Michelle Obama visits NM military spouses - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Michelle Obama visits NM military spouses

SANTA FE, N.M. — Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, met with wives of servicemen who have served in Iraq at a campaign appearance Thursday.

During the event, a former head of the New Mexico National Guard lashed out Thursday at Republican presidential candidate John McCain for his support of the Iraq war and suggested McCain’s policies stemmed from a “lack of adequate psychological care” after his service in Vietnam.

However, Barack Obama’s campaign distanced itself from comments by retired Air Force Gen. Melvyn Montano, who drew cheers and applause.

Montano appeared on stage with Michelle Obama at the event. Montano recalled a statement by McCain that there could be a U.S. troop presence in Iraq for 100 years.

“I don’t understand his position. I can attribute it probably to some of the things we’ve talked about here — lack of adequate psychological care,” said Montano, who then grinned and chuckled as the crowd roared.

Michelle Obama made no response on stage after Montano’s statement.

Later, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton later issued a statement: “Barack and Michelle Obama have repeatedly honored John McCain’s service and strongly disagree with these views.”

McCain was a Navy pilot and spent nearly six years as a Vietnam prisoner of war after he was shot down.

Michelle Obama also attended a voter registration rally at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she called on New Mexico women — and men — to get out the vote for her husband.

The crowd stood for two hours before hearing Michelle Obama speak. The campaign is kicking off a statewide effort to register 30,000 new voters in 30 days in a state that Michelle Obama said is critical to her husband’s race.

Michelle Obama said her husband will create a government in Washington that understands women’s struggles to have a career, take care of children, afford health care and day care, and look good to boot.

Montano’s remarks were prompted by McCain speculating that there ultimately could be a non-combat U.S. troop presence in Iraq similar to that in South Korea, potentially lasting for many years.

McCain contends Democrats have distorted his “100 years” remark and that he was referring to a possible peacekeeping force — not a decades-long war.

The McCain campaign issued a statement by Col. Barry Howard, state chairman of Vets for McCain, who said Montano’s “remarks were unbecoming of an officer, out of line and disrespectful to a fellow officer who has sacrificed so much for his country.”

Montano, who served in Vietnam and was adjutant general of the New Mexico National Guard from 1994 to 1999, described the fighting in Iraq as “pure carnage.”

“The war is over. We did achieve victory. What we have now is occupation,” Montano said. “We have achieved victory. And it’s not a football game. You don’t have to win ... at all costs. There are lives at stake and it’s pure carnage.”

His comments were the sharpest criticism of McCain during Michelle Obama’s campaign stop in Santa Fe, a liberal community with an active anti-war movement.

Michelle Obama held a round-table discussion with five women whose spouses had been deployed overseas. She pledged that her husband, if elected, would improve services for military families, including mental health treatment for those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Natasha Padilla said her husband, a police officer in Las Vegas, N.M., struggled to adjust after returning from Iraq with the National Guard.

“You’re lying in bed across from the person you love but it’s not him,” she said, crying.

Padilla recommended mandatory psychological evaluations for returning veterans.

Michelle Obama said the difficulties Padilla and others faced were “part of the cost of the war” and she suggested many Americans were unaware of the problems confronting military families.

“I would bet you that the vast majority of the families out there who are not part of the military have no idea of what you all are going through, but would be sympathetic ... if they knew,” she said.