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Current Events => Archives => Politics => Election 2008 => Topic started by: bijou on September 07, 2008, 01:58:37 PM

Title: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: bijou on September 07, 2008, 01:58:37 PM

Quote
The statement is thought to be the first time during the 19-month-long presidential campaign that the Democratic nominee for the White House has indicated he once wanted to serve in uniform. The aspiration was not mentioned in either of his two volumes of memoirs.

Mr Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC's "This Week" programme whether he'd ever thought about military service and replied: "You know, I actually did. I had to sign up for Selective Service [a means of conscription in case of war] when I graduated from high school.

"And I was growing up in Hawaii. And I have friends whose parents were in the military. There are a lot of Army, military bases there.

"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."

...more..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2700555/Barack-Obama-wanted-to-join-the-US-military.html

Heh. The first two sentences will burn.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: NHSparky on September 07, 2008, 02:00:40 PM
So did everyone else back then, and now, you effin loser.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: jinxmchue on September 07, 2008, 02:28:34 PM
Quote
Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'

He also wanted to be president, but that's not going to work out for him, either.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: NHSparky on September 07, 2008, 02:32:55 PM
Kinda hard to join the military when you're smoking the entire island of Oahu.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Chris_ on September 07, 2008, 02:34:39 PM
Hmmm...Hawaii has...

One Air Force Base - Hickam

Three Army Posts - not bases.
Fort Shafter
Schofield Barracks
Tripler Medical Center

Two Coast Guard bases
USCG Air Station Barbers Point
USCG Sector Honolulu

One Marine Base
Hawaii Marine Corps Base

And Two Navy Bases
# Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard
# Pearl Harbor Naval Station

That big eared, mole nosed, socialist wants to be commander in chief????

Back then they had Barber's Point NAS (I think).
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: NHSparky on September 07, 2008, 02:40:43 PM
It was NAS Barbers Point.

They also have CINCPACFLT, Subase Pearl while while adjacent, is a different command, Ford Island, Kanehoe Bay (Marines), you get the picture.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: DixieBelle on September 07, 2008, 03:22:52 PM
He's not even 50 and has written two memoirs and how many laws?
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: NHSparky on September 07, 2008, 03:26:08 PM
He's not even 50 and has written two memoirs and how many laws?

Two fewer laws then memoirs.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: DixieBelle on September 07, 2008, 03:30:05 PM
Exactly.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: GOBUCKS on September 07, 2008, 03:39:37 PM
He's not even 50 and has written two memoirs and how many laws?
He obviously feels deep admiration for himself. He had a DU mole named Asher Heimerman.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: RightCoast on September 07, 2008, 03:44:32 PM
I hate people that say "I wanted to join," or "I almost joined," if you didn't, you didn't - period

No amount of "wanting to" compairs.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Uhhuh35 on September 07, 2008, 03:53:12 PM
Quote
"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979.

Wasn't that about the time Hilary said she wanted to join the Marine Corps?  :whatever:
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: RightCoast on September 07, 2008, 04:01:02 PM
Somewhere there must be stats on the number of enlistees in 1979.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Willow on September 07, 2008, 05:17:17 PM
what is the cutoff age? We have been engaged for seven years! Mr. Obamalama.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Willow on September 07, 2008, 05:25:25 PM
What about Desert Storm Obamalama?
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Thor on September 07, 2008, 05:51:42 PM
1979 were some pretty bleak years as far as civilian employment went.  I recall seeing a major influx of people from 1979-1981. Peace time military, what would have been the problem ??
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: franksolich on September 07, 2008, 06:46:53 PM
So did everyone else back then, and now, you effin loser.

Yeah, damn, I tried; anything to get out of going to college.

Of course, the U.S. Army recruiter in central Nebraska knew that I was born absent of ears, but because he was a nice guy, indulged me.  He sympathized with my desire to be in the real world rather than in college, and because I insisted, he arranged for a military physical for me. 

Since I had no bodily afflictions other than no ears, I thought all the good stuff would override this one bad thing.

I got the examination, and breezed through it until I was shut up in a small dark room with no light.

The hearing examination.

That stymied me; usually, when one has this sort of hearing examination, there's a window, and one can "read" the body movements and body language of the person outside.  But here, all was utter darkness.

So I had to guess, and I didn't guess very well.

I was really put out about it, and wrote a letter to the then Secretary of Defense, Richard Cheney, protesting that the military should have affirmative action.  My argument was that psychological and other professional evaluation shows that the deaf tend to be great "decoders" of things, an unusually good aptitude at it, and surely the military could use my own skills in a telegraph room or something.

I got a really nice hand-written letter back from Richard Cheney, after which I was his fan for life.

Of course, with the passage of time, one ostensibly gains wisdom, and nowadays I don't think it would've been a good idea--not not a good idea for me, but a definite encumbrance for those who would've had to work with me.  One can facilitate, but one can also hinder.

But at the time I was a teenager, and no place to go other than college, the parents being dead and all that.  I did not want to go to college, but I ended up there anyway.

