<<What is most crucial to my analogy of the five fingers as the five major continents, is that each of us in the U.S. – the long, middle finger – must be careful that when we extend our arm in either a business or political sense, we take pains to assure we are giving a hand, not the finger. Sometimes this very difficult. Because the U.S. – the middle finger – sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally.
Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand – giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers – but instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.<<
No Pepsi, please.
I think her assessment is correct. However, much of the rest of the world WANTS to believe that we are "extending the middle finger". I think that U.S. citizens should be highly aware that we are NOT liked worldwide.
In order to quit drinking Pepsi, I would have to hear if she believes that we should alter our actions in a material way because of this perception of us.
That's the important quote from the speech, Dave. Unfortunately, most conservatives have been complaining about the middle-finger analogy, which is silly. What she said after that in the quote you posted is the critical part, and the part we should be pounding.