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Krauthammer: The selective modesty of Barack Obama
The Washington Post ^ | 07/08/10 | Charles Krauthammer

Posted on 07/09/2010 5:39:36 AM PDT by The Big Boo

The selective modesty of Barack Obama

By Charles Krauthammer Friday, July 9, 2010

Remember NASA? It once represented to the world the apogee of American scientific and technological achievement. Here is President Obama's vision of NASA's mission, as explained by administrator Charles Bolden: "One was he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and math and engineering."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: failure; modesty; obama
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He ends with "What is odd is to have a president so convinced of his own magnificence -- yet not of his own country's."

While I appreciate Krauthhammer is one of the few willing to take Obama on in all public forums...still he asks a non-sequiter. This is not Obama's own country. Never was. Why are conservatives so stupid?

The Big Boo


1 posted on 07/09/2010 5:39:39 AM PDT by The Big Boo
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To: The Big Boo

Can’t change the titles of articles, when posting them here. Screws up the FR search engine.


2 posted on 07/09/2010 5:42:43 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (http://www.conservatives4palin.com/)
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To: The Big Boo

Why did you change the title? It makes it difficult for those doing searches before posting duplicate threads.


3 posted on 07/09/2010 5:43:07 AM PDT by bcsco (First there was Slick Willie. Now there's "Oil Slick" Barry...)
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle

Boy, you’re quick... :)


4 posted on 07/09/2010 5:43:47 AM PDT by bcsco (First there was Slick Willie. Now there's "Oil Slick" Barry...)
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To: The Big Boo

The President Without A Country
By Pat Boone

“We’re no longer a Christian nation.” - President barack obama, June 2009

” America has been arrogant.” - President barack obama

“After 9/11, America didn’t always live up to her ideals.”- President barack obama

“You might say that America is a Muslim nation.”- President barack obama, Egypt 2009

Thinking about these and other statements made by the man who wears the title of president. I keep wondering what country he believes he’s president of.

In one of my very favorite stories, Edward Everett Hale’s “The Man without a Country,” a young Army lieutenant named Philip Nolan stands condemned for treason during the Revolutionary War, having come under the influence of Aaron Burr. When the judge asks him if he wishes to say anything before sentence is passed, young Nolan defiantly exclaims, “Damn the United States ! I wish I might never hear of the United States again!”

The stunned silence in the courtroom is palpable, pulsing. After a long pause, the judge soberly says to the angry lieutenant: “You have just pronounced your own sentence. You will never hear of the United States again.. I sentence you to spend the rest of your life at sea, on one or another of this country’s naval vessels - under strict orders that no one will ever speak to you again about the country you have just cursed.”

And so it was. Philip Nolan was taken away and spent the next 40 years at sea, never hearing anything but an occasional slip of the tongue about America. The last few pages of the story, recounting Nolan’s dying hours in his small stateroom - now turned into a shrine to the country he fore swore - never fail to bring me to tears. And I find my own love for this dream, this miracle called America , refreshed and renewed. I know how blessed and unique we are.

But reading and hearing the audacious, shocking statements of the man who was recently elected our president - a young black man living the impossible dream of millions of young Americans, past and present, black and white - I want to ask him, “Just what country do you think you’re president of?”

You surely can’t be referring to the United States of America , can you? America is emphatically a Christian nation, and has been from its inception! Seventy percent of her citizens identify themselves as Christian. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were framed, written and ratified by Christians. It’s because this was, and is, a nation built on and guided by Judeo-Christian biblical principles that you, sir, have had the inestimable privilege of being elected her president.

You studied law at Harvard, didn’t you, sir? You taught constitutional law in Chicago ? Did you not ever read the statement of John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and an author of the landmark “Federalist Papers”: “ Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers - and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation - to select and prefer Christians for their rulers”?

In your studies, you surely must have read the decision of the Supreme Court in 1892: “Our lives and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.”

Did your professors have you skip over all the high-court decisions right up till the mid 1900’s that echoed and reinforced these views and intentions? Did you pick up the history of American jurisprudence only in 1947, when for the first time a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson about a “wall of separation between church and state” was used to deny some specific religious expression - contrary to Jefferson ‘ s intent with that statement?

Or, wait a minute . were your ideas about America ‘s Christianity formed during the 20 years you were a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ under your pastor, Jeremiah Wright? Is that where you got the idea that “ America is no longer a Christian nation”? Is this where you, even as you came to call yourself a Christian, formed the belief that “ America has been arrogant”?

Even if that’s the understandable explanation of your damning of your country and accusing the whole nation (not just a few military officials trying their best to keep more Americans from being murdered by jihadists) of “not always living up to her ideals,” how did you come up with the ridiculous, alarming notion that we might be “considered a Muslim nation”?

Is it because there are some 2 million or more Muslims living here, trying to be good Americans? Out of a current population of over 300 million, 70 percent of whom are Christians? Does that make us, by any rational definition, a “Muslim nation”?

Why are we not, then, a “Chinese nation”? A “Korean nation”? Even a “Vietnamese nation”? There are even more of these distinct groups in America than Muslims. And if the distinction you’re trying to make is a religious one, why is America not “a Jewish nation”? There’s actually a case to be made for the latter, because our Constitution - and the success of our Revolution and founding - owe a deep debt to our Jewish brothers.

Have you stopped to think what an actual Muslim America would be like? Have you ever really spent much time in Iran ? Even in Egypt ? You, having been instructed in Islam as a kid at a Muslim school in Indonesia and saying you still love the call to evening prayers, can surely picture our nation founded on the Quran, not the Judeo-Christian Bible, and living under Shariah law. Can’t you? You do recall Muhammad’s directives [Surah 9:5,73] to “break the cross” and “kill the infidel”?

