The funniest report of Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin comes from the NYT‘s Caucus blog: “Senator Barack Obama began his speech first by declaring that this was not a political speech.”
Substantively, I welcomed his call for more support from Germany to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she would make clear to Obama that there were limits to Germany’s military engagement in Afghanistan. Merkel may find Obama well-equipped physically, but this seems to be another case in which a government will not be dramatically altering its foreign policy just from a look at Obama’s magic face.
As for the rhetoric of the speech, Ann Althouse — who often has nice things to write about Obama — had this reaction to his invocation of the Berlin airlift:
I guess we’re not supposed to think about how Obama wanted and still wants to give up on the Iraq war. Surely, if he’d been there in 1948, he would have said the Berlin airlift is hopeless. He thought the surge was hopeless.
I won’t excerpt the rest of the speech. You can read it, but I’ll summarize: Come on, people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another, right now.
… and yes, she included some YouTube goodness with a Youngbloods audio track. The actual speech had good “optics,” though I imagine Obama will hear about snubbing our wounded soldiers over there for some time to come, given its potential as metaphor.
Bonus: Listen…
I still digesting Obama apologizing to the United States in a nation where turning people into lampshades was a local industry, once upon a time.
Kumbaya
*sigh*
Time for a new keyboard… the return on the space is almost dead.
Did I miss the part about how he was going to withdrawal all the troops from Germany in 16 months ?
I imagine future campaign ads featuring one applause line (a safe one, not the one where he said America was imperfect) and lots of slow-mo American flags waving in the background as he speaks under a musical soundtrack.
MayBee,
I imagine the viral YouTube clip where that same footage is subtitled with the bit about him not visiting wounded US soldiers. Or we pull back to see the wounded soldiers watching on TV and asking why Obama thought it was more important to go shopping than visit them.
Ha!
Darn it was a golden opportunity to talk about his “Global Poverty Act” (110th Congress, 2d Session, S. 2433). It’s the only real major piece of legislation that Obama has tried to pass this year. Funny how he doesn’t talk about how it would mandate the U.S. to spend 0.7 percent of the gross national product on foreign aid, costing the U.S. at least $845 billion dollars over thirteen years.
You say .. where is the government going to get all that money ??
Funny you should ask .. through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
To those of you who’ve heard or watched the speech, what impression of the German’s reception of it have you taken away?
Come on people now, smile on your brother and
everybody get together, try to love one another right now
When I was an alien, cultures weren’t opinions
Gotta find a way, to find a way, when I’m here
Gotta find a way – a better way – I had better wait
Never met a wise man, if so it’s a woman
(x2)
Gotta find a way, to find a way, when I’m here
Gotta find a way – a better way – I had better wait
Just because you’re paranoid, don’t mean they’re not after you
(x4)
Gotta find a way, to find a way, when I’m here
Gotta find a way – a better way – I had better wait
— Nirvana, “Territorial Pissings”
This is interesting, from the crypt:
One unusual thing about this speech: Can anyone recall another time when an American who is not president has gone overseas and asked another country for its troops? This strikes us as highly unusual.
Sdferr,
Most of the coverage so far has been asking the rally attendees, which I’m guessing is not a representative sample. But if you look around, you can find German columnists making the same point as here and in the UK — O! is a nice guy, we like him, but eventually the reality is that we will not always agree and eventually slide back into our America-envy.
MayBee,
You can find similar comments elsewhere, too. It subconsciously feeds into the “this guy already thinks he’s president” meme.
Thanks for the fill-in K. I was mostly wondering about the crowd reaction during the speech, like, wild enthusiastic cheering or glum silence or mystified shrugging or unbridled farting (due to the sausages we’ll assume) or moshpit jumping up and down or what-have-you.
“this guy already thinks he’s presidentâ€Â
But President of what, is what I am trying to figure out. It is starting to look like America may be too small a bushel for that bright a light.
Sdferr- I thought the audience was subdued. They cheered him like crazy at the end, but many of his applause lines got none, and the whole speech and crowd seemed subdued.
It was a totally visual event.
How did you see it?
A little out there, but the instances I recall off te top of my head where someone who aspired to be the leader of England was asking foreigners for troops include Tostig Godwinson, John Plantagenet, Henry Bolingbroke, and Charles Stuart. But I digress.
