Skip ahead to the 1:03 mark for a remarkable statement to the troops in Afghanistan by President Barack Obama on Monday.
“Most of you, you didn’t get a lot of notice that I was comin’, but I want you to understand there’s no visit I considered more important,” President Obama said.
The video is clipped in many spots, including at the conclusion of the above quote. So perhaps he went on to elaborate for clarity. If so, other archives may show the Commander in Chief detailing a prioritized list of places he has yet to visit, putting Afghanistan and the troops well before them all. He hasn’t been to Kazakhstan, Canada or Greece, for instance.
Or perhaps the Commander in Chief detailed a prioritized list of the other foreign places he has visited with prioritization ahead of Afghanistan and the troops there. It would read something like this:
Great Britain (02/09)
France (03/09)
Germany (03/09)
Czech Republic (03/09)
Turkey (03/09)
Iraq (03/09)
Mexico (03/09)
Trinidad and Tobago (03/09)
Saudi Arabia (06/09)
Egypt (06/09)
Germany II (06/09)
France II (06/09)
Russia (07/09)
Italy (07/09)
Vatican City (07/09)
Ghana (07/09)
Mexico II (08/09)
Denmark (10/09)
California (10/09)
Japan (11/09)
China (11/09)
South Korea (11/09)
Norway (12/09)
Denmark II (12/09)
There were Nobel Prizes to pick up, an Olympic Games to cajole, polar bears to save, sea levels to recede and a whole lot of apologies to be made. And if you only knew how incredible Trinidad is, you’d schedule that ahead of the Stan, too.
Maybe the list didn’t quite make it to the note cards.
But he wants the troops to understand there’s no visit he considered more important than this week’s trip to Afghanistan.
Yeah. Judging by the crossed arms of the soldier in the shot, they understand. They’re perceptive like that.
NOTE: It’s worth reminding that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Afghanistan and met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul fully two weeks before President Obama’s “there’s no visit I considered more important” trip. Funny thing about dirt chewing military types: We notice things like this.
