Obama at Arlington

The President marked Veteran's Day with a speech at Arlington, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then a surprise stop. In what Arlington confirms was the first ever for a president on Veteran's Day, the President and the First Lady got out of the armored limo and strolled through Section 60 - the final resting place for many veteran's of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.





New York Daily News journalist James Gordon Meek was there, visiting the graves of friends, when the President walked up to him. The entire story is worth reading, but following is an excerpt:

He didn't introduce himself. He didn't have to.

President Obama simply stuck out his hand and asked for my name as he stepped toward me amid a bone-chilling drizzle in the Gardens of Stone.

This was Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. I wasn't there as a reporter, but to visit some friends and family buried there when Obama made an unscheduled stop - a rare presidential walk among what Lincoln called America's "honored dead" - after laying a Veterans Day wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

What I got was an unexpected look into the eyes of a man who intertwined his roles as commander in chief and consoler in chief on a solemn day filled with remembrance and respect for sacrifices made - and sacrifices yet to be made.

I'm sure the cynics will assume this wasjust anotherObama photoop.

If they'd been standing in my boots looking him in the eye, they would have surely choked on their bile.

His presence in Section 60 convinced me that he now carries the heavy burden of command.