Following on the heels of several other political ‘gaffes,’ including the recent one from Hillary Clinton, comes a couple more from Barack Obama. (hat tip: MM)
From Powerline Blog:
On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.
So he saw fallen heroes in the audience? Hmm, interesting.
And now this little ditty…
From CBS:
Obama also spoke about his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz. He said the family legend is that, upon returning from war, his uncle spent six months in an attic. “Now obviously, something had really affected him deeply, but at that time there just weren’t the kinds of facilities to help somebody work through that kind of pain,” Obama said. “That’s why this idea of making sure that every single veteran, when they are discharged, are screened for post-traumatic stress disorder and given the mental health services that they need – that’s why it’s so important.”
One little problem… the Auschwitz concentration camp was in Poland and wasn’t liberated by the Americans. It was liberated by the Soviet Red Army. Also, back in 2002, he made another speech referencing his grandfather’s service.
From WorldNetDaily:
In a 2002 anti-war speech, Obama told the audience, “My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton’s army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain.”
But in his autobiography, “Dreams of My Father,” Obama states his grandfather never engaged in combat.
“Gramps returned from the war never having seen real combat, and the family moved to California, where he enrolled at Berkeley under the GI bill,” he writes. “But the classroom couldn’t contain his ambitions, his restlessness, and so the family moved again.”
Obama’s 2002 claim his grandfather enlisted in the Army the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor is contradicted by Army records showing Dunham signed up June 18, 1942 – six months after Pearl Harbor.
I’ll say that Obama’s relatives serving during WWII certainly makes them heroes to me, no matter what their role. However, if you’re going to refer to them in speeches, at least make sure the reports of their service are accurate. Otherwise, the ‘gaffes’ appear to be embellishments for political points.
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