not make that error in judgement and does not have that character flaw. Goldfarb’s right. We don’t pay Obama to fix supply lines, we pay him to deploy our national security resources effectively and wisely.
On the shortage of Humvees, Goldfarb is into now full apologia and war jargon talk — here come the acronyms!!!
“Regarding the HMMWVs, at the time there was a critical shortage throughout the Army in M1114 Up-Armored HMMWVs due to shortages of armor plate. This would have happened, no matter what the Bush administration had done, simply because there was no surplus capacity to produce armor in the industrial base”
And it just degrades into full Bush apologia until finally, the blog completely changes the subject and shows the funny picture of Obama in African tribal dress.
Phew, maybe nobody noticed that Goldfarb challenged Obama without checking the story, and did about a half a dozen Emily Latella style, about faces before cutting and running as quickly as possible to the funny picture.
All in a day’s work.