It seems increasingly and painfully obvious that you are more influenced by your upbringing and questionable education than most suspected.. If you consider yourself the president of a people who are “no longer Christian,” who have “failed to live up to our ideals,” who “have been arrogant,” and might even be “considered Muslim” - you are president of a country most Americans don’t recognize.

Could it be you are a president without a country?

All who love their Christian Belief’s and your Country. Forward to all in your address book.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/patboone.asp


5 posted on 07/09/2010 5:43:53 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead (Take back our country on November 2, 2010.)
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To: The Big Boo

Obama needs to be impeached and tried for treason.


6 posted on 07/09/2010 5:44:01 AM PDT by thethirddegree
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To: The Big Boo

It’s a good article, but the original title is “The Selective Modesty of Barack Obama.”

And no, Krauthammer isn’t an idiot.


7 posted on 07/09/2010 5:45:08 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia (Forcing one person to pay for the irresponsibility of another is NOT social justice.)
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To: bcsco
Boy, you’re quick... :)

[::harsh, strangled whisper::] "I'm Batman." ;)

8 posted on 07/09/2010 5:45:20 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle (http://www.conservatives4palin.com/)
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To: The Big Boo

Perhaps we have a wrong assumed emphysis here.

I have no problem calling this my country, or my wife my wife, but I assume no claim no ownership of either.

“This is my country” is a popular line in patriotic music.


9 posted on 07/09/2010 5:45:51 AM PDT by MindBender26 (Prezdet Obama is what you get when you let the O.J. jury select a president !)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Last night I heard Gingrich pontificating on BOR’s show that he was fooled thinking Obama was not as far left as he turned out to be. Are you kidding me. Fooled?? Anyone who did not see this coming is too dumb to live IMO.


10 posted on 07/09/2010 5:49:03 AM PDT by Mouton
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To: The Big Boo

Anyone who considers Charles Krauthhammer to be an idiot reveals his own cerebral lack. ;-O


11 posted on 07/09/2010 5:51:07 AM PDT by SumProVita (Cogito, ergo...Sum Pro Vita. (Modified Decartes))
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To: The Big Boo

Don't change the title... moron!


12 posted on 07/09/2010 5:51:21 AM PDT by avacado
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To: The Big Boo; Admin Moderator
Charles Krauthhammer? Just another idiot Conservative?
No. And not the correct title.
 
13 posted on 07/09/2010 5:52:06 AM PDT by counterpunch (Heckuva job, Barry!)
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To: Mouton
Who is the real idiot? Look at those in charge for the great depression, most recessions, carters fiasco, Immigration and energy policy. Who chased the steel industry out of the USA? carter.
14 posted on 07/09/2010 5:53:43 AM PDT by mountainlion (concerned conservative.)
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To: The Big Boo

I have no idea what your problem is with CK. He lays uot his arguments reasonably, in a way that only the leftiest DUmmie can say indicates he’s a “wacko rightwinger.”

He is conscious of his audience. it’s not just folks who all feel exactly as he does—he’s trying to convince those who are ready to ignore him.

Talking to people who think as you do is one thing; trying to talk to those who don’t and convince them to see your way is the right thing is another.

Krauthhammer is Krauthammer; you are only you. ;)


15 posted on 07/09/2010 5:53:43 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Barack Obama, the Coleman Francis of presidents.)
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To: The Big Boo

An America..as indebted as it is...has lost sovereignity to our creditors.

the deliberate beytrayal of America by its elite ruling oligarchy will someday be the subject of history books.

Basically they chose betrayal over accountability to We the People

(the 41st President to reporter Sarah McClendon)

George H.W. Bush: “Sarah, if the American people ever find out what we have done, they will chase us down the streets and lynch us.”


16 posted on 07/09/2010 5:53:59 AM PDT by mo
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To: The Big Boo
I have no idea what your problem is with CK. He lays uot his arguments reasonably, in a way that only the leftiest DUmmie can say indicates he's a “wacko rightwinger.”

He is conscious of his audience. it's not just folks who all feel exactly as he does—he's trying to convince those who are ready to ignore him.

Talking to people who think as you do is one thing; trying to talk to those who don't and convince them to see your way is the right thing is another.

Krauthhammer is Krauthhammer; you are only you. ;)

17 posted on 07/09/2010 5:54:03 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Barack Obama, the Coleman Francis of presidents.)
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To: The Big Boo

You’re nitpicking and Krauthammer is anything but stupid. His meaning is clear.

If Obama suddenly develops a sense of patriotism and bursts out in song with, “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” I’ll not be mad because it isn’t HIS country.


18 posted on 07/09/2010 5:54:03 AM PDT by Nickname
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To: The Big Boo
The explanation is simple: Obama loves himself and hates America. He tries to aggrandize himself and debase and destroy our great country. He is an egomaniac and a sick and evil narcissist.
19 posted on 07/09/2010 5:54:32 AM PDT by detective
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To: MindBender26
Perhaps we have a wrong assumed emphysis here.

I have no problem calling this my country, or my wife my wife, but I assume no claim no ownership of either.

“This is my country” is a popular line in patriotic music.

I understand your point, but in context of the article it may well be otherwise. In your context, the word "my" is used proudly. In the article, the word "my" isn't used in context of country but in context of those who he's appointed; those who work under him. As Krauthammer points out, it is an unusual use of the word, and with Obama's narcissism, may well point toward ownership.

20 posted on 07/09/2010 5:55:28 AM PDT by bcsco (First there was Slick Willie. Now there's "Oil Slick" Barry...)
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