How can Obama do anything “quietly”? Regardless, the gesture was admirable.

Imagine if the tables were turned, and John McCain had visited Walter Reed. His handlers would have sent out fliers last week advertising the planned trip. The entire press club not only would have been alerted, but also urged to show up with plenty of film on hand.

Obama quietly visits wounded vets at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama stopped by Walter Reed Army Medical Center Saturday to visit wounded war veterans, a group that he has said endures substandard care under the Bush administration.

The presumed Democratic nominee, who was in Washington to speak to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, slipped into the facility shortly after 9 a.m. without stopping to speak to the small group of reporters who follow him. The visit wasn’t on his public schedule.