My solemn meeting on Veterans Day with President Obama at my friend's
resting place in Arlington
BY James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Thursday, November 12th 2009, 4:00 AM

ARLINGTON, Va. - He didn't introduce himself. He didn't have to.

President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he
stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of
Stone.

This was Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn't there as
a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when
Obama made an unscheduled stop - a rare presidential walk among what
Lincoln called America's "honored dead" - after laying a Veterans Day
wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who
intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a
solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made -
and sacrifices yet to be made.

I'm sure the cynics will assume this wasjust anotherObama photoop.

If they'd been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would
have surely choked on their bile.

His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy
burden of command.

I had stopped at Arlington to see the resting place of Ken Taylor, Ed
Lenard and Dave Sharrett. Ken and Ed survived their service, in World
War II and Korea, and died as old men. Dave did not leave Iraq alive.
He was 27.

Obama arrived just before noon at the serene Section 60, where many of
the dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried together - and where
many more heroes will undoubtedly be laid to rest before this
President leaves office.

It's a section typically bustling with those visiting loved ones.
Every time I go there, more and more graves have been dug into the
earth.

The President and First Lady Michelle Obama emerged from their armored
limousine hatless in the frigid downpour and took a slow stroll into
the soggy rows of white marble headstones.

They stopped first at the grave of Medal of Honor recipient Ross
McGinnis, an Army private who threw himself on a grenade in Iraq three
years ago to save four buddies.

A sad-faced woman reached for Obama's hand and pointed him to a nearby
plot.

The face of another woman - who had grimly sat in a folding chair for
hours next to a headstone she'd arranged flowers around - suddenly
broadened into a smile as she stood to embrace Obama and thank him for
paying his respects.

She was so overcome with emotion that a soldier from the Army's Old
Guard had to console her afterward.

The President patted backs of adozen other Gold Star relativesand
troops visiting buddiesnow in the ground.

He gave hugs. He shook wet, chilly hands. He wanted to know something
about each fallen warrior.

He began to slowly trudge back toward the motorcade - and to another
White House huddle with his war council, which is advising him whether
to send up to 40,000 additional troops into harm's way in Afghanistan.
And then Obama noticed a tall, bearded figure. He probably didn't see
the mud-caked combat boots I trudged around Afghanistan in a few years
ago.

"What's your name?" a somber President asked as he extended his hand.

"James Meek, sir," I replied, struggling to pull off my wool glove and
pull my hood back from my head. "I'm here visiting a friend, Pfc.
David H. Sharrett II, who was killed in Iraq last year."

He asked how I knew Dave. I explained that his father, also named
David, was my high school English teacher in nearby McLean, Va. My
classmates and I knew Dave as a little boy playing at our feet.

"He became a star football player and was one of the toughest soldiers
in the 101st Airborne Division," I told Obama.

I didn't tell the commander in chief that Dave was killed by friendly
fire. Or that the Army bungled notifying Dave's parents of a probe
that concluded his lieutenant tragically mistook him for a terrorist
in the dark and shot him. Or that his family had to fight for
accountability - which two battlefield commanders promised but
stateside generals derailed.

That wouldn't have been appropriate, Dave's deeply grateful father
later agreed.

"Well, we appreciate his service very much," Obama told me.

I then told him I'm a reporter for the Daily News - but was just there
to visit friends.

"Well, James," he said, looking me in the eye, "just because you're a
journalist doesn't mean you can't honor your friends here."

The First Lady smiled and squeezed my hand. I thanked her for coming
to Section 60.

Her face opened up into a smile filled with warmth and comfort, a
welcome antidote for the weather and sadness around her. She said
there was no finer place to be on Veterans Day.

Ironically, I was ready to leave the cemetery an hour earlier, but it
went into lockdown because of Obama's visit.

"Sorry for any inconvenience," a terribly polite Secret Service agent
whispered in my ear.

As the Obamas ended their pilgrimage through Arlington's hallowed
ground, inconvenience was hardly what I felt standing there as the
rain pelted my coat, staring at blades of grass around a headstone
etched with a name and a date I will never forget.

And, you're point is what?

"TopBassDog" wrote in message
...



And, you're point is what?


Obama is a bad man of course...

--
Nom=de=Plume

nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message
...



And, you're point is what?


Obama is a bad man of course...


He's a politician. GWB would have done the same.

Rob

"Rob" wrote in message
...
nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message
...



And, you're point is what?


Obama is a bad man of course...


He's a politician. GWB would have done the same.

Rob


Thus he was a great president.

--
Nom=de=Plume

nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message
...
nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message
...



And, you're point is what?


Obama is a bad man of course...


He's a politician. GWB would have done the same.

Rob


Thus he was a great president.


GWB?

Rob

"Rob" wrote in message
...
nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message
...
nom=de=plume wrote:
wrote in message
...



And, you're point is what?


Obama is a bad man of course...


He's a politician. GWB would have done the same.

Rob


Thus he was a great president.


GWB?

Rob


Of course. He was a war hero, Iraq was a war of necessity, and he was
fiscally conservative, not to mention expanding programs to help those who
are less off. A real humanitarian. And, his VP. Can't say too much about his
high ethical standards.

--
Nom=de=Plume