68% of vets: Bergdahl swap was wrong choice

The USAToday published the results of their USA TODAY/Pew Research Center poll and it looks like veterans aren’t in the president’s corner on this one;

Thirty percent of those surveyed have a strong opinion of Bergdahl, whose decision to leave his post in 2009 and subsequent capture by the Taliban is under investigation by the Army. Half of respondents say they were sympathetic, and half say they are angry with Bergdahl.

The 128 veterans included in the poll are much more harsh in their assessment of the 28-year-old sergeant. Only 6% of veterans who responded say they sympathized with him, while 33% say they were angry. By 68%-16%, veterans say Obama made the wrong decision.

“If he was a captured prisoner of war, we wouldn’t be having this discussion,” says Joe Davis, the director of public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “He put his teammates in jeopardy, and you absolutely don’t do that in a combat zone.”

Well, there were only 128 veterans included in the sampling, so it’s probably not scientific enough for the wonks in the White House, but, I know from conversations that I’ve had in recent days that 68% is probably a little low. 100% of people I’ve talked to disagree with the decision to swap Bergdahl for five high value Taliban commanders and leaders. I’ll add the caveat that none of the people I talked to had a better idea to recover the young buck, including myself, but we all agree that the way it happened was the wrong way.

Apparently, some Democrats are abandoning the President for the same reason, if you can believe the National Journal;

The email hit my in-box at 9:41 p.m. last Wednesday. From one of the most powerful Democrats in Washington, a close adviser to the White House, the missive amounted to an electronic eye roll. “Even I have had enough.”

Another Democrat had quit on President Obama.

The tipping point for this person was the Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl case—not the soldier-for-Taliban swap itself as much as how the White House mishandled its obligation to communicate effectively and honestly to Congress and the public. More than that, Obama’s team had failed once again to acknowledge its mistakes, preferring to cast blame and seek cover behind talking points.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not me calling for impeachment or anything. Impeachment is boob bait for the bubbas, to borrow from Daniel Patrick Moynihan. It will never happen. But given that this is a long list of failures from this administration – especially in the realm of foreign policy and national security – stuff that’s important to veterans, it should get veterans back into the Conservative fold.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Veterans Issues