What! Obama doesn't want to be photographed with the premiere fighter of the United States and the world, well Mr. President if the F-22 could talk I doubt it would want to be in the same picture with our sorry ass. While you are busy cutting funding for the F-22 and other military programs you are giving out money right and left to foreign governments, many which are not our friends, and at the same time passing out tax-payer dollars to such groups as ACORN and propping up big labor with billions of dollars. Have you no shame sir, or do you just want a weak America, and does this somehow fit into a hidden agenda which we are unaware of. Something is wrong here with a White House that is this sensitive. You will not stand before the F-22, but will go before the Cadets at West Point which many of your liberal friends call the enemy camp. Maybe you should have stayed away from that photo opt also, as it was certainly a failure judging by the cadets in the audience. Some Commander-in-Chief you are! Photos with the likes of Hugo Chavez, but none with the F-22. Give me a damn break!!!When President Obama spoke to troops at Alaska's Elmendorf Air Force Base last month, the unit there parked a shiny new F-22 fighter plane in the hangar. But according to multiple sources, White House aides demanded the plane be changed to an older F-15 fighter because they didn't want Obama speaking in front of the F-22, a controversial program he fought hard to end.
"White House aides actually made them remove the F-22-said they would not allow POTUS to be pictured with the F-22 in any way, shape, or form," one source close to the unit relayed.
Stephen Lee, a public affairs officer at Elmendorf, confirmed to The Cable that the F-22 was parked in the hanger and then was replaced by an F-15 at the White House's behest.
The airmen there took offense to the Obama aides' demand, sources told The Cable, seeing it as a slight to the folks who are operating the F-22 proudly every day. They also expressed bewilderment that the White House staff would even care so much as to make an issue out of the fact that the F-22 was placed in the hanger with the president.
A White House official, commenting on background basis, told The Cable that yes, there were discussions about which plane or planes would be in the hanger, but that they were not meant as an insult to the pilots and other personnel who work on the F-22. The official couldn't elaborate on why the White House aides felt it necessary to get involved in the matter in the first place.
The official pointed to Obama's speech to the troops that day, where he praised both the 90th Fighter Squadron, known as the "Dicemen," and the 525th Fighter Squadron, the "Bulldogs," both of which operate the F-22.
Even so, the Air Force personnel thought it odd the White House wanted to display the older plane rather than the more advanced plane that, in the eyes of its supporters, represents the latest and greatest in American aviation. read more from FOX
