Mount Pleasant colonel mingles with Obama

Life around Camp Ramadi in Iraq can grow tedious, as soldiers provide security escorts in 120-degree heat of the Sunni Triangle, but Air Force Col. Robert Burton of Mount Pleasant said the routine was shaken up a bit Tuesday.

Burton was one of several military officials who got to meet and greet Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as he stopped by the camp on his Middle East tour. He also met Obama's colleagues Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

"I was very impressed," Burton said in a telephone interview after the group left. "They were all sharp and very knowledgeable and they all understood military experience very well. ... It was a very cool thing to meet these guys."

Burton, who ran as a Democrat for S.C. Adjutant General in 1998, said he found Obama personable and bright and also said that criticism of Obama's lack of foreign policy experience —and his failure to support the recent surge in Iraq — misses a point.

"He's a smart enough man that he'll surround himself with people who know things that he doesn't," Burton said. "(Republican presidential nominee John) McCain is a bright guy, too. I'm confident that both of these men would represent us well."

Read more in tomorrow's Post and Courier.