Kinfolk, skinfolk and bratty "Tit-for-Tat"

The Changeling's upcoming visit to Germany is not being called an "official state visit." Instead, he and the crew are billing it as a "search for some family history." Too funny! (Man, if looks could kill, he'd be a dead somebody!)

Some in the German media said, "Okay. We'll print that. But we're also going to say what we think is really going on - and it aint' pretty." On May 6, Spiegel Online International framed the visit this way - Obama to Trace Family History in Germany. It opens like this:

US President Barack Obama is coming to Germany again in June, but he won't be visiting Berlin. Instead, he is planning a more personal trip to Dresden and the concentration camp Buchenwald in search of his family history. There will be no photo op with Merkel in the Chancellery -- a deliberate move on Obama's part. (emphasis mine)

Guess he wants to shore up his facts about that great-uncle, Charles Payne, whose service he used on the campaign trail to bamboozle Jewish and veteran voters. You remember him don't you?

Poor Baby, even being President of the United States doesn't help get that which you truly seek now does it? It must really suck, or be really Machiavellian - or both - to have to piece together a "family" story for people to like and/or accept you.

In any event, "Mr. Charlie" (wonder if he's married to "Miss Ann?") obviously missed that memo. And I'm still not sure if he's gotten a copy based on what he said about his kinfolk's upcoming visit in this May 26 Spiegel Online article:

SPIEGEL: Mr. Payne, early in June your great-nephew, President Barack Obama, will visit the former concentration camp Buchenwald, which you helped liberate at the end of the war. Will he be travelling in your footsteps?

Charles Payne: I don't buy that. I was quite surprised when the whole thing came up and Barack talked about my war experiences in Nazi Germany. We had never talked about that before. This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons.(emphasis mine).

He was hardly the old, "uncle in the attic" about whom Obama so "unknowingly" spoke. During this interview, he was quite clear on who he is/has been to the Changeling - and who the Changeling is/has been to him. Quite interesting.

Spiegel mentions the whole search-for-family-history thing in this May 29 piece: Obama's Itinerary Irks German Government. But clearly, it's about the snub:

In Germany, Obama plans to skip the capital in Berlin and instead visit the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony. And even there, the German government has had little influence over his itinerary. The White House has so far blocked the wishes of the German government, which would like to see the president appear side-by-side with Merkel and local dignitaries and attract massive publicity during his stops in Dresden and Weimar...But Obama's advance team rejected the suggestions, SPIEGEL has learned.

If this is about her not wanting him with his faux-Doric columns all up on the Brandendburg Gate during his "Magical Mystery Tour" as "SENATOR, I'm-not-president-of-a-damn-thing-yet, Obama" last year, he's shallower, and more megalomaniacal than I thought. Either that or 2 years old! (Cinie, your "Magical Mystery Tour" description still cracks me up! Where's that post so I can link to it?)

This tour will be much more subdued. He even plans to visit soldiers and their families at bases in Ramstein and Landstuhl. Hmm-m-m, wonder how far those bases are from where André Shepherd, one of his skinfolk, awaits word on his petition for asylum - as I type - from----wait for it-----Ms. Merkel and her government! Talk about tit-for-tat!

You have to admit, it'd be just a little embarrassing for him to show up in Germany, snub Ms. Merkel in Berlin, then have Ms. Merkel grant asylum to this very outspoken brotha' who, in fighting the Army against serving in what he feels is an unjust and illegal war, sought assistance from a foreign government rather than his own - a first, in all the cases of this kind.

In Soldier Seeking Asylum: 'I Want to Be Able to Atone', it's obvious 32 year-old Shepard isn't expecting a visit from the Changeling and he talks about why:

Elsa Rassbach: Do you think President Obama is going to change any of this?

Shepherd: No. Obama has the backing of the international corporations. And the people who gave him the most money are the ones whose interests are going to be served first. And it's quite obvious. He won't go after the prior administration for the war crimes; he won't pull out of Iraq. He's leaving 50,000 soldiers to conduct combat missions in Iraq. That means the war is continuing. He wants to escalate the war in Afghanistan. He wants to keep pushing for AFRICOM, the U.S. command for Africa based in Stuttgart, and he's pushing for the missile shield to try to encircle Russia and Iran. These things show me that Barack Obama is not going to change anything. And Obama is only one guy. He still has to deal with the entire Congress, the court system, the Pentagon. The military has been around for over 220 some years, and they're not going to change overnight just because there's a new Commander-in-Chief. They're still arresting people who refuse to fight. They're still putting them in jail, giving them dishonorable discharges, and some are facing possible felony convictions. But Obama has yet to speak of the growing number of soldiers refusing to fight for him - well, first Bush, and now him. So I don't see President Obama granting anyone clemency until the entire "war on terror" is finished, and Afghanistan and Iraq are part of the same war. (emphasis mine - h/t to Joseph at Cannonfire for that right-on-time rendition!)

It's an interesting piece in which he also talks about why he went to the Germans instead of following his own U.S. chain-of-command, about not being able to expect any help from within the military. The case of Hawaiian-born, Lt. Ehren Watada who, just last month, won against the military for trying to pull the double-jeopardy thing comes to mind. He still, however, has two charges pending which the military, so far has refused to dismiss. Well beyond his discharge date due to the trials, he is being held in an administrative position, until they decide. He has been fighting from within since 2006.

Like Shepherd, Lt. Watada believes the war in Iraq is both unjust and illegal. They believe the previous administration should be held accountable for their lies and torturous behavior. Since the Changeling's foisted that huge defense budget on taxpayers to keep it, and the war in Afghanistan going, they're his wars now - and I don't think he wants to deal with any of that on this little stroke-me-some-more mini-tour.