Following a family trip to the Grand Canyon (see video here), Obama will address the convention tomorrow at 2 pm eastern.
President Barack Obama has accepted an invitation to speak Monday at the 110th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. The annual convention of America’s oldest major veterans’ organization starts Saturday in the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz.The rightwing Americans for Prosperity will be there to protest. They're hoping for thousands of protesters. Of course they are.
“It is a time-honored tradition for the commander-in-chief of our nation’s armed forces to address the national convention of America’s largest organization of combat veterans, which celebrates its 110th anniversary next month,” said VFW National Commander Glen M. Gardner Jr., a Vietnam veteran from Round Rock, Texas.
“We are grateful to President Obama for taking the time to speak to us on issues that are vitally important to our nation’s veterans, her military and their families.”
Almost 13,000 VFW and Ladies Auxiliary delegates will represent the 2.1 million-member organization at the weeklong convention. Their mission will be to approve new national priorities to guide the organization’s advocacy efforts in Congress on behalf of the nation’s 23.5 million veterans, 2.2 million servicemembers and their families. Advocacy issues include military and veterans’ healthcare, benefits, and Quality of Life programs, as well as military readiness and national and homeland security. VFW
A group called "Americans for Prosperity" is organizing a healthcare reform protest outside the Phoenix Convention Center Monday. President Obama will be speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars there.
Tom Jenny, the director of "Americans for Prosperity," is scared the entire country will get stuck in a government run healthcare system.
"The greatest fear we have is that a public option will squeeze out private alternatives," Jenny said to KTAR. "And that everyone in America will get stuck in a government run system where the government bureaucrats decide who's covered and who's not."
He says the protests will start around 7 a.m. and he hopes for a large turnout. KTAR
