Obama's Forgotten Soldier Moment

I am sure that if you watched Friday night's Debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, you saw the exchange between these two where John McCain mentioned that he was wearing a bracelet in the memory of a soldier who died in Iraq. In a "me too" moment, Obama said he, too, was wearing a soldier's bracelet that died in Iraq. Unfortunately, Barack couldn't quite recall the soldier's name so, instead, he fumbled to see the name on the bracelet before he blurted out. What a sincere moment! For reference, that soldier's name was Sergeant Ryan Jopek of Wisconsin.

What's worse about this whole thing is that it is being reported by the father of Ryan Jopek that the Jopek family has asked Barack Obama to stop using Ryan's name in his campaign (See Full Story). However, Barack Obama appears to be ignoring the family's wishes.

Besides the apparent crassness and insincerity of Barack's use of this soldier's name, there are another couple of points that need to be made. If anyone else, like John McCain or Sarah Palin, had failed to remember this soldier's name during a debate or, even, a campaign event, the main stream media would have been all over it. In McCain's case, they would have used it as proof that he was too old. But "no" such chiding of Obama occurred by the mainstream media on the day following the debate. Just like there was no mainstream media coverage or criticism of Barack Obama when he made reference to the visiting 54 our of the 57 states in our country.

Secondly, I think that it obvious that, if a family doesn't want you to use their son's name in your campaign, you should abide by their wishes. However, it has always been about "image" with Barack's campaign. The needs and wishes of the family aren't as important to Mr. Barack Obama than for him to try and project an image that he cares about our soldiers. To me, true caring is being able to instantly recall Ryan's name at any moment's notice! Again, the fact that Obama has been asked to stop referencing Ryan is not being covered by the mainstream media.