Great Story: My solemn meeting on Veterans Day with President Obama at my friend’s resting place in Arlington

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.

I had stopped at Arlington to see the resting place of Ken Taylor, Ed Lenard and Dave Sharrett. Ken and Ed survived their service, in World War II and Korea, and died as old men. Dave did not leave Iraq alive. He was 27.

Obama arrived just before noon at the serene Section 60, where many of the dead from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried together - and where many more heroes will undoubtedly be laid to rest before this President leaves office.

It’s a section typically bustling with those visiting loved ones. Every time I go there, more and more graves have been dug into the earth.

This is a great story of a journalist who happened to come across our President while visiting Section 60 at Arlington. Section 60 is where our fallen troops from Iraq/Afghan are laid to rest. This was an unscheduled visit for Obama who wanted to see the sacred ground for himself. This just proves to me even further than that Obama might not be getting as much done as I’d like in Washington but he’s got a deep heart.