To begin, I'm sure this so-called soldier is/was a plant to give Obama the opportunity to say what he said because that's how those people do things. And, since I realize Obama is the chief spokesperson for the international bourgeois class, he said exactly what he was placed in that position to say. His job is to advance the international interests of imperialism. As capitalism's chief spokesperson, he is the appointed facilitator for their interests. The Rockefeller family and other more liberal bourgeois ruling class entities have decided on Hillary Clinton as their next spokesperson (hopefully, you understand that the bourgeois class isn't monolithic. The ruling classes do have competing interests e.g. how the world should be ruled). Since that is their decision, Obama's job as the outgoing front man is to insure their interests are protected and their spokespersons installed. Thus, Obama spoke as he did about Kaepernick as a coded message to European (White) voters, particularly racist white voters, that he will put "his people" in their place and Hillary will too. Therefore, they should have confidence in Hillary to represent and protect their interests over that of the African masses. By preserving the institutions of imperialism - most of which the masses of White people still believe in - the message is that "we will stand with you against these Africans who desire to challenge the greatness of our country!"
Of course, the real message is that no one, especially working class White people, should be honoring anything to do with U.S. imperialism, and the flag and all of the nationalistic foolishness is all about nothing except U.S. imperialism. If anyone has any true desires to respect people who serve in the U.S. military, the way to do that would be to resist the effort to make them cannon fodder for the meat grinder that is the U.S. Military Industrial Complex. None of them are fighting for anyone's freedoms besides the freedom of multi-national capitalist corporations to plunder the world's resources and human labor at will. And, by not telling them that, and continuing to perpetuate this lie that they are fighting for anyone's freedom, you are sending them to an unproductive and unnecessary death. Clearly, they know that their efforts are not heroic or else so many of them wouldn't be struggling with addiction and committing suicide. This is happening solely because they are disillusioned because the reality isn't lining up with the patriotic rhetoric that is being shoved down all of our throats.
Its time for truth. The U.S. constitution never has had and never will have anything to do with the vast majority of the people who serve in the U.S. armed forces. None of those people are propertied owning European men, the status of everyone who signed that filthy document. And many of them are women and people of color who the document was never written for. During the time of the constitution signing and ratification process, the Indigenous people were fighting for their lives to retain their land and dignity. The African masses were fighting for survival on horrific slave plantations and women were property who's primary purpose was sexual gratification and the creation of children. Most of those things are still the reality today. The bourgeois, including Obama, knows it. The masses of White working class people know it, and the African masses most certainly know it. So, why are so many people still going along with the scam that there was ever any democracy in capitalist America and that anything here ever represented "freedoms for all."
Kaepernick is doing today what many, many people like myself have been doing for decades. His status has taken the struggle to a much higher stage and for that we commend him, but you cannot be confused into believing that this higher profile for justice isn't going to be met with action by the bourgeois class. They are responding by doing what they always do and that's pumping you with so much propaganda that you will feel pressure to speak out against anything that goes against their messaging. So much propaganda that you feel some inclination to acknowledge those in the military. So much propaganda that you decide to just ignore the fact that the U.S. military inflicts death and suffering on so many people on a regular basis that it is clearly inappropriate to start any analysis by talking about protecting their military "feelings." The only feelings we need to be concerned about are the feelings of those facing oppression, everywhere in the world. And, the fact Obama cannot acknowledge that confirms, again, that he is not your president. He isn't your brother. He's only what he has always been, and what whomever occupies that seat has to be, the spokesperson for a bourgeois system that is diametrically opposed to the masses of people on the planet.