Obama Throws America Under the Bus

[guido911]

To the European continent, you know, where hundreds of thousands of our men and women died defending, Pres..ent Obama calls America arrogant, dismissive, and derisive:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5100338/Barack-Obama-arrogant-US-has-been-dismissive-to-allies.html

This is apparently Obama's foreign policy:

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee19/bigheadfred_111/obama.gif

[cannon_fodder]

Full Text of the Speech:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/04/full-text-of-barack-obama-in-strasbourg-town-hall.html

I believe the US has been arrogant, dismissive, and derisive.  I am willing to debate if this was a needed or justified policy, if America was right to behave in such a way.  But I think it is pretty clear that we have indeed behaved in such a way.

To be fair, he also said (straight from the teleprompter):

Now, we take this peace and prosperity for granted, but this destination was not easily reached, nor was it predestined. The buildings that are now living monuments to European unity were not drawn from simple blueprints. They were born out of the blood of the first half of the 20th century and the resolve of the second. Men and women had to have the imagination to see a better future, and the courage to reach for it. Europeans and Americans had to have the sense of common purpose to join one another, and the patience and the persistence to see a long twilight struggle through.

It was 61 years ago this April that a Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe helped to deliver hope to a continent that had been decimated by war. Amid the ashes and the rubble that surrounded so many cities like this one, America joined with you in an unprecedented effort that secured a lasting prosperity not just in Europe, but around the world -- on both sides of the Atlantic.

One year later, exactly 60 years ago tomorrow, we ensured our shared security when 12 of our nations signed a treaty in Washington that spelled out a simple agreement: An attack on one would be viewed as an attack on all. Without firing a single shot, this Alliance would prevent the Iron Curtain from descending on the free nations of Western Europe.

It would lead eventually to the crumbling of a wall in Berlin and the end of the Communist threat. Two decades later, with 28 member nations that stretched from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, NATO remains the strongest alliance that the world has ever known.

At the crossroads where we stand today, this shared history gives us hope -- but it must not give us rest. This generation cannot stand still. We cannot be content merely to celebrate the achievements of the 20th century, or enjoy the comforts of the 21st century; we must learn from the past to build on its success. We must renew our institutions, our alliances. We must seek the solutions to the challenges of this young century.

This is our generation. This is our time. And I am confident that we can meet any challenge as long as we are together. (Applause.)

Such an effort is never easy. It's always harder to forge true partnerships and sturdy alliances than to act alone, or to wait for the action of somebody else. It's more difficult to break down walls of division than to simply allow our differences to build and our resentments to fester. So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years we've allowed our Alliance to drift.

I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there's something more that has crept into our relationship. In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad.

On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us both more isolated. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America.

President Barrack Hussein Obama, Remarks by President Obama at the Strasbourg Town Hall, Rhenus Sports Arena, Strasbourg, France.  April 3rd, 2009.  [Emphasis Added]

First of all, I think the speech was painful.  His reliance on the teleprompter is becoming a real issue.  When he had a week to prepare for each speech during the election the teleprompter style was smooth, convincing, and provided an excellent oratory style.  Unfortunately, it has gone stale and no longer has a gloss over it. 

However, I think the message was sound.  He was speaking to his audience.  Failing to recognize that America shares blame for frayed relations would be arrogant, dismissive, and derisive.  For that matter, even if you don't think such is the case when speaking to an audience it is wise to throw them a bone. The next line he reminds them that Europe too is to blame.  For a far greater portion of the speech he alludes to the fact that modern Europe owes their prosperous and peaceful (non-German speaking) existence to the United States.

I don't view it has throwing the US under the bus.

[cynical]

While I agree with almost everything cannon_fodder wrote, the teleprompter meme is as stale and irrelevant as the "Hussein" reference with its false implication that Obama is a Muslim, a terrorist, or at least is not "one of us." 

We barely survived eight years of a president who extemporized to embarrassing excess.  While GWB's statements provided a huge amount of fodder for comedians, he did not adequately represent the government, much less the American people of any political persuasion in his sniveling goofy ad-libbing.  From the beginning Obama was put on notice that the so-called "liberal media" would be going over every Presidential statement with a fine-tooth comb, looking for ways to demonstrate their "fair and balanced" approach by coming up with false equivalencies.  Can we really blame Obama for wanting to be cautious about the message he conveys on our behalf when the media are trying to create an international crisis out from brief physical contact between Michelle Obama and the Queen of the UK? 