B Moe,
“But President of what, is what I am trying to figure out.”
He’s King of the World. Last time I heard that was in Titanic.
MayBee, I didn’t see it. Heard a little on the radio and am reading Drudge’s transcript little by little.
It seems rather obvious to me (is not to you?) that opposition to the Iraq war is not synonymous with being against supporting Germany during the Cold War. That seems a rather silly equivocation. Berlin was arguably much more central to the Cold War than Iraq is to the struggle against terrorism.
MayBee,
I think that’s about right. I’m sure most of them know English, but their election events are generally more subdued affairs (seems they have a sense of history about raucous rallies for charismatic pols). As you noted, it was all about filming for the biopic/ ad.
Brett,
It seems to me that O! was just fine with Iraq descending into genocidal chaos and becoming a major base for al Qaeda to suit his political ambitions. Because he’s all about Hope.
Oh, try to see it, Sdferr. I’d love to hear your take.
I really don’t believe it could possibly be the event the Obama people were hoping for. The audience rarely roared- which is presumably the effect you’d be wanting out of a 100,000+ person crowd.
I would note that US presidents have sent many envoys overseas to ask for troops in the past, though this has usually been done in the form of diplomacy rather than street rallies. Many disntinguished senators and congressman have also made these same requests from time to time, though most are usually a little more deferential to the constitutional powers granted the exective branch.
What is unseemly about this is that he didn’t ask in a diplomatic manner but in a direct appeal to the public through the media. There is something disturbing about this but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
[…] An “Obama Berlin speech” post […]
What is unseemly about this is that he didn’t ask in a diplomatic manner but in a direct appeal to the public through the media. There is something disturbing about this but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Considering that he is actually in a position in the Senate to at least discuss this with the Europeans- and hasn’t done so (and isn’t allowed to do it by Biden) – it does seem an odd time to bring it up.
If Camp O! was expecting the usual applause when he blows his nose they should have done their homework:
re: asking for troops
It seems odd because it seems like an attempt to agitate a mob, rather than appeal to an allied govt.
He did it so he can say he didn’t pander to Euroweenies in the speech. He knows it ain’t happening.
OK. Let’s boil this stuff down to the essence.
Obama is a spoiled, gifted child with no concept of the realities of the world or human nature. “I will just love them to death, and they will soon understand. I will community organize them – sorta”.
Close enough?
“…This is the moment when we must renew our resolve to rout the terrorists who threaten our security in Afghanistan, and the traffickers who sell drugs on your streets. No one welcomes war. I recognize the enormous difficulties in Afghanistan. But my country and yours have a stake in seeing that NATO’s first mission beyond Europe’s borders is a success. For the people of Afghanistan, and for our shared security, the work must be done. America cannot do this alone. …”
Actually, I think America could do it alone if it wanted to, it just doesn’t for now and is willing to put up with all the NATO bullshit for the time being, perhaps in the hope that the militarily reticent members of NATO will feel ashamed sooner or later and grow up to shoulder their responsibilities rather than continue to free-ride on our magnanimity any longer.
As you noted, it was all about filming for the biopic/ ad.
A David Axelrod production.
Regardless of whether America can do it alone, it was not a brilliant line on his part. Again, subconsciously, American listeners hear Carter-esque malaisiness all over that.
Sounded a lot like a President to me, does Germany need a President right now or something? ’cause that guy…damn he’d make a good President of Germany. All 57 States of it.
Funniest thing about O!‘s speech was the fact that he was able to command a world stage whiled propaganda-drunk R-Wingers could nothing but seethe and moan and bitterly cling to their King James Bibles.
Obama put his boot in your media attentive ass, ha! He looked good doing it too.
Did he finish with “Can you dig it!”?
Hey now. The bullet holes insist we never forget our common humanity, thor.
“And though the holes were rather small,
They had to count them all.
Now they know how many holes it takes
In an homage to Reifenstahl.
I’d love to turn you on.”
lets go abroad with obama and put down our own country
hows that feel liberal! yaa happy now
hey haps (and Darleen and Tops and any other SoCal commenters)-
The Coffee Bean and Tea has a promotion right now where you can donate a pound of coffee (at a 10% reduced price!) to soldiers in Iraq. They even put a sticker on it so you can write a note.
