Last night, our Commander in Chief delivered his address to the nation, on our new strategy on Afghanistan. I will not delve into the details of it, nor what I personally think of it at this moment. I just noticed the peculiar silence coming from his captive live audience.
As the German publication Der Spiegel reports:
Maybe the academic rigors, had the corps of cadets focused on their immediate studies?
Or could it just be that Obama was just plain boring?
Boq
As the German publication Der Spiegel reports:
Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool.
Maybe the academic rigors, had the corps of cadets focused on their immediate studies?
Or could it just be that Obama was just plain boring?
Boq
Nice to see that Combat Infantry Badge on the "Kill Bin Laden" reader. As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.
They did it to Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush, too. I'm guessing they did it to both Roosevelts, Harding, Coolidge, and Harrison, if they ever spoke to them in an auditorium, vice in formation.
There's a reason Eisenhower Auditorium in the former Bell Hall at Fort Leavenworth was nick-named "Sleepy Hollow." Many a famous personage was napped through in that auditorium.
I was wondering if that poor cadet caught snoozing would be making the internet rounds.... Looks like he did. Keith and I busted a gut laughing when we saw that last night.
I commented to Keith that the lack of applause and enthusiasm was incredibly obvious, making me wonder if the cadets were told NOT to react to the speech until he was done.
Stephen went to the same schools in St Louis SWWBO did.
And then there's this connection to MMA, '47.
The content consisted of mentioning neither "victory" nor "enemy," but he *did* mention himself 44 times. And Gibbs proclaimed it "the most significant wartime policy speech in the history of the United States."
Okay, okay, I lied about Gibbs' statement -- he was asleep, too.
...the cadets had been sitting in the auditorium for 4 hours prior to the start of the speech.
That's pretty much Standard Operating Procedure, Miss L.
Length of time prior to the VIP's arrival depends on the rank of the commander: Majors have the troops in their seats 20 minutes prior, LTCs have them in their seats half an hour prior, COLs have them there 45 minutes prior, and GOs have 'em there fifty minutes prior. However, the longest pre-arrival time I ever had to be in place before a Presidential visit (former Pres Nixon twice, sitting Pres Bush I once, former Pres Clinton once, sitting Pres Bush II three times) was *one* hour.
We *did* have a two-hour wait for a visit from former Pres Jimmeh Cottuh, but he was a no-show, so it doesn't count.
Yes the report was that they were march in at 1600 hours with the speech scheduled for 2000 hours. So it brings to mind an early dinner or no dinner until after the speech. Ya think refreshments were passed out for the long wait.
Gore was there in '93? I graduated in '94 and don't remember that at all, so I guess he didn't make very much of an impression. I don't know if you remember SecDef William Perry's speech, but that brought eye-gouging brutality to new heights.