Memorial Day in 2008–Obama Visits and the Polls: What a Difference a Year Makes

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

A year ago on Memorial Day, candidate Obama spent Memorial Day here in Southern NM. What was supposed to be a private meeting with vets only had been transformed into a media event, closed to the public except for supporters, with a few vets sprinkled into the audience.  The questions were planted, of course.  Later, Obama stopped by the Bataan Memorial, again not in the presence of vets, to try to smooth over his earlier comments that the “primaries were like the Bataan Death March.”

The crassness was there for everyone to see, and now the reversals on promises regarding military issues are evident as well.

Here’s a recap of the story from a year ago:

Obama Holds Memorial Day Vet Visit in Secret….McCain visits ABQ in PUBLIC

Well, it appears that part of what I said to my mother yesterday was correct…that PRIVATE was the most key word to describe the Obama visit to Las Cruces today.

As it turns out, it seems that EVERYTHING today is completely private…right down to there being a NEWS BLACKOUT! I don’t know if there will be “other events” as was originally reported but the main event has been carefully scripted.  (And if there ARE any other events, you can bet they’ll be in homes or another secret venue and money will be flowing.) As I told my mother yesterday, the paper announced the visit, then the cell phone calls, text messages and emails went out to Obama supporters to create a nice media event for the press to fawn over.

Yesterday’s Las Cruces Sun-News had a headline across the top heralding Obama’s visit, with very few details. (See my post from Sunday, May 25.) Today, I expected to see more news about this trumpeted on page 1.

But there was NO MENTION of Obama. I listed to the oldies station, which does local news, and heard…nothing! There was nothing updated on the paper’s website or on radio station site (although I did find an interesting poll there, which I’ll comment on in a moment). I visited a couple of New Mexico political blogs…just the old news of the original announcement. I searched Yahoo News and came up with the old news from the Sun-News and sister papers. Finally, on Google News I found an El Paso Times story (one of the sister newspapers) that was 5 hours old:

Obama, McCain to spend Memorial Day in New Mexico

Times staff report

Article Launched: 05/26/2008 07:51:04 AM MDT

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will be in New Mexico today at separate Memorial Day events.Obama will join New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson at a Memorial Day Veterans Town Hall in Las Cruces. It is an invitation-only event.

McCain will join Sen. Pete Domenici at a memorial ceremony in Albuquerque honoring fallen military men and women. The public event starts at 9 a.m.

Interesting that McCain is in the state today, too, and his event is PUBLIC.

Meanwhile, I finally found the blog at the El Paso Times with this info:

…And though the event is not open to the public, you can read about all the action as it happens right here at Best of Times. Later today, elpasotimes.com will have stories, photos and video from the event, as well. Check back here for continuous coverage beginning about noon.

I will be checking back to see the reports which, I bet, will be GLOWING. This whole arrangement…closed event in front of select audience, no general PUBLIC allowed, the press seeing only positives to report (or in this case, probably not reporting on any tough questions asked by vets and vet family members) REEKS of Bill Richardson. As I observed a few weeks back in a post on this blog about “Richardson’s Rules,” Richardson has organized this sort of event before. That one was to drum up for the spaceport-welfare program for Richard Branson, using school kids and their parents by holding an assembly in a school which the public was NOT ALLOWED to attend. Scuffles and police were the result.

I can only recall that 4 years ago, when Wes Clark visited here a couple of times, there was press information and PUBLIC events. I was working on his campaign and made calls to Democratic voters and a couple of the volunteers who were vets reached out to local posts. We were a little band of about 10-15 people who worked our butts off and the party regulars themselves also put out the word, while the Clark campaign figured out the venues. This time around, Richardson is doing his specialty—CLOSED and SELECT, and engineered for the press to be complicit.

Now, back to that interesting poll on 101 Gold. Totally unscientific, of course, but interesting anyway…sorry the little graphs doesn’t copy….

Hillary Clinton has all but lost her chance at the top of the ticket, although Barack Obama doesn’t yet have enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for President. What do you think
Answers Votes Percent 1. She should have gotten out long ago 23 20% 2. She should get out now 8 7% 3. She should stay in until the convention 30 26% 4. I don’t want either Hillary or Barack in the White House 10 9% 5. How about Obama/Clinton ’08 3 3% 6. How about Clinton/Obama ’08 3 3% 7. John McCain all the way, who cares what the Democrats do 40 34%

Look who’s winning….John McCain. Not unexpected, given the huge military presence in this area. Next, Clinton should STAY IN.