Just an FYI
“He looked good doing it too.”
No O! looked like Jesse procedure, metrosexual, Ivy league jerk.
Serious journalist Karen Tumulty writes at TIME:
I’m sad for her that her bestest trip ever is almost over.
Well as long as he looked good, that’s all that matters. “Cause I don’t want any substance harshing my Hope.
Oh. I’m on it this weekend then, MayBee. That’s where my friend J always drags me after breakfast and before Target. It’s sort of a thing. Now Vallarta Market is involved as well. If you haven’t had the pork ribs – the verde ones – at their taqueria you should go, and also the produce there is like way less than at Ralphs. And that’s where I discovered mamey agua fresca too. Also they do this thing where they take corn on the cob and slather it with mayo and spices or something. I haven’t tried that one yet and I can never remember what they call it.
But he supports the Troops, sort of….
These are not the wounded warriors I once knew(about).
Leaker
where’s Vallarta Market? (I suppose I could google it)
Hell of a speech.
And yes, nice to see foreign crowds waving our flag rather than burning it.
ya, wir konnen
Hell of a speech.
Vapid Bullshit is a more accurate description, don’t you think?
Yay MayBee, now yer talking the talk!
Sprechen sie deutsche O!?
Wo ist der toileten O!?
Nein, ich kann Deutsche nicht versprechen, Herr dre.
It seems to me that O! was just fine with Iraq descending into genocidal chaos and becoming a major base for al Qaeda to suit his political ambitions. Because he’s all about Hope.
It seems to me that the surge may not be the only (or necessarily the largest) reason for the security gains in Iraq, so opposing the surge is not tantamount to being “just fine with Iraq descending into genocidal chaos.” If it had been Obama’s decision in the first place–rather than Bush’s–Iraq wouldn’t even be the “major base for al Qaeda” that it is today. (It’s unclear whether the majority of the elements in Iraq that self-define as al Qaeda are actually capable of hurting the US outside of Iraq.) And I also think it’s too soon to say whether the surge and the other circumstances that have reduced the violence in Iraq will result in a long term peace, especially so long as the presence of American forces inflames local sentiment.
There’s getting to be quite a few. We go to the Burbank airport one… it’s brand new and very festive. It’s in the parking lot where the hispanic peoples bring their families at night to watch the airplanes. No I don’t really know why they do that exactly, but lots and lots of them do. It’s not a gang thing or anything. Just families. Watching airplanes at night from the grocery store parking lot. Go figure.
Empty words for empty heads. Bleated out from a robo generated script, targeted primarily at a swooning press corps and the drug addled koolaid drinking throwback flower power neo-hippies back home.
Dr Feelgood has what you need.
Feelings
Nothing more than Feeeeeeelings
If it had been Obama’s decision in the first place–rather than Bush’s–Iraq wouldn’t even be the “major base for al Qaeda†that it is today.
If what had been Obama’s decision? Whether to leave Saddam in place or not? That sure wouldn’t have fit in with his “people yearning to be free” speech, would it?
Inflames local sentiment? Are you smoking something?
Well gee Brent Keller that is some really original thoughts, I don’t think I’ve read so many deep insights in all my days on teh internet (thank Algore PNUH).
opps-thank Algore PBUH
Screwed the entire thing up, oh well.
“especially so long as the presence of American forces inflames local sentiment.”
Inflames the locals so much that Iraq falls off the MSM radar screen?
“(It’s unclear whether the majority of the elements in Iraq that self-define as al Qaeda are actually capable of hurting the US outside of Iraq.”
Al-Qaeda ‘may be shifting focus’
Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border, file image
The US is concerned insurgents freely cross the Afghan-Pakistan border
Al-Qaeda may be considering shifting its focus from Iraq to Afghanistan, the top US commander in Iraq has said
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7515870.stm
Well gee Brent Keller that is some really original thoughts,
Go to his website. It’s a bunch of little kids who’ve got scholarships and wear ties and dresses so they can impress each other at conferences. Perfect Obama acolytes.
How many Barackys does it take to CHANGE a CFL?
