Like McCain (among many others) said, the F-22 is a symbol...

Obama would have been more comfortable with a Sukhoi Su-35 or the Jian-10 behind him. What nonsense. How did we end up with this poseur to be President?

This makes no sense. Unless there's more to this story, I can think of only two explanations: either they feared some would interpret the F-22 in the background as inconsistent with the decision to produce the lower number, or they thought it would be a provocative message to near peers. Both rationales are without merit though given the massive problems with this administration's amateurish PR shop, pretty believable.

Someone wanted the F-22 in the background to embarrass Obama, and someone else sent a heads up to the white house about this.

The aids would not have thought about this unless someone at Elmendorf explicitly told them that they were planning for an F-22 in the background.

I seriously wonder whether such posturing matters, but I wouldnt be suprised if it actually does.

I fought in Iraq on the ground and I too saw no reason to spend lavish amounts on fighters when the troops on the ground needed updated equipment. F-22 spending is one reason why troops went into war w/out body armor. As for the quote: "It's one thing to be against further production; quite another to slight the folks who are flying them in the operational world," the F-22 has yet to fly a mission in combat so this is a bit over the top. P.S. I'm a registered Republican so my comments have nothing to do with the politics involved.

I am Democrat (actually I am not but on a blog you can say any ridiculous thing you want), OK I am a Whig who thinks the F-22 will pay off in the future. Considering the Russians and the Chinese are building fifth generaton fighters for deployment before the next decade is over. Despite all of the bowing and reset buttons pushed we still have enemies. The Russians are upgrading their ICBMs and the Chinese are developing sophisticated anti-shipping missiles designed to take out aircraft carriers. Who do the Russians and the Chinese intend to use these weapons on, Luxembourg? The F-22 was in the pipeline since the late 1980s. The Army had enough time to request money to uparmor hummers and request body armour in time for the first Gulf War much less Iraq and Afghanistan and did not. Thats a failure of leadership and vision not defense spending priorities & not the F-22 program's fault. We are spenging more on useless and unnecessary wind farms then the Army is spending on body armour this year.

The margin was not large and some votes received were questionable.

In a related story the F22 demanded that obama be removed from its picture

In a related story the F22 demanded that obama be removed from its picture

Obama doesn't like the military; doesn't like the culture; thinks 'victory' is too reminescient of 'Hirohito; signing a declaration of surrend to MacArthur; he has virtually nobody around who has either served or has ever even had a job in the private sector.

Let's not pretend that G.W.Bush was some kind of military genius but at least the guy was committed to winning once we decided to fight. And the whole nonsense about body armor is a Pentagon bureucracy issue (along with the lowered funding throughout the 90s from you-know-who). Bush went to war with the resources he had. No President gets to wait around until things are prefect and only THEN decide to fight. Obama appears to be of the Colin Powell school - only fight when there is no chance of any kind that you can lose. Yeah - let's all pretend that is a real world anybody can live in.

Obama wants to cut as much $$$ from the military because he is spending it all on loads of other crap which is unexplainable to voters. And to keep the deficits from going even further into the 10-digit ranges he wants to take a few hundred billion here and there from the military. Clinton did the same thing. Carter did too. Funny, huh? And in each case those idiots left us with a major military/national security crisis but a military which was ill-equipped to immediate respond.

Obama needs to defending. Let him and his teleprompter make the case themselves. There is no need for anybody else to spin what he 'means'. Let the English language be the definition for what he says and we can judge him on that.

Who does this dimwit president think is manning the F-22's? Does he not know how proud they are to be flying the premier fighter in the world? This hollow man has never been part of a team and does not understand team spirit. As for the block head above who claims to be a Republican, BS. If you had ever been a pilot you would understand that if you defend yourself properly, you will never have to use your weapon. You only need the best when the worst is here. Another dimwit above said that the F-22 was the cause of the Army not having the proper equipment to go to war. Guess who destroyed the military when he was president? That's right Willie stainboy. The only budget cutting he did was in the military budget. The second thing is that each service has it's own budget so anything the Army did had no effect on the Air Force.