Unlike his predecessor, Obama is willing to face the media in press conferences.  He is not using a teleprompter in his answers.  Where he appears to evade a direct answer he's being called on it, but at least he's behaving as an adult.  When people criticize him for using a teleprompter it sounds as if they want to criticize him for something but can't nail him on the merits.

I appreciate cf's quoting of the entire text of the speech.  The recent past has shown that in spite of our pretensions we are not able unilaterally to impose our will on the world.  To make common cause with countries with which we share a common cultural heritage rather than arrogantly dismissing them as "old Europe" is a needed change in direction.  Even so, Obama rightly challenges the anti-Americanism that has become rampant in Europe. 

First of all, I think the speech was painful.  His reliance on the teleprompter is becoming a real issue.  When he had a week to prepare for each speech during the election the teleprompter style was smooth, convincing, and provided an excellent oratory style.  Unfortunately, it has gone stale and no longer has a gloss over it. 

[Cats Cats Cats]

It is hard to follow some of the Republican logic.  All US Politicians for the most part are horrible and our current Government is horrible beyond belief.  But everything our Government does outside of the US is right?

[cannon_fodder]

cynical:

I think the issue is that he is being graded on a higher curve.  Bush was a noted god-awful orator.  He did better when he just spoke like a Texas hay seed - but that led to embarrassing gaffs.

Obama was crisp and polished.  Well noted for his oratory skills.  That is, in no small part, how he got elected or how he even became relevant (2004 DNC).  Now he is expected to live up to it.

The speech he gave was better than what Bush would have done.  But on the list of great speeches that is not a statement to be proud of.

[FOTD]

A better point of view....in praise of Obama's European democracy:

OP-ED COLUMNIST
The First Shrink

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/opinion/05dowd.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: April 4, 2009
Barack Obama grew up learning how to slip in and out of different worlds — black and white, foreign and American, rich and poor.

The son of an anthropologist, he developed a lot of "tricks," as he put it, training himself to be a close observer of human nature, figuring out what others needed so he could get where he wanted to go.

He was able to banish any fear in older white folk that he was an angry young black man — with smiles, courtesy and, as he wrote in his memoir, "no sudden moves." He learned negotiating skills as a community organizer and was able to ascend to the presidency of the Harvard Law Review by letting a disparate band of self-regarding eggheads feel that they were being heard and heeded.

As Charles J. Ogletree Jr., a Harvard law professor who mentored the young Obama, put it, "He can enter your space and organize your thoughts without necessarily revealing his own concerns and conflicts." He can leave you thinking he agrees, when often he's only agreeing to leave you thinking he agrees.

He privately rolls his eyes at the way many in politics and government spend so much time preening and maneuvering for credit rather than simply doing their jobs. Yet with that detached and novelistic eye that allows him to be a great writer, he is also able to do a kind of political jujitsu, where he assesses the bluster and insecurities of other politicians, defuses them, and then uses them to his advantage.

Gabriel Byrne's brooding psychoanalyst on "In Treatment" might envy Barack Obama's calming psychoanalysis in Europe. He may not have come away with all he wanted substantively. His hand was too weak going in, and there was too much hostility toward America, thanks to W.'s blunders and Cheney's bullying. But he showed a psychological finesse that has been missing from American leadership for a long time.

"Each country has its own quirks," he said at his London press conference, indicating that you had to intuit how much you could prod each leader.

W. always bragged about his instincts, saying he knew whom to trust based on his gut. But even with the help of psychologists putting together profiles of dictators and other major players for our intelligence services, Bush and his inner circle were extraordinarily obtuse about reading the motivations and the intentions of friends and foes.

How could it never occur to them that Saddam Hussein might simply be bluffing about the size of his W.M.D. arsenal to keep the Iranians and other antagonists at bay?

W. bristled at French and German leaders because he thought they were condescending to him. He thought he saw into Vladimir Putin's soul until the Russian leader showed his totalitarian stripes.

W. and Condi were so clueless about the mind-set of Palestinians that Condi was blindsided by the Hamas victory in 2006, learning the news from TV as she did the elliptical at 5 a.m. in the gym of her Watergate apartment.

The Bush chuckleheads misread the world and insisted that everyone else go along with their deluded perception, and they bullied the world and got huffy if the world didn't quickly fall in line.

President Obama, by contrast, employed smart psychology in the global club, even on small things, like asking other leaders if they wanted to start talking first at news conferences.