Oh. He will make you work, dre. But you have to join a corp thingy first so that it counts towards your service learning requirements. Dude. You need to get with the program really.
Thanks, Sdferr. I did that for you.
Thanks for the vallarta scoop, haps. Maybe I can see if the one in VanNuys is near the airport so I can get the full experience.
Oh yes sash because until Obama levitated above the German crowd while the Ode to Joy played and redeemed the masses, Berlin was a riotous cauldron of seething America-hating Stars and Stripes burners on every corner.
Also one other thing is they do really amazing for real fresh fruit smoothies where they smoothie the fruit in this machine thing right in front of you. I always get the fat burner one with the pineapples and such. It’s usually over by the agua frescas… there are bigger Vallartas and smaller Vallartas, you want to check the website and make sure you go to one with a taqueria (scroll to the bottom of that page). Also they will pick you up in a shuttle if you call them. I was really astounded by that idea. I think I’ve got my head around it now though.
Happy I’m moving my comfort zone next to a land fill.
“And I also think it’s too soon to say whether the surge and the other circumstances that have reduced the violence in Iraq will result in a long term peace,”
So leave now and leave no doubt?
“so long as the presence of American forces inflames local sentiment.”
Yes it’s “inflaming” them. Iraq is boiling over with young men just chomping at the bit for the next “Join Al Qaeda Now and Get $5 Off Membership!” drive. Have you happened to notice perhaps that our presence and mission has somewhat dampened the jihadi spirit as opposed to the discredited belief that it’s encouraging it?
“Nein, ich kann Deutsche nicht versprechen, Herr dre.”
Ain’t that the truth.
From a TNR piece by Gabriel Sherman covering B.Obama “…Another reporter notes that, during the last year, Obama’s old friends and Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without permission. …”
Found at HotAir under Allah’s byline
Sensitive hothouse plant.
[…] Karl says: Substantively, I welcomed his call for more support from Germany to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday she would make clear to Obama that there were limits to Germany’s military engagement in Afghanistan. Merkel may find Obama well-equipped physically, but this seems to be another case in which a government will not be dramatically altering its foreign policy just from a look at Obama’s magic face. […]
Re: #35 charles austin
I think Obama will turn out to be more a Luther than a Cyrus.
Praise Be!!! The moment that Obama (Blessings and peace be upon His name!) asends upon the throne, the heavens will open and His Glory will rain upon us all!! Forever and ever Amen!!!
Sdferr,
Workin’ on it.
I AM jelly donut!
“I’m the jelly donut we’ve been waiting for.”
Whoa?
David Axelrod is the new Leni Riefenstahl?
I do not think we’ll see much tape or mention of this event down the road.
Sdferr, Karl…. just how much is this going to hurt him? I think the crowd was confused – badly so – about the time he started his little history lesson about the Berlin Airlift. I only heard the radio excerpts, but it seemed that he lost them early and never got them back.
Don’t try to tell people about YOUR version of THEIR history. All sorts of Bad Cold War memes… but he never got around – and in honesty could not even approach – to explaining just why Europe was in ashes in 1948.
Mr. Obama, it didn’t “just happen”, which is how you attempted to frame the narrative.
What kind of adult lives in a world ruled by rationalization and agenda? No good, no evil, but only what he picks and chooses? What have we come to?
What a fucking ego this man has. And an intellect that falls far short of that of a decent car salesman’s.
On the brighter side, maybe this was Obama’s day to drive the tank.
I bet the networks shove this down the memory hole. Just my gut, you understand.
uh Neo?
Can you tell me where in Obama’s bill is the requirement of the US government to hand over .7% of it’s GDP and where the fossil-fuel tax is?
Granted, I think Barry is an unrepetent Marxist in a Burt Lancaster suit (The Rainmaker), but I don’t want to hand the Obamaniacs any ammo that the rest of us are lying about his sponsored legislation
BTW, the UN Millennium Declaration is an statement of goals – they can’t enforce ’em and they know it.
I don’t know what will come vis a vis hurt or help, TmjUtah, but I just had the unfortunate experience of seeing Dr. Frank Luntz praising Obama to the heavens for the greatest speech he has given in his life. And such great visuals, he says. I quit watching right then and there.
