The mother of the fallen soldier asked him not to.
…she has turned down any subsequent interviews with the media because she just didn’t, she just didn’t want it to get turned into something that it wasn’t. She had told me that in an email that she had asked, actually asked Mr. Obama to not wear the bracelet anymore at any of his public appearances.”
And apparently Obama even minced her request to end the war:
“I didn’t get to say what I wanted to say. I just cried,” Tracy Jopek told the newspaper. “It wasn’t for anything but for him to know this is real, something he needed to know. . . I do believe (the war) needs to end, but I believe it needs to be done very carefully and very thoughtfully.”
To me, there is a clear difference between wanting the Senator to know the reality of war and putting in a personal request to end the war because it hurts too much. Either way, of course, I’d rather have a Commander in Chief that understands just how horrible and necessary war can be. The desire to pull out of Iraq because soldiers have died and are dying is simply ridiculous. Do we seriously give up when the scenario is anything other than no lives lost? How did we get to this idea that it isn’t our soldiers’ duty to protect and defend our country at any cost?
Let’s be straight on this: we ALL want the war to end. But I for one am not willing to tuck tail and run. And anything less than victory is defeat. That’s not hawkishness. That’s reality. It’s a concept with which Obama desperately needs to become familiar.
I could not disagree with you more on this. I thought it was brilliant of him to mention his bracelet. It was him saying, “You have a bracelet of a parent who wants us to stay in this war and I have a bracelet of a parent who doesn’t want us to stay in this war.” Why do you think it is okay for McCain to mention his bracelet and not Obama?
I assume the only reason you are bringing this up is because your predictions from an earlier blog were seriously misguided and completely incorrect. If his mentioning his bracelet was the only problem you had with the debate, it would appear that your “misgivings” about Obama are based on non-issues, like the bracelets both candidates wear. I mean, really?
All polls show Obama was the clear victor of this debate and that McCain was disrespectful in never looking at Obama and rude in his facial expressions and reactions to Obama.
I love that you got your ideas on Obama and McCain’s ability to make decisions about war based on a bracelet. Come on, Kevin. You’re reaching here.
And by the way, according to your thinking on war (stated in your last paragraph), we should still be in Vietnam because we “tucked tail and ran” instead of staying until we “won.” Good luck with that thinking.
AND, one more thing if I may dominate your comments field on this post a little more, even Obama said that while we need to end the war in Iraq, we need to do it with thoughtfulness and carefulness, so he didn’t mince words, he stated this and he was right. I would hope you would want someone to have those beliefs in regards to this situation.
And really, I think Obama knows the reality of war better than you or I considering he’s actually seen it. The days of having to have fought in a war to be president are over. Welcome to a new era and a new party in office come November 4th!
[...] and earned itself the status of a post. It is in response to my friend Larissa’s comments here about Braceletgate. Wait, I promised not to do [...]