Frankly its all the same to me. I wouldn't have been concerned with having it in the background myself but that's another matter. As a note to the world, this isn't that strange. You know all those photos of presidents and prime ministers at bases with soldiers, or with certain hair colors, or with their jacket slung across an arm? Those are all staged. Same thing goes for most of the ones of them playing sports. The art of image manipulation is ancient, you would think people would realize it's pointless to even pay attention to it.

guess the F-22 didn't make the guest list. Another Obama amateurism..

Has America been infiltrated all the way to the highest levels of it's Government??? In this politically correct society, political correctness generates the silence that allows the Conniver to practice his/her art, void of confrontation!!! It empowers the liar and silences the honest voices of reason, anything but the truth, better known as "Hate speech" is validated!!! Obama wasn't profiled when he was nominated to be President because of his color, it wouldn't have been politically correct, maybe it is time to check his profile and find out just who he is and where he came from!!!! He seems to be a "Man of the WORLD" to me, observing his actions of bowing and holding secret sessions of meetings with regimes who have declared America their enemy!!! It's all starting to look like Obama could possibly be someones mole, but then again I don't know, I'm just trying to put this jigsaw puzzle of Obama together!!! I remember reading a STRONG WARNING of a man like that rising to power from out of obscurity!!!! HOPE THOSE SOLDIERS ENJOYED BEING OBAMAS......."PHOTO OP", HOPE THEY DIDN'T PUKE AFTERWARD!!!!!!!!

He did say he was going to change the way things were done. We were listening but not hearing.

Obama really is an imposter. He is just a figurehead and was bought and paid for by George Soros. If you could look into his teleprompter, you would see the image of Soros.

I spent six years in the Vietnam war trying to help save the the people of South Vietnam from what we now have. Really sad.

To me it seems that Lenin, Stalin and the rest finally have their way.

If the administration, including the Defense Secretary, made the decision that the program was too costly or ineffective, then so be it. It's a practical decision based on budget and objectives. That's their job.

But this refusal to have a photograph taken with the F-22 seems more emotional than pragmatic. That's a vibe I get more and more from this President. Policy decisions that would simply be pragmatic to any other official become emotional dramas. President Obama is far too interested in publicity and how he appears and needs to get over it.

Lets see, they are saying that the F-15 entered the service the same time BO graduated from college. If he was born in 1961. The F-15 entered service in 1974. So he graduated from college at 13. Is there anything they won’t say.

Jim's right. More specifically, the F-15A (and two-seat 'B) were produced during 1972 - 79, but have all since been retired from service. The improved F-15C (and two-seat 'D) were produced during 1979 - 85.

As (from my "Columbia Today" alumni journal) President Obama graduated from Columbia College in its Class of 1983, one of those 'C or 'D birds would be the one in his "photo op."

I agree with drlake777 that we shouldn't "assume Obama knew anything about this. The story indicates it was White House aides demanding this change, . . ." It's the job of the President's staff to keep him out of trouble and away from embarrassments -- such as being photographed anywhere near an F-22, which he had called "an inexcusable waste of money" when vowing to veto any military spending bill that would continue its production.

Unfortunately he had "drunk the Kool-Aid" proferred by SecDef Gates, who had orchestrated a "perfect storm" of misrepresentations and political manipulation -- aided and abetted by key national newspapers -- that indeed resulted in the "completion" of the F-22's production program at 187 aircraft (now 186 after last January's crash during a Lockheed test flight).

As for bdl2010's oft-repeated accusation that "the F-22 has yet to fly a mission in combat," that's because it hasn't been needed . . . yet. By the time it became operational (in 2005), our existing air forces had established total air dominance over both Afghanistan and Iraq; it would have been foolish to risk such a capable but costly aircraft just to "to show off."

For those who have not been privy to the F-22's steady achievement of its many key performance parameters (it's on track to meet all 13 KPPs by mid-2010), it is by far the greatest combination interceptor, interdictor and (if necessary) dog-fighter the world has ever seen, and has a lifetime of further upgrades ahead of it. It is the world's first SUPERSONIC stealth aircraft, and can fly as fast WITHOUT afterburners as I could fly my 1960s-vintage F-101B/F interceptor with both A/Bs at max power (which not only left a big heat plume, but would run me out of gas in 15 - 20 minutes).

