Good for him for that statement. If just a few people see their hero being a true American and re-think things, it will have been a success.
I've seen some people call him selfish, and I can see that argument, but he's taking away from a visit to the White House that gets 20 seconds of coverage anyways. My only recollection of our guys visiting the White House is that a cool picture came out of the Big 4 in serious suits.