Ugh. Luntz is the milktoast embodiment of what ails our politics, I think. All is surface. Substance be damned.
I think the attempt to frame this appearance as that of an enlightened leader dazzling a cosmopolitan European crowd that “understands” the transcendent nature of Barack will fall flat.
The people of Berlin in general seem as “American” as Americans with the whole gamut of people and personalities that you’d find in any fun, large, bustling well-to-do city. And overall the people you meet react to you being American with not much more than “oh” and they just carry on their conversation in English. They’re generally very nice too. I hardly think that there’s any less cynicism and smirking disregard for Obama-mania than what GOP RedStaters get blamed for suffering from.
One think that is VERY noticeable in Berlin is that the Germans have a shitload of leisure time while the heavy-lifting and serious labor is all done by Turks. Given this along with a little era around 1933-1945 in their past, the Germans I met in Berlin didn’t strike me as needing to work the “fuck America” angle into their vibe. So overall I don’t think many gave such a big whoop over their leg of his tour. I think more people probably reached an emotional frenzy watching Jacko dangle the baby at the Adlon.
82. That’s a shame about Luntz. I remember he was denied tenure by the history department at Penn despite his class on American political history being one of the university’s hottest tickets. People drew their own conclusions based on him being coincidentally a Republican pollster.
I love it how nobody here mentions the roughly TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND citizens who showed up to greet Obama in Berlin, as if it was some sort of ‘optic’-al illusion created by The Terrorist-Appeaser MSM, targeted the “…swooning press corps and the drug addled koolaid drinking throwback flower power neo-hippies back home.”
And all this going on in Berlin while your pisswilly “candidate” was wandering around a grocery store, complaining, and then actually campaigning in a German restaurant, the Fudge Tunnel I believe it read on the sign.
We all know what would’ve happened if Obama had visited the soldiers at Landsduhl. Since being in Berlin was on the campaign-financed leg of the trip, you’d have all called it another “campaign stunt.” You girls just can’t be satisfied unless somebody is raping you. Somebody like Dick Cheney or Don Rumsfeld or some KBR slob.
By the way, all the video that came out while Obama was in Afghanistan and Iraq–with all the cheering troops, the basketball shot, etc.–was precessed by the Department of Defense.
hmmmm, yes, and how many of those citizens will vote for Obama?
and? ooooh, you really think Obama wouldn’t complain if he didn’t like the video that came out? that would be a first.
Caleb
Fair point dude, but last time I checked, German Citizens won’t get a chance to vote in the US Elections. Unless they’re flown into Chicago and given the voting slip ‘owned’ by some American who died 20 years ago.
um, also Bod, we’re forgetting it’s really a popularity contest.
“the roughly TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND citizens who showed up to greet Obama in Berlin”
Right. German citizens. Huge crowd. Who denied that he drew it?
“And all this going on in Berlin”
And this somehow adds to the monumental greatness of Obama? People travel to Berlin all the time. It’s a huge, major city. American school teachers take field trips there. This should be awe inspiring?
“your pisswilly “candidate†was wandering around a grocery store, complaining, and then actually campaigning in a German restaurant”
Classy. And feeble old John McCain is puttering around po-dunk America right? “Wandering” of course – the feeble, senile old man wondering where he is. Never traveled anywhere the man of course. But holy fucking shit Obama is talking in BERLIN!!!
“We all know what would’ve happened if Obama had visited the soldiers at Landsduhl.”
Is that so? So are you Miss Cleo or Dionne Warwick?
“You girls just can’t be satisfied unless somebody is raping you.”
Wow you really are a juvenile little cretin.
“By the way, all the video that came out while Obama was in Afghanistan and Iraq–with all the cheering troops, the basketball shot, etc.–was precessed by the Department of Defense.”
Ooh and Jimmy Hoffa is buried in Giants’ Stadium! And no reporter has complained of being shut out by the campaign, right?
Yeah, somehow I’m thinking that DoD isn’t going to put out video of all the troops who were not at all interested in meeting Obama. People volunteer and go to the events.
And while in a prior thread I commented that I thought the crowd in Berlin being subdued was a German thing, the US press there seems to be reporting that the stuff about how changing presidents did not mean that Germany was going to be let off the hook in terms of the war just did not go over well.
