AS the United States wound down its activities after about 9 years of bruising war in the middle-eastern country of Iraq, US military servicemen based at the illustrious Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on Wednesday were treated to a rousing welcome by President Barack Obama.
In what appears to be the latest in a series of carefully orchestrated events to mark the end of the war in Iraq, the president showered his soldiers with praise, thanking them repeatedly and saying they have every reason to be proud of a job well done in a war he had himself described as a “dumb war” back when he was a junior senator representing the US state of Illinois.
“As your commander in chief, and on behalf of a grateful nation, I’m proud to finally say these two words,” the president said, before solemnly adding “welcome home”.
At times somber, at times ebullient, the president tried to project an understanding of what the people, who have seen their family members go off to fight a war that most Americans came to oppose, have been through.
“There have been missed birthday parties and graduations,” Mr. Obama said. “There are bills to pay and jobs that have to be juggled with picking up the kids. For every soldier that goes on patrol, there are the husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters praying that they come back.”
Mr. Obama made the trip to Fort Bragg, his first since taking office, as both the commander in chief who has brought soldiers home and as a presidential candidate. He brought along his wife, Michelle, who has been working with veterans’ families since Mr. Obama took office. At times, the visit seemed like a campaign swing.
While he eschewed any of the usual criticism of Republicans and never even mentioned the names of either of the front-runners in the Republican primaries, Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama spent a long 20 minutes after his speech pressing the flesh. He plunged deep into the crowd of army fatigues and burgundy berets — signifying active-duty service members — seeming determined to shake hands with each and everyone there.
Mr. Obama’s campaign advisers see North Carolina, a traditionally red state that Mr. Obama unexpectedly won in 2008, as a potential key to the president’s re-election path.But Fort Bragg and neighboring Fayetteville, with its large African-American population full of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, will need to join urban areas like Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham in turning out for Mr. Obama if the president is to have a chance of repeating that unlikely victory next year.
On Tuesday, Jim Messina, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, presented reporters with a slide show mapping out several Obama pathways to victory next year. One crucial path, he said, included winning North Carolina and Virginia — both states that John Kerry lost in 2004, but that Mr. Obama won in 2008. Already, the Obama campaign has opened up operations in North Carolina, and it is banking on the state’s changed demographics, including an influx of young, college-educated people. The Obama campaign is also hoping for high turnout among African-Americans, who make up 22 percent of the state’s population and 41 percent of Fayetteville’s population.
Charlotte will host the Democratic National Convention next September. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney has already taken out television advertisements here in North Carolina, including one that ran this week, targeting Mr. Obama’s handling of the economy.
Mr. Obama has been working hard to get credit for ending the Iraq war, a promise that was a centerpiece of his 2008 campaign. But it remains to be seen whether his successful completion of his promise to end the war will have much resonance next year, as the country continues to struggle through the fragile economic recovery.
Fort Bragg is home to a variety of troops, including the Army Special Operations, the 18th Airborne Corps and the 82nd Airborne Division. Fort Bragg soldiers have been in the thick of the fighting in the Iraqi theater from Day 1 of the American invasion in 2003.
“For all of the challenges that our nation faces, you remind us that there’s nothing that we Americans can’t do when we stick together,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s why the United States military is the most respected institution in our land. It’s why you, the 9/11 generation, have earned your place in history.”
He concluded with “I am proud of you.”
Additional reports from Reuters.