Stay tuned….I’ll be updating…

***

5/28/08 Final Update: Obama in NM Results in Excuses, 3 Pinocchios, and a Rebuff from Vets?

5/26/08 UPDATE 3: Video of Memorial Day NM Obama Visit Up…Local Press TOTALLY & SHAMELESSLY COMPLICIT in Boosting Obama

5/26/08 UPDATE 2 on Obama in New Mexico, Memorial Day–Nothing Like an “UNBIASED” Press…

5/26/08 UPDATE 1 on Obama in New Mexico, Memorial Day

5/26/08 Obama Holds Memorial Day Vet Visit in Secret….McCain visits ABQ in PUBLIC

5/25/08 Yup! Obama Doing an “Invitation-Only” Event for Vets on Memorial Day…and Richardson Will Appear…

5/23/08  Obama to Visit Site of Bataan Memorial Death March on Memorial Day…To Repair Dumb Comment Damage? (Or…To Straighten Out Foreign Policy Mix-up with Bill Richardson?)

Yup! Obama Doing an “Invitation-Only” Event for Vets on Memorial Day…and Richardson Will Appear…

On Friday I speculated that Obama’s visit to Las Cruces, NM on Memorial Day would be a “kiss and make up” session aimed at courting the military vote here…especially since he made his ill-advised comment on primary season being likethe Bataan Death March.

The Sunday paper today has the following across the top of it, right above the article entitled “Wine Time” (about the Southern New Mexico Wine Festival, not about Obama’s frequent whining and victim positioning).

On the web, the story is:

Obama’s stop in Las Cruces ‘invitation-only’

LAS CRUCES — U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s visit Monday to Las Cruces will be invitation-only and focus on veterans, his campaign confirmed today. Because the Memorial Day Veterans Town Hall, as it is being billed, is not open to the public, Obama’s campaign handlers insisted the location not be publicized.The front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination will be joined by Gov. Bill Richardson, who endorsed Obama on March 21. The Sun-News and other media has been invited and will cover the midday event.

The paper today has more details. The affair is being billed as a “Memorial Day Veterans’ Town Hall” and will occur midday on Monday “except to the media.” Bill Richardson’s office issued the release which also mentions that “a few stops” are planned.

The paper quotes Amy Brundage, a campaign spokesperson that Obama will discuss “the importance of keeping the sacred trust with our nation’s veterans with local veterans and their families.” Apparently, a few days before the Bataan Memorial Death March on March 30, he wasn’t thinking much of any “sacred trust” then.

The commander of VFW Post 6917 in Las Cruces, of course, hasn’t heard anything about the event as yet. His post is going ahead with their wreath-laying ceremony and graveside services at a local cemetary. An ex-commander with the VFW has said that he had heard that Obama will be showing up a the Veterans Wall at Veterans Park, which is also the site of a dramatic memorial to the Bataan Death March.

The Bataan Memorial features a statue of struggling men and footprints which is quite impressive. It is located hear the road. Further into the park there is a a covered area, with another large area behind it which is adjacent to an open desert area. It is a very interesting park to visit because there are paths and memorials throughout one side of the park. People go there to reflect and meditate on the loss of loved ones in these quiet areas.

From my previous post at the time of Obama’s insensitive comment:

Las Cruces, New Mexico, of course, is the site of the annual Bataan Memorial Death March, which was first held in 1989. This year the event will be held on March 30…that’s right, this Sunday! Last year over 4,000 participants took part in the march…The Las Cruces memorial is pictured here. According to the site, “is the only federally funded monument dedicated to the victims of the Bataan Death March during WWII.”

It’s not clear if the park will be the site of the “town hall.” If it’s held at the park, one can only hope that non-military Obama supporters won’t try to crash it. It’s bad enough the event is so obviously being done with political intent…but, since it’s happening, it should proceed with some dignity, if at all possible.

Some of the actions of some Obama supporters makes one wonder how all this will turn out…

Obama to Visit Site of Bataan Memorial Death March on Memorial Day…To Repair Dumb Comment Damage? (Or…To Straighten Out Foreign Policy Mix-up with Bill Richardson?)

Well, maybe Obama will be here for both reasons!!!

