Posted on 04/07/2009 5:02:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
One of President Obama's first official acts was to grant an interview to Al Arabiya, the Arabic language network that broadcasts worldwide. It signified, aides explained, the new page that Obama meant to turn in relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds. Just as he did last week in Europe, Obama began the conversation by criticizing America. Asked about relations between Israel and the Palestinians and the appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy, President Obama said " ... what I told (Mitchell) is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating -- in the past on some of these issues -- and we don't always know all the factors that are involved. So let's listen." Throughout the rest of the interview, Obama returned again and again to the word "respect," stressing that his administration -- unlike previous American presidents -- would base relations with the Muslim world on "mutual respect."
In Europe, the president returned to this leitmotif, telling his audience that "there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe. He went on to note that Europeans had responded with an anti-Americanism that "is at once casual but can also be insidious." That sounds awfully high-mindedly evenhanded -- except that in Obama's telling, America's arrogance comes first. If that were truly the case, who could blame the Europeans for feeling resentful?
Don't hold your breath waiting for any European to acknowledge that they have been guilty of arrogance. And before giving Obama too much credit for humility, consider that the planted axiom of these declarations is that he is different. It was that ham-handed predecessor of his who blundered through the world, disrespecting allies, needlessly insulting enemies, and crashing through drawing rooms like the proverbial bull, or perhaps like a Texas steer. But as former Ambassador John Bolton reminds us, during the glory days of the Clinton administration, French President Francois Mitterrand said this: "We are at war with America-- a permanent war ... a war without death. They are very hard, the Americans. They are voracious. They want undivided power over the world." Compared with that, the most stinging rebuke to come out of the Bush administration -- Rumsfeld's swipe about "old Europe" -- seems downright polite.
There's nothing wrong with pleasant atmospherics, of course. And if Barack and Michelle Obama wowed the crowds in London and Prague, that's nice. But what you might have missed in all the hyperventilating in the media about the new incarnation of Jack and Jackie was that President Obama was rebuffed by Europe. He had asked them to pass stimulus bills like the one the Democrats passed in the U.S. Germany's Angela Merkel and the others turned that down flat. European nations have even graver problems with promised social safety net programs than we do, and they sensibly decided that further indebting themselves would aggravate rather than alleviate their troubles.
President Obama further requested that more troops be sent to Afghanistan. He wasn't subtle about it either. "Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone," he said. "This is a joint problem and it requires a joint effort." Adoring crowds notwithstanding, they refused that request as well. Oh, wait. That's not quite true. According to Fox News, "Belgium offered to send 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12."
Back to relations with the Muslim world. Lest this slander pass into conventional wisdom, it must be protested. George W. Bush was never disrespectful to the Muslim world. He was extraordinarily careful to telegraph his respect for the Muslim faith -- some thought to a fault. ("Why is it," asked one wag, "that the only people who say Islam is religion of peace are Christians?") Bush made the Feast of Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan, an annual White House celebration with prominent Muslim guests. He arguably saved more Muslim lives through the African AIDS initiative than any other world leader could claim. Mrs. Bush made improving the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan her special project. In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when this was not an obvious move, he visited the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., to telegraph to the nation that anger toward American Muslims would be a misplaced response to the atrocity.
This caricature of Bush as a heedless militarist and xenophobe -- which no one is doing more to promote than the current president -- is a libel.
There is one other troubling aspect to President Obama's diplomatic debut. Being eager to ingratiate oneself with Europeans is an understandable liberal impulse. The left wing of the Democratic Party reveres European welfare states. But President Obama also bowed low (literally) before the king of Saudi Arabia. That was more than courtesy; it was abasement.
The apologizer-in-chief needs to resign and leave the USA. We don’t want or need a President who is ashamed of this country. A man who bows before a Saudi king? What a disgrace.
There is no shame in acknowledging that we’ve made mistakes in the past. You can be very proud of your country and still be humble. What’s worse. Bowing before the king or holding their hands?
Any one who is surprised by these actions needs to raise their hand. Hussien Obama we knew to be an America hating Marixst who would do all he can to destroy this country in any way possible. And we knew his fellow sleeze in the media would cover for him, assist him by making excuses and doing what they can to make him a water walker. And now we see it didnt take long for all this to come to pass.
Obama is apologizing for America because he is ashamed of America, because, like many liberals, he hates this country and what it stands for. Because America hasn’t always lived up to its ideals, he thinks that not only is the country flawed but its ideals are flawed. Deep down he thinks he’s better than we are and that it is only the “enlightened” leadership of elitists like himself, which will redeem the U.S. from its many sins, real and imagined. Like many liberals, he is a utopian who believes that society can be perfected as long as the right people are in charge, which, in this case, would be himself and others like him. He is a statist who has a religious faith in the power of the state to cure society of all its ills but the state won’t be able to solve all of this country’s problems until it can free itself from the restrictions that the Constitution places upon it.
This, then, is why he was willing to grovel before the Saudi king and why he was willing to blame the U.S. yesterday for offending the supposedly peaceful Muslims. This is why he is willing to turn a blind eye to the very real threat posed by radical Islam and to complain instead about the supposed injustices that the U.S. has committed.
No American President has ever bowed before a King. The 0 is a disgrace and is not even worth being dogcatcher
This would have sunk any other president, even a Dem like Carter. Not BO though. The “news” media will always cover for him.
Have any of the late night comedians joked about his bow to a king? I suspect not.
Gee, I wonder how the terrorist scum viewed that debacle.
Bin Laden said they viewed the Toon as weak.
With his bowing before the king, his run to the UN response to Lil Kim's rocket, and his naive plan to have a nuke free world, they must view Bambi as the Toon's 4 year old pig-tailed little sister.
In fact, if a man chooses not to touch another in a greeting, it can be interpreted as a sign of distance or disdain. Kissing cheeks, long handshakes and clutching hands are meant to reflect amity, devotion and most important, equality in status, noted Fuad Ishak Khuri, a social anthropologist, in his book, "The Body in Islamic Culture" (2001).
According to Miss Manners "Americans do not bow to royalty."
That should explain the difference.
The king did not return the bow.
If America is half of what I grew up believing it to be this poseur, sham, fraud POS will be cast out of office along with all the garbage he brought with him.
Obamachev bashes W every chance he gets.
Axelrod said Cheney was unstatesman-like criticizing Obamachev for making America less safe.
These people are real beauts.
God knows why - Europe has given us two monstrously bloody wars, genocide, and murderous communism, all within the last one hundred and twenty years.
But President Obama also bowed low (literally) before the king of Saudi Arabia. That was more than courtesy; it was abasement.
Absolutley appalling that a President of the United States of America would bow before that camel-f***ing whoremaster!
Contrast Hussein Obama with President Bush. Who gave a visiting head of government a DVD collection as a gift? A foreign sovereign an IPod - which could be purchased at any of hundreds of electronics stores withing walking distance of Buckingham Palace? Of course this one was preloaded with Hussein's speeches! Who said the language of Austria is ... Austrian!? Who has taken every opportunity to kowtow and grovel before every foreign leader the past several months? And finally, who, like any precocious sixth-grader, wants a world without nuclear weapons? How do we get rid of this embarassment - ASAP?
A hyperlink to the video would have been very helpful right there.
It’s just Christians that he doesn’t respect?
I apologize for STUPID AMERICANS for electing this Muslim non-citizen Pro-Death CHILD!
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