The Trip : Making The Scene At Bagram

I just hope we don’t always see Obama standing in front of soldiers! I’d love to see an image of him standing amid the rubble in Iraq giving a press conference or making a speech. Maybe we all need of dose of presidential ‘reality’ TV…

What jumped out at me is that Obama is photographed with a backdrop primarily consisting of black soldiers whereas W is usually shown standing in front of a group of white soldiers.

Like Chill, I was struck by all the black soldiers in the photos and video of Obama’s military visit. I shouldn’t have been, of course, since our military includes vast numbers of black and Latino soldiers. But I realized that Bush has rarely been pictured with more than a couple token minorities when he has been seen with the troops. What sort of orchestration has been necessary to make that happen for seven and a half years?

Not only that, but you’ll notice Bush is posing with a female security-blanket, front and center, which as I’ve pointed out in previous posts, is deliberate and borders on the disturbed. It’s Bush’s M.O. in most of his pics.
As far as the racial makeup, there is definitely a staged white presence in Bush’s photos, although in many cases, to improve his PR with minorities, he often grabs the first black person he sees…as in the Katrina thing.
As far as the racial makeup of Obama’s pics…I don’t know, it seems like a high percentage of minorities. Perhaps everyone volunteered to go to the event, and it would make sense that a high number of black or mixed race soldiers would be interested in seeing him in person.

The the expositor, the narrator and the prompter in mediaevil theatre

Like everyone else, I was struck by the black military behind Obama, and the white military that is always behind Bush.
I imagine this is just self-selection at work. To be in that crowd, you probably have to give up an entire off-day to undergo briefings and screenings and stagings and etc. It wouldn’t shock me if white soldiers were far more willing to give up a whole day to see Bush, and minority soldiers were more willing to do so to see Obama.
Still, what an odd outcome of a natural and unsurprising process. It looks like there are two different militaries, and it looks in that picture like the dark-skinned one has Obama’s back, whereas the light-skinned one has always loved Bush. The military is frequently portrayed as not having racial dynamics (America’s most integrated institution, etc), so it’s especially disconcerting.

Like everyone else, I was struck by the black military behind Obama, and the white military that is always behind Bush.
I imagine this is just self-selection at work. To be in that crowd, you probably have to give up an entire off-day to undergo briefings and screenings and stagings and etc. It wouldn’t shock me if white soldiers were far more willing to give up a whole day to see Bush, and minority soldiers were more willing to do so to see Obama.
Still, what an odd outcome of a natural and unsurprising process. It looks like there are two different militaries, and it looks in that picture like the dark-skinned one has Obama’s back, whereas the light-skinned one has always loved Bush. The military is frequently portrayed as not having racial dynamics (America’s most integrated institution, etc), so it’s especially disconcerting.

I disagree with most of the comments. In my opinion, Bush photo ops tend to look artificially diverse. I wouldn’t be surprised if his handlers apply an actual formula regarding how many representatives from various ethnic groups should appear in staged photos with the president. By contrast, I am confident Obama addressed the soldiers assembled without his campaign exerting any influence over the makeup of the crowd.

Congrats on the gilly. You most definitely deserve it.

aside from the genetic makeup differences, what I notice are the body postures of the soldier. The ones in Obama’ss picture look like they have been working. you can see the fatique and the ace in their facial expressions and sidewards slumps. they are attentive but they look like they have come from the field. the soldiers in bush’s pic look like they have just had a few days r n r. perks for posing with the big chimp?

As far as I’m concerned the entire thing is a farce. How is Senator Obama going to see anything about anything over there if he sets up the same photo ops as Mr. Bush – crowds of Americans talking to themselves.
Bah.
Now in my imagination I’d like to see Senator Obama sitting in a mud hut with a native Afghan who is processing the buds of his poppy crop, explaining to the Senator how the process works and introducing him to the person who performs the next step – buying the poppy ooze to turn it into heroin. Or perhaps standing outside with the farmer listening to an explanation of the relative value of poppies vs. whatever alternative crop we’ve tried to foist off on the Afghanis
If Obama when over there to campaign with non-white American soldier voters, then he should not have called his trip a fact-finding tour. Clearly neither he, nor Mr. McCain, nor Mr. Bush is going to learn anything about what’s really going on over there if they only listen to themselves.
What a disappointment. I’m glad I gave this month’s donation to Mr. Feingold.

Slightly OT –
Congratulations to the 2008 Gilliard Grant of Merit winner.
IMHO that is the highest recognition, the Nobel Prize of blog world.

The whole thing is a photo-op/PR campaign. What makes anyone think it’s any different?

Hey, wait a darn minute! Those troops over there hate Obama cause he’s trying to bring “em home from spreadin’ Democracy across the Whole Middle East!
Oh wait a minute…they’re all cheerin” him…like they really love him! I guess our Preznit lied to us!
And he sunk that mutha basketball from the edge of the 3 point ring…even the bobblehead pundits were a little impressed!

