Vacationing in Hawaii, President-elect Barack Obama dropped in on the Kaneche Bay U.S. Marine base to say hello last night, and the reception he received from the Leathernecks was… cool. ABC’s Jake Tapper reported:

As Obama entered the room, it was absent of the regular fanfare of cheering and clapping. The diners were polite, staying seated at their respective tables and waited for the president-elect to come to them to stand up.

The obvious contrast in the responses which President Bush and the president-elect evoke from military personnel should be obvious, but if Obama’s supporters need a clue, milblog Blackfive was more than willing to provide one:

It should surprise no one familiar with the military that Obama got a respectful but unenthusiastic response when he dropped in at a meal. W catches rock star greetings, but when you have spent your political career trying to lose a war these folks were busy fighting…..well you get “Yes sir Mr. Obama Sir, can I get back to chow now?”

Rather than sitting down and eating with the troops or even working the chow line to serve them, as Bush has done, Obama, according to Tapper, dined at his beach house that night. Perhaps that was for the best after all, as Blackfive observed:

Well he certainly wasn’t among friends at the chow hall.

Oh, Bam! Uh…

– JP