I saw part of President Obama's speech at Camp LeJeune, and I

[old mark]

wonder if anyone here knows what the reactions were like among the Marines he addressed. I hear all sorts of stuff about RW propaganda aimed at military people, and I am wondering what they actually thought of the CIC.

mark
(SP-4 1/504 PIR - long, long ago....)

[zbdent]

1. what I saw could be called "polite applause" ...

of course, when you remember that all the armed forces really get is Rush on the radio, they're probably programmed to think that Obama's "retreating" ... and "surrendering" ...

[Crowman1979]

5. No, they actually played music most of the time on the Radio when I was in Iraq.

Nobody wanted to hear some fat-ass yaping all the time. And when there wasn't any music, that's when either the CDs or an mp3 came in handy.

Ironically the song I heard quite a lot on Armed Forces radio was B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down. Here is what that sounded like, definitely not RW propaganda:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Az7JPZ6ZA

[lisa58]

2. It seemed polite at first but I thought it ended enthusiastically

[old mark]

3. I hope so - it seemed many in the crowd were agreeing with him,

and were happy to have him there.
I'm hoping that is true, not just my read of it.
mark

[Meldread]

4. I saw the whole thing from beginning to end.

I've also seen other similar speeches given before military audiences.

Generally, there is very little clapping - I remember during one Bush speech there was no clapping at all. Just dead silence throughout from beginning to end.

However, during Obama's speech there were periods of polite clapping. And at certain points things were more boisterous and jovial for a military setting, especially when Obama talked about increased pay for members of the Military. That caused Obama to chuckle, smile and crack a joke.

The feeling from the audience was that they were in rapt attention taking in every word from Obama. After it ended, everyone pulled out their camera phones and started taking pictures of him leaving the stage. He then walked into the crowd and began shaking hands. Some individuals gave him hugs. At that point it looked somewhat like your typical political rally right as he is getting ready to leave.

The crowd seemed excited and proud. One individual who I saw interviewed later talked about how proud he was that Obama came to Camp LeJeune to give his speech in person. He spoke to Obama briefly after the speech, and the reporter asked what he had said. He said that he had simply thanked Obama for coming in person.

The crowd applauded at certain key moments in the speech: They were animated in the beginning as Obama mentioned the Marines, Camp LeJeune and Jacksonville. They clapped when he said the war was coming to an end. They clapped and cheered when he mentioned more pay. They clapped when he talked about training for spouses, and for better veteran's benefits. During many other points in the speech they also clapped - I'd give the reaction a 7 out of 10 in terms of reaction.

As I said in the beginning, there are times when audiences are told not to applaud or anything like that. The Bush speech was an example of such a time. I'd generally give a 10 out of 10 when the audience is told to be silent, but they cheer and clap anyway in violation of their orders.

My overall assessment: It was respectfully subdued throughout the speech, with key moments of genuine jovial applause. The mood was one of pride and subdued excitement throughout.