I woke up today to the news on the radio that The Chose One is scheduled to come to Las Cruces, New Mexico on Monday, May 26…Memorial Day in the “new” calendar. (How fitting that he will be here on this day, which was originally observed on May 30 then switched in 1971 to the last Monday in May to ensure a 3-day holiday–heck, let’s have a a blow-out furniture sale or a wine festival–maybe he’ll show up at the one being held here! Then again, it was originally called “Decoration Day” which could also be very appropriate considering the bling factor in the Obama campaign…)

As you may recall, Obama made the historically uniformed and insensitive comment awhile back about how the primary season was just liked the Bataan Death March. (You may want to check out my post on this matter, “Bill Richardson Should Have Told Obama about the Bataan Death March.”)

So, Obama has chosen to show up on Memorial Day, which is a VERY BIG DEAL in these parts, in a very transparent move to perhaps try to win over all the active and retired military personnel here in this area. I’m sure the silly Las Cruces Sun News, our local rag will fawn all over this event, since they are really a Republican-leaning paper and have been stoking the fires for an Obama win.

Now, the big question is: Will Bill Richardson share the stage with Obama?? Just a couple of days ago, Richardson and Obama did a tango on the question of talking with Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Here’s the YouTube video of Obama’s original statement during a CNN debate: Obama: I would...

But people connected to the Obama campaign have been making squeaky “back-off noises.”

On May 20, Obama told Jake Tapper:

TAPPER: In recent days, it has seemed that some of your staffers and supporters have walked back from your statement that you would be willing to meet with the leaders of rogue nations, countries hostile to the U.S., without preconditions. Your foreign policy adviser Susan Rice said you wouldn’t necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad, Sen. Daschle said of course there would be conditions — (Obama interrupts)

OBAMA: You know, Jake, I have to say I completely disagree that people have been walking back from anything. They may be correcting the characterizations or distortions of John McCain or others of what I said. What I said was I would meet with our adversaries including Iran, including Venezula, including Cuba, including North Korea, without preconditions but that does not mean without preparation.

As reported in The Guardian:

After Tuesday’s primaries, in which Obama lost badly to Hillary Clinton in Kentucky but won well in Oregon, he is now just 65 delegates away from the Democratic nomination.

But with the November election in his sights, Obama backed away from his promise last year to meet Ahmadinejad without preconditions during his first year in the White House.

His campaign has stopped mentioning Ahmadinejad by name, and noting that there must be “preparations” for such an encounter.

…

On Tuesday, Obama’s foreign policy adviser, Susan Rice, told CNN that he did not necessarily mean he would meet Ahmadinejad when he offered to open talks with Iran. “He hasn’t named who that leader will be,” she said. “It may, in fact be that by the middle of next year, Ahmadinejad is long gone.”

BUT, Bill Richardson then showed up on FOX NEWS on Wednesday, May 21. Richardson stated that “you don’t talk to Ahmadinejad” then did a dance about talking to some of the moderate clerics. When questioned again about Obama’s wanting to talk with Ahmadinejad, Richardson stated that Obama wanted to talk to the “Iranian leadership” but wanted “diplomatic preparation.”

What is exactly meant by “diplomatic preparation”? He and Obama make it sound like “preparation” is unique, as if it never occurs before top-level meetings!! As for “moderate clerics”–Richardson is fudging like crazy, because he knows full well that there are no “moderate clerics” in the government leadership. They may be among the reformers, but they are not in the leadership. And Ahmadinejad himself is simply the front man for the Guardian Council and Richardson know that direct talks with him would simply add to his credibility, which has taken a tumble within Iran.

The Iranian Parliament, in theory, can draft legislation, approve or veto treaties and budgets, and even dismiss the government or impeach the president. In practice, all its work cannot pass into legislation unless signed off by the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the 12-man Guardian Council.

The results of the March parliamentary elections in Iran have further tightened the grip of this group:

The [Iranian March] election has strengthened the hand of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a militantly conservative force with growing control over the economy. At least 120 of the 290 members of the new parliament will be former guardsmen like President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

So, when Obama turns up on Memorial Day, where will Richardson be?? Also remember that Hillary Clinton won New Mexico’s primary, so there are many that agree with Carville’s description of Richardson as being “Judas”. Perhaps there will be enough bunting and flags so Richardson can hide behind them, just in case he does decide to show up to compare notes with Obama on foreign policy…that is, unless Obama is using the flags of “Decoration Day” to hide the real Obama, too.