Even so, I’m sure Axelrod got some usable footage to edit.
Obama: the next David Hasselhoff!
E. Nough,
The Politico beat you to it.
“the roughly TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND citizens who showed up to greet Obama in Berlin”
Wow, and to think the David Hasselhoff concert in 1989 drew 500,000 people. Congrats Obama, you’re not as popular as your fluffers tell you.
Aye, that they did. Thanks for the update. I like “the Opacity of Hype” quip from one of the commenters.
The comments are great, particularly by the thin-skinned, humorless Obama supporters. It’s hilarious how devoid of wit they are. One chastised people that they are “f’n jealous of this brilliant young man” and then offered: “Get on Board. Let us all put our shoulders to the wheel and restore the real meaning of American democracy to the world.”
The Obama campaign is the political equivalent of Scientology mixed with bizarre Soviet-realism poster sloganeering.
On excusing German’s love for Hasselhoff: “…Their robust economy…would be a dream for most Americans right now. …”
That’s some high comedy right there.
96. When I was in Berlin I never saw so many able bodied young people literally idling hours upon hours away in cafes and bars on any given day of the week. A random person I talked to at a bar who was obviously a working professional scoffed at his fellow Berlin citizens – “Nobody works. Everyone goes on the fookin’ dole.”
For some reason, everyone neglects to mention that Obama spoke at a Free Concert.
Maybe all those thousands of young Germans turned up for the two bands that were playing instead of coming to hear a speach in english.
Nah, Obama’s charisma is so powerful it transcends language.
More Kool Aid anyone?
I’m perfectly willing to believe that 200,000 Germans turned out to listen to Obama speak. I’m just not sure why it matters.
E. Nough. Me, too.
Just 200,000 average German Joes, yearning for hope and change — that and a pliable sucker in the White House, primed by an elite education to be easily seduced by mendacious European diplomats, snookered by third world charlatans posing as men of the people, and impressed or intimidated by totalitarian gangsters posing as statesmen.
The whole trip has been creepy, like when I’m in China watching CCTV’s coverage of Chinese leaders traveling abroad. All smiles-and-handshakes-and-glowing-receptions-and-hailing-the-historic-relationship-between-our-two-countries pablum.
Today’s rally was more like those Reagan-era anti-Pershing missile protests, the International Answer/European Social Forum rowdiness at every economic summit, and the Soviet-inspired and financed anti-Vietnam war ‘movement’ in Europe — all presented to us by politically-compromised ‘news’ media as simply spontaneous demonstrations of genuine public sentiment.
And to think, people are celebrating this shite.
It matters because they’re Europeans. And some Obama supporters sound like they were the kind of kids in a small town, who wore a beret all through high school to show how worldly and sophisticated they were.
poppa:
Yes, insecure teenagers who just want to be liked, trying to impress parents who always scold and never approve. Co-dependency, no? Paraphrasing Mark Steyn, you think we’d have settled this matter in 1776, and made it more clear in the two centuries hence.
100. But Vinny don’t you know that in the realm of global affairs, only the United States and Israel are by default dishonest brokers and forces for bad preventing the world from reaching it fullest transcendent potential? Every other personality that appears on the world stage is either a brilliant artiste-poet-charge d’affaires of Europe or the leader of a romantic, anti-imperialist liberation movement. This sad state of affairs will CLEARLY change for the better upon Obama’s coronation.
Jack X:
Precisely. The very orientation of the planets will change upon His coronation.
And, yes, yes, of course we’re evil, and anyone challenging us enjoys default credibility. But, it’s a mommy-daddy-I-hate-you sort of thing.
Which is why ‘world opinion’ can often be an excellent ‘reverse barometer’ of what’s right and wrong. I could start with Copernicus and work my way forward to ‘irrational fear of communism’ and ‘global warming’ to demonstrate the vaqrious instances when received wisdom has been wrong . . . but that would be an insult to the PW community.
The last African-American that a large Berlin crowd applauded was Jesse Owens.
History matters.
Tiger Woods doesn’t count?
“The last African-American that a large Berlin crowd applauded was Jesse Owens.”
“History matters.”
It certainly does. You should try reading some of it every now and then.
History is a matter of perspective, right Thor?
