Let’s be clear on one thing: this is Chuck Todd, appearing on The Today Show, reporting this, so take it with a grain of salt. But, having seen the way Team Obama has acted over the past 5+ years, would anyone be surprised if this was dead on? via The Weekly Standard’s Mark Hemingway
Every [White House] aide I’ve talked to said they expected there to be controversy involving the decision to release five members of the Taliban from Gitmo, and the fact that this would then escalate that debate, which has been simmering for a good five years, which is what to do with those detainees, how do you release them, where do you release them. They did not expect this backlash on Bergdahl himself. I’ve had a few aides describe it to me as we didn’t know that they were going to swift boat Bergdahl. And that’s a reference to that political fight back in 2004 over John Kerry’s military service, so there’s some fighting words there.
Here’s something to note: while those aids are attempting to portray this as something negative, as Kerry supporters did in 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans For Truth were 100% correct about John Kerry. Regardless, this would show a profound lack of care about our military.
Colonel Ralph Peters writes at National Review
The president, too, appears stunned. He has so little understanding of (or interest in) the values and traditions of our troops that he and his advisers really believed that those in uniform would erupt into public joy at the news of Bergdahl’s release — as D.C. frat kids did when Osama bin Laden’s death was trumpeted.
Both President Obama and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class. They have no idea of how great a sin desertion in the face of the enemy is to those in our military. The only worse sin is to side actively with the enemy and kill your brothers in arms. This is not sleeping in on Monday morning and ducking Gender Studies 101.
This shows further in the lack of caring by Obama regarding the VA scandal. Obama immediately met with Bergdahl’s father. What about the parents of those who have died thanks to the VA problems? Has he even visited a VA facility since the scandal broke?