Such is life; one accepts, one adapts, one moves on.....
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: DixieBelle on September 07, 2008, 07:46:28 PM
That's an incredible story Frank. I know you kept the letter right?
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Uhhuh35 on September 07, 2008, 08:03:12 PM
That's an incredible story Frank. I know you kept the letter right?
Please scan it and post it! Minus all the personal info of course.  :-)
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Airwolf on September 07, 2008, 08:44:53 PM
"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."


WTF over? I graduated from High School in 1977 and had two years of college after that. because of  Jimmy Carters economy there wasn't much choice for employment if you didn't have something worthy like college to get hired over. I decided that going to school wasn't cutting it when I needed money right now and I then joined up. It's not that hard to do Barry if you had the balls to do what was right and not get involved in radical socialism and Marxism.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: RightCoast on September 07, 2008, 09:06:59 PM
"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."


WTF over? I graduated from High School in 1977 and had two years of college after that. because of  Jimmy Carters economy there wasn't much choice for employment if you didn't have something worthy like college to get hired over. I decided that going to school wasn't cutting it when I needed money right now and I then joined up. It's not that hard to do Barry if you had the balls to do what was right and not get involved in radical socialism and Marxism.


You should have become a Community Organizer.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Hawkgirl on September 07, 2008, 10:19:36 PM
I wanted to be a ballerina too when I was 5. :tongue:
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: DumbAss Tanker on September 08, 2008, 05:05:59 AM
1979 was the year I ETS'd from my first 4-year enlistment, it actually was a shitty time to join.  Jimmy Peanut's economic policies had destroyed the pay equity of the volunteer Army, and there was a resulting mid-grade NCO crisis because nobody could afford to stay in and keep watching their pay dry up.  There were some bright spots like the M1 tank jsut coming into initial production, but a cool ride don't feed the kids or pay the bills.  I was single and could have afforded to stay, but I had a killer LSAT score and had been accepted at the one law school I could afford to attend, so I ETS'd and went to the Reserve for three years.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: BlueStateSaint on September 08, 2008, 05:30:42 AM
He's not even 50 and has written two memoirs and how many laws?

Two fewer laws then memoirs.

One moonbat at work said that the Obamessiah had written an "ethics reform" law.  Not only could he not come up with it for me, but I gave him from Thursday morning to this morning to produce it for me.  When I actually go to work, we'll find out if he found any reference of it.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Chris_ on September 08, 2008, 05:49:48 AM
He's not even 50 and has written two memoirs and how many laws?

Two fewer laws then memoirs.

One moonbat at work said that the Obamessiah had written an "ethics reform" law.  Not only could he not come up with it for me, but I gave him from Thursday morning to this morning to produce it for me.  When I actually go to work, we'll find out if he found any reference of it.
Well, he wanted to write one.  That counts...doesn't it?
 :fuelfire:
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: bijou on September 08, 2008, 11:01:58 AM
Quote
It remains to be seen whether this turns out to be Barack Obama's "Christmas in Cambodia" untruth, his Dukakis-in-tank hilarity -- or both.

Regardless, what follows is a pretty obvious "misstatement" that would not possibly be ignored if it were uttered by a conservative or a Republican.

In his hilariously titled post ("Mighta Joined If He Coulda Capped Some Cong") on Barack Obama's interview in a barn this morning (not kidding) on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, fellow NewsBuster Mark Finkelstein reported on Obama's answer to a viewer's question about whether he ever considered military service. You can read Mark's post for his overall thoughts, but I want to focus on something the Illinois senator said that several commenters at the post took exception to (photo courtesy DayLife):

You know, I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. .... But keep in mind: I graduated in 1979.

There are only two "little" problems:


Selective Service Registration was not possible in 1979.
Bob Owens at Pajamas Media noted that Obama registered with the Selective Service with an effective date of September 4, 1980.
...more...

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/09/07/o-busted-selective-service-requirement-did-not-exist-when-obama-says-he-

Oops.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: SSG Snuggle Bunny on September 08, 2008, 11:21:51 AM
Quote
"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."

There was this thing called the Cold War...maybe you heard of it.

Massive, expansionist empire that murdered millions of its own.

The US military was central in holding it behind its own Iron Curtain.

Of course for someone running with Saul Alinsky and Bill Ayers that probably seems like a bad thing to your type.
Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Crazy Horse on September 08, 2008, 12:21:37 PM
BULLSHIT.....BULLSHIT AND MORE BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ears obama loathes the military and never wanted to be part of its brotherhood.

Title: Re: Barack Obama 'wanted to join US military'
Post by: Airwolf on September 08, 2008, 04:25:16 PM
"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."


WTF over? I graduated from High School in 1977 and had two years of college after that. because of Jimmy Carters economy there wasn't much choice for employment if you didn't have something worthy like college to get hired over. I decided that going to school wasn't cutting it when I needed money right now and I then joined up. It's not that hard to do Barry if you had the balls to do what was right and not get involved in radical socialism and Marxism.


You should have become a Community Organizer.

LOL. This town already has more of those that really help others then it needs. They actually do things for people unlike Barry's way of doing community service.