Make it how you want it.
More than Milli Vanilli but not as much as Obama.
Jesse Owens pandered to various German prejudices and misconceptions? Who knew?
IIRC, I think he turned certain wacky Aryan notions on their respective heads?
Maybe Germany is one of the secret 7 other states nobody else knows about.
53:Comment by Brett Keller on 7/24 @ 4:45 pm #
It seems to me that the surge may not be the only (or necessarily the largest) reason for the security gains in Iraq, so opposing the surge is not tantamount to being “just fine with Iraq descending into genocidal chaos.†If it had been Obama’s decision in the first place–rather than Bush’s–Iraq wouldn’t even be the “major base for al Qaeda†that it is today.
So what you’re saying is, you agree with The Flypaper Strategy?
Pakistan wouldn’t be the “major base (relatively speaking, we’ve come a long way post 2001) for al Qaeda” that it is today if the US hadn’t chased them all out of Afghanistan. The ones they didn’t kill off, at least.
But charge the light brigades, says Gen. Obama.
(It’s unclear whether the majority of the elements in Iraq that self-define as al Qaeda are actually capable of hurting the US outside of Iraq.) And I also think it’s too soon to say whether the surge and the other circumstances that have reduced the violence in Iraq will result in a long term peace, especially so long as the presence of American forces inflames local sentiment.
Is it more, or less clear than the majority of the elements that self defined as al Qaeda were actually capable of hurting the US outside of Kenya, the Sudan, and Afghanistan in 1999?
105. Comment by thor on 7/24 @ 10:57 pm #
Comment by E. Nough on 7/24 @ 9:19 pm #
I’m perfectly willing to believe that 200,000 Germans turned out to listen to Obama speak. I’m just not sure why it matters.
The last African-American that a large Berlin crowd applauded was Jesse Owens.
History matters.
Cos MLK got a round of boos when he spoke in West Berlin.
Oh, and Brett’s ” If it had been Obama’s decision in the first place–rather than Bush’s–” quip gets to the heart of what is truly the matter for his coalition.
No, it isn’t unclear. The majority of the elements that self define as al-Qaeda in Iraq are dead or captured. The rest are busy full time engaging in self-preservation.
No, it isn’t unclear. The majority of the elements that self define as al-Qaeda in Iraq are dead or captured.
It still sends “tingles up my leg” to know that Zarqawi’s last vision was a US Special Ops soldier.
Actually, I think Zarqawi’s last vision was the roof of the building that got dropped on him courtesy of an F/A-18 if I’m not mistaken.
What his speach really ment
Thank you for the free publicity.
I come as a citizen of the world
I know I look different, but poor parents caused it.
My dad ran away from Kenya because of the tyranny.
I am here to give you credit for what Americans did to unify Germany.
In spite of the Airlift and the expense of the american people to keep East Berlin open.
A partnership was created and sixty years later you turned against us in the war on terror and stood with me against Bush.
The communist blockade proved that Patton was right.
Thank you for giving terrorists a place to plot against the evil greenhouse gas creators.
Because of the interference of America, the tyrants who kept the heroin, nuclear bombs and civilian uprisings supressed are gone, so I want to partner with you and put the UN in charge of all military to replace of the tyrants and despots with more powerful tyrants and despots that will do everyting for us.
They will remove all ability to defend ourselves and yourselves, collect all of the nuclear weapons so that they and they alone will be able to hold any country hostage to terrorism and violence.
We must transfer the wealth that people have worked hard all their lives for and give it to 3rd world contries that have been downtrodded by regimes that have stolen the food and medicine that has so generously been given by Charities, so those regimes can support the new world order and build up their wealth, like Saddam.
Will we stand for Human rights of terrorists, rapists, murderers and tyrants? Think of the poor defensless detainees at Gitmo.
I know my country is not perfect, actually far inferior to you wonderful europeans, but the intentions of the forefathers were good even though they messed up the entire world.
Things will get so much better, terrorists will love us and all of the violence in the world will stop, once America is ruled by the UN, all of the wealth is transferred to the poor and no one can defend them selves.
Then people will know the defenition of freedom.
[…] my initial take on Barack Obama’s speech in Berlin, I wrote: Substantively, I welcomed his call for more […]