The F-22's proven "near-invisible supercruise," plus advanced avionics and "mini-AWACS" command-and-control capabilities, buys time and safety against ever-modernizing SAM threats being deployed by potential enemies -- while providing safety for our "legacy" fighters as well as (yes!) the follow-on F-35 (which will have stealth and advanced avionics, but no more than 2/3 the speed-and-altitude performance envelope of the F-22).

The members of the two F-22 squadrons at Elmendorf may feel personally insulted by the White House aides' banishment of their prize aircraft, but the real scandal depends on what future threats we face . . . which may well transcend the IEDs and guerrilla ambushes that challenge our ground forces today. If I may quote our President from another situation, those who engineered the cancellation of F-22 production at fewer than half our Air Force's REAL requirement -- 381, for several years now -- "acted stupidly." One may only hope that the ultimate results don't cost more than we can bear.

JMyer (Columbia '56; USAF '83)

I agree with many of the comments already posted. I too am a Veteran of the USAF. I was an engine mechanic on C-130s. I appreciate the technology that we, in this country have worked so hard to develop and perfect to be able to produce such a machine as the F-22.

I feel this was yet another display of Obama's desire to control. Another reader had commented that the POTUS may have known nothing about it, and that HIS White House staff may have acted of their own free will. Come on! You can't be serious. You don't maintain control as President by not knowing what your staff is doing, he probably personally insisted on the change.

The F-22 is an *amazing machine! I agreed with another reader who said that this display, by the men/women of Elmendorf was to showcase an unparalleled fighter plane, taking pride in their work as a backdrop to the President's speaking post. I'm appalled that the plane was replaced. I guess I'm surprised te POTUS didn't request a Cadillac Escalade brought in along with a special appearance by Kanye West.

I'm some cases Mr. President, just stay out of it.

Here is an additional perspective of President Obama’s insult to the F-22 operators at Elmendorf AFB. One of the F-22 units at Elmendorf is the 302nd FS (Fighter Squadron). The 302nd FS was constituted 4 July 1942 and activated on 13 October 1942 as one of the Tuskegee Airmen’s units. From 17 February 1944 through 20 February 1945, they saw combat in Mediterranean Theater of Operations and European Theater of Operations flying P-39, P-40, P-47 and P-51 aircraft.

The 302nd FS was inactivated on 6 March 1945 and 41 years later, on 1 July 1987 was re-activated and assigned to the 944th FW (Fighter Wing) at Luke AFB, AZ. For almost twenty years they flew F-16s. During that period, the 944th FW established a strong relationship with a group of the surviving Tuskegee men and routinely invited them to its more significant ceremonies. Several of the Tuskegee men consistently honored the 944th FW with their presence. On a few occasions, the 302nd Commander’s aircraft was painted with the “Red Tail” markings the Tuskegee men flew in combat. The last such event was 12 February 2007 when the 944th FW launched its last three F-16s for the flights to their new homes.

The patriotism, leadership, and courage of the Tuskegee men certainly deserve the utmost respect, and the 944th FW always did its best towards that end. After BRAC reassigned the 944th FW’s aircraft, the 302nd FS was reassigned to the 477th Fighter Group at Elmendorf and stood up in October 2007.

It is extremely unfortunate the opportunity to recognize the heritage of the Tuskegee Airmen was missed at Elmendorf.

I can see by the comments that there are a bunch of idiotic Kool-Aid drinkers who still think the usurper POTUS has any love for the USA and desires to make this anything other than the communist utopia he and his cronies would welcome with open arms. Watch out fools, we are coming for you. We outnumber you and more and more people everyday are learning just what liars and thieves you leftists are. You will be defeated, you will be caught trying to steal the elections and we are going to insist that you sit in jail where you will be converted to islamic mush heads and easy prey.

Ron

my husband helped set up for the president on this speech. this story is completely bogus. the 22s were moved out of the room because after a further inspection, they a couple of minor details that held the jets back from being at a level high enough for the commander in chief to walk by. the 15s were so they were moved in. maybe the writer should have checked the facts before writing an article based on speculation