Obama's Iraq Photo Op

Last week we were treated to scenes of the president in front of cheering troops in Iraq. Those scenes were pretty common when Bush was president, but the first couple of appearances by Obama with our troops didn't have the same enthusiasm.

So, according to this report, the event in Iraq was very carefully staged to ensure good TV:

Isn’t it just a pain in the neck when there’s an alternative media that prevents strict message control by a staged-photo-op of an administration and its willing mouthpieces in the MSM?

It’s painless for us, of course; rather, that pain is being felt in the necks of those who want to insist that a bow to a Saudi king isn’t a bow, that an omnibus spending bill with 9,000 earmarks is the beginning of earmark and fiscal reform, that indecisively waiting four days while an American ship’s Captain is held hostage on a rubber raft by four Somali pirates (before being bailed out by swift action by the hostage and a SEAL team) is bold, new leadership — and that a staged event with Obama voters only and a bunch of cameras handed out as props is a real sign of soldiers’ devotion to the new, inexperienced, non-military-friendly Commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces.

That’s right: courtesy of our friend Dave Hinz at The Minority Report comes the true story of a staged photo-op between a president who cares only about controlled and contrived appearances, and the component of a deployed military that was hand-selected to give him the contrived appearance he and his handlers desired.

As you will read at the link above soldiers were prescreened to identify Obama voters, and those people were moved to the front of the crowd and given identical digital cameras and told to use them. Good visuals.

Every president stages events to provide the best TV, but I don't think Bush had to go to quite as much effort when he met with troops.