Gilly would have wanted it this way. Congrats. I’m here every day, comment rarely.

On first glance, Bush and the soldiers surrounding him look much more at ease and friendly towards one another. They’re smiling, there’s a lot of body contact, and the Prez looks like he’s right in the middle of his element.
In the Obama shot, however, there’s not a smile to be seen. Everyone looks tense, stiff, and separate. Standing way out in front of this unenthusiastic background, an unfocused Barack looks like he’s scanning the horizon, hoping that the armored SUV back to the plane isn’t late.
Purely on face value — which is all these staged photo ops are worth anyway — which frat(ernization) party looks like more fun?

Michael Shaw, PhD (Clinical Psychology) is BAGnewsNotes? Hmmm. Should have guessed. Regardless, Congrats on the Gilliard Grant Of Merit. It’s well deserved.

I want to echo the congrats on being awarded the Gilly, Michael! Well done.
Damn I miss Steve.

Thank you so much for the kind words regarding “The Gilly.” I just put up a dedicated post about it. …Now, I just want to find the video of Obama sinking that 3.

Laura looks trapped! Did she just wake up and realize she is married to GW Bush?

Obama tinkers with the ethnic and racial makeup of the crowd behind him every bit as much as other politicians. Let’s not forget the women in hijabs who complained about being shoved out of the picture a couple weeks ago. This crowd is more black than military population statistically is — that’s my guess, anyway. Looks staged to me. People have a weirdly uncomfortable look and are standing at a curious distance from each other, giving them a look of separate individuals, rather than being a photo of any preexisting group.

As one old enough to remember Truman pulling up short his general, MacArthur, in spite of screaming republicans and press, he was right. MacArthur would have had us in WWIII with China. And one wonders about McCain’s restraint. The founders made the CIC a civilian for a reason. It appears Obama is striking the right note. Sure he’ll meet with commanders but he insists the president tells them what to do and they execute his wishes.
As for poor Laura, the only thing that occurred to me was, “Lay, Lady, Lay.” But of course, we don’t know how many pills she’s had by this time of day……..
Racial makeup……my guess is that most of the military grunts are minorities. They are the ones most disadvantaged and targeted by the recruiters. Bush probably figures he’s safer with the officer crews, hence the white balance. And always the women, whether as disguise or not, who knows. But then, why wouldn’t the black service men/women want to be in the photo with the only black man to make it this far in a presidential race? It is historic and they want a piece of it. Very understandable.

Here are the thoughts from a soldier that was there!
Hello everyone,
>
> As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass
> along that Senator Obama came to Bagram, Afghanistan for about an hour
> on his visit to “The War Zone.” I wanted to share with you what
> happened. He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle,
> got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the
> commander
> here at Bagram,
>
> As the Soldiers were lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and
> didn’t say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the
> General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the Clam Shell
> (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play
> basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity
> pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk
> to
> Soldiers to thank them for their service.
>
> So really he was just here to make a showing for the American’s back
> homethat he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are
> going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank
> those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you.
>
> I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the
> Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to
> be the President of the United States. I just don’t understand how
> anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost
> that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him
> and our great
> country.
>
> If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to
> know what kind of caliber of person he really is.
> What you see in the
> news is all fake.
>
> In service,
> ********************
>
> TF Wasatch
> American Soldier

Whew, that shut a lot of people up. What can you say? You describe behavior that is ungracious.

Was it really the thoughts of a soldier that was there?? was it?? why didn’t the soldier…that was there…put their name on the letter of his or her thoughts?? I’m so sick of these chain email “letters” from soldiers that are there and saw it…did they really??
enough!!

Johanna: The soldier’s name is CPT Jeffrey S. Porter he is a Battle Captain, at TF Wasatch.
I know, because CPT Porter is a client of mine and he sent me this email. I forwarded it on and it has since become a chain. We want to make Americans aware that B.O. is just as fake as any other politician. He lacks the experience, he hasn’t made any difficult decisions and has never done anything in his YEAR in Congress.
As for the pictures, having been in Baumholder, Germany when the other president came through, they do select who’s in their crowds. It’s usually pre-screened pro-candidate people who have good rapport with their CO’s. Obama’s pic has soldier who are pissed off. Plain and simple. Obama lied about the job they are doing, he lied about voting against the war (he wasn’t in office when the vote took place)and he has undercut the job they are doing (the Shia saw the light – puhleeze). He is a pandering idiot and they called him on it. As for GW’s pic, those soldiers are smiling because they know GW believes in the job they are doing. IT makes a HUGE difference.

Where have you been jmac? That letter is obviously fake as no captain in the US military would every name a higher commander in chiefs where abouts!!!
Get a clue before you post BS.

