In an interesting “behind the scenes” look at a Presidential speech, The Cable, a blog of Foreign Policy magazine, says that White House staffers asked an Air Force squadron to remove its F-22 from President Obama’s speech location and replace it with an F-15.  The story was corroborated by an Elmendorf AFB public affairs officer.

The blog reports that some of the local troops who fly and maintain the Raptor “took offense” and were bewildered that the White House wouldn’t want to showcase the Air Force’s premier front line fighter.

It is highly unlikely that Obama personally had anything to do with the decision.  Such political “staging” matters are frequently made at levels well below the Oval Office (as noted by the article saying aides made the request).  As the Foreign Policy article shows, though, sometimes the decision to use what might seem like an innocuous stage piece (in this case, two Air Force fighter aircraft) may have a significant backstory.