With Anglo-American capitalism on trial and Gordon Brown floundering in the polls, Mr. Obama took pains to drape an arm around "Gordon" and return to using the phrase "special relationship." He gave a shout-out to the Brown kids, saying he'd talked dinosaurs with them.

He won points with a prickly Sarkozy when he intervened in an argument about tax havens between the French and Chinese leaders, pulling them into a corner to help them "get this all in some kind of perspective" and find a middle ground. Mr. Obama also played to the ego of the Napoleonic French leader, saying at their press conference, "He's courageous on so many fronts, it's hard to keep up."

Soon Sarko was back gushing over his charmant Americain ami.

Having an Iowa-style town hall in Strasbourg with enthusiastic French and German students was a clever ploy to underscore his popularity on the world stage, and put European leaders on notice that many of their constituents are also his.

Like a good shrink, the president listens; it's a way of flattering his subjects and sussing them out without having to fathom what's in their soul. "It is easy to talk to him," Dmitri Medvedev said after their meeting. "He can listen." The Russian president called the American one "my new comrade."

Mr. Obama, the least silly of men, was even willing to mug for a silly Facebook-ready picture, grinning and giving a thumbs-up with Medvedev and a goofy-looking Silvio Berlusconi.

Now that America can't put everyone under its thumb, a thumbs-up and a killer smile can go a long way.

[Hoss]

I think Gweed is now realizing with the reduction in his post count that his audience needs to remain where he posts the most:  FreeRepublic.  Leave him to Wingnuttia!

If this isn't his link to his posts over there, then I truly apologize Gweed.

But I doubt I'll ever get an acknowledgment one way or the other since he's ignoring me.



You Freeper you!

[Elaine]

President Obama is right: The EU has risen to become a great world leader and a tremendous partner for the U.S. Many in the EU hated Bush, but they think Obama's a rockstar. His speech levelled the playing field. The bus was parked in the parking lot, where it belonged.

[rwarn17588]

To the European continent, you know, where hundreds of thousands of our men and women died defending, Pres..ent Obama calls America arrogant, dismissive, and derisive:

blah blah blah

Guido, you're not even trying anymore. You've turned into a parody of Republican outage. You've become an FOTD after going through "A Clockwork Orange" reconditioning. Or jamesrage with somewhat better spelling skills but less-discriminating judgment.

No wonder you're rocketing to the bottom of the TulsaNow karma charts.

[FOTD]

Hey Now!

Be nice to the village idiots.....

Where'd IPLAW go? Shadows? Snopes?

[USRufnex]

Typical... insist Obama is a "political messiah" in the view of his supporters... then tear him down when he's found to be less than perfect... and acting like a politician... who knew...?

He's always been someone who thinks/stammers before making statements... he did some of that in the Obama/Keyes debates, some of that in the gazillion dem primary debates, and less of that in the debates with McCain....

[guido911]

Guido, you're not even trying anymore. You've turned into a parody of Republican outage. You've become an FOTD after going through "A Clockwork Orange" reconditioning. Or jamesrage with somewhat better spelling skills but less-discriminating judgment.

No wonder you're rocketing to the bottom of the TulsaNow karma charts.

Oooh...the karma chart. What are you, in first grade or something?

[nathanm]

Oooh...the karma chart. What are you, in first grade or something?

Given your avatar, the same could be asked of you...

[joiei]

To the European continent, you know, where hundreds of thousands of our men and women died defending, Pres..ent Obama calls America arrogant, dismissive, and derisive:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5100338/Barack-Obama-arrogant-US-has-been-dismissive-to-allies.html

This is apparently Obama's foreign policy:

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee19/bigheadfred_111/obama.gif

You left off the second half of that statement  ""an anti-Americanism [in Europe] that is at once casual but can also be insidious." Obama continued: "Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad. On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth."

I so seldom look at your posts anymore, they are boring, repeititious and lack any substance.  Come back to the real world, take off the Fox News Blinders you seem to be wearing.  Engage in real debate instead of being blinded by the hate that some news programs likes to feed us. 

[Cats Cats Cats]

To the European continent, you know, where hundreds of thousands of our men and women died defending, Pres..ent Obama calls America arrogant, dismissive, and derisive:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5100338/Barack-Obama-arrogant-US-has-been-dismissive-to-allies.html

This is apparently Obama's foreign policy:

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee19/bigheadfred_111/obama.gif

There was a good story about Guido from a Conservative writer.  It is called Obama Derangement Syndrome.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=C437EEA9-A9A9-490D-B5E4-CD952FDEEE17