If you take a look at this post and thread at DKos, you’ll see the supposed comment from the U.S. soldier in Afghanistan just a few comments back is a fake.  Rather than delete it, I think it stands as a good example of the organized trolling being executed by the right wing.  Reading through the discussion threads on some of my posts at Huffington lately, I’ve noticed certain other comments with the same odd ring.

I invite you, if you have an account at DKos, to reference this post on Dapremonster’s post.

The Bag is right. I was going to post a similar statement but without the helpful references. There is apparently quite a cottage industry revolving around just such “letters” or statements by “soldiers.” Whether jmac is participating or just got hooked in by them……..?
My guess is that the republigoons have to do something to offset the hundreds of soldiers who support, and donate to, Obama.
Another thing these emails apparently have in common is the implied racism. I guess if one is so filled with hatred, it just has to leak out somehow.

I am an 86 year old retired USAF MSgt. I was a cameraman and photographer in the Army Signal Corp in the 1945-47 area in China and Korea (before the Korean War). At that time, there was little if any, pre-preparation nor staging of “takes’ of dignitaries and most all were candid shots when the person was unaware of it going on. Of course these were all screened to insure nothing derogatory was shown like a subject in an embarrassing pose. In these days, nothing surprises me!
It all boils down that as humans, we will believe what we think best – regardless whether it’s true or not.
Fore example, some of us have been wondering why the Democratic Presidential Candidate, is getting such an over balance of press coverage in recent months. Now it appears others have too. Regardless of your political affiliations, here is something of great importance to all people in this Country.
It’s easy to see that the TV News is continually blasting the public and pushing one Presidential Candidate with continual coverage until – to say it politely, it’s monotonous. After the Democratic Primary, 90% of National Political TV News has been all about – Their Candidate. Now we find that recent Polls show an increasing number of people are beginning to believe the National News is biased in their coverage.
Here are statistics that show – Yes, there sure is something going on!
According to the RASNUUN Daily (Poll) Reports on 21 July 08, the headline says, “The Belief is Growing That Reporters Are Trying To Help Obama Win.” They go on to say,
“The belief that reporters are trying to help Barack Obama win the fall campaign has grown by five percentage points over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 49% of voters believe most reporters will try to help Obama with their coverage, up from 44% a month ago.”
***********
There are many comments on the internet saying, – it appears as if the National News Media is trying to Brain Wash the Public!
There is also a video clip on the web site at http://silverbearcafe.com/private/4.08/media.html
where a TV producer presents statistical charts of this accusation.
Are 49% of the people wrong?
Who can say for sure but it does sound probable!
Like I said, you believe what you wish and – say what you wish! That’s what our Constitution is all about!!
But be sure to make the RIGHT decisions at the POLLS !!

Obviously most of you are racially sensitive.So lets go. How many blacks do you see in Obamas staff? Where are the pics of Obama hamming it up with whites/blacks/hispanics? Where were all the blacks inGermany?Israel,Jordan? How many blacks have you said hello to today/ How many have you helped today? Are you a white guilt ridden person?
Bush is a genuine person with a heart

Stephanie, you are a clown.
in the Bush pic, the people are having their pic taken with bush.
in the obama pic, they’ve been waiting in line for awhile and then are listening to a speech.

Whew, that shut a lot of people up. What can you say?
Well, that’s a good question. What do you say to people who somehow think anonymous right-wing email forwards can be trusted?
By the way, it appears Snopes has a piece on this one now.

According to an Army spokesperson (as quoted in the New York Daily News) the details recounted in that message are false… “These comments are inappropriate and factually incorrect,” said Bagram spokeswoman Army Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, who added that such political commentary is barred for uniformed personnel… Obama didn’t play basketball at Bagram or visit the Clamshell, she said. Home-state troops were invited to meet him, but his arrival was kept secret for security reasons… In a follow-up blog entry, the Daily News reported that the e-mail’s author has recanted his original message: … Now the Bagram captain is dialing back, having signed the viral e-mail with his name, rank and unit — a possible violation of military regulations barring political statements. This morning, he sent [us] a new statement (punctuation corrected): “I am writing this to ask that you delete my email and not forward it. After checking my sources, information that was put out in my email was wrong. This email was meant only for my family. Please respect my wishes and delete the email and if there are any blogs you have my email portrayed on I would ask if you would take it down too. Thanks for your understanding.”…

“After checking my sources”. Uh huh.
The rest of the Snopes piece covers accounts of people who were, you know, actually there.
The interesting thing to me is that judging from Snopes the variant of the forward that we see posted in the comments above apparently isn’t exactly even complete, it removes the name of the author (turning a smear email for once with a name attached into an anonymous one) and the title (“HUSSEIN’S VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN”) that were apparently in the original version…

Whoops, I didn’t realize until I posted that there was a second page in this comment thread..

That e-mail has been proven to be bogus by Snopes. Check it out here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/afghanistan.asp