Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[rjs246]

So I was basically indifferent about Obama's speech yesterday (some of it was great, some of it was pure revisionist history to pander to the Muslim audience), but I did love the fact that he managed to distance himself slightly from the unholy rub-and-tug relationship that the US has had with Israel.

[reese125]

yes he catered to the history of the Muslim world which brought praise and applause amongst those in the audience...and he brightened the image of the US, but I dont think the best speech writers in the world nor can Obama bring peace to the modern war that is/has been going on over in that shteinhole

its a valiant effort, but as long as there is strong ties with Israel its going to be groundhogs day for a very long time over there

[ice grillin you]

newsflash reece...no one in the world thought/thinks a speech can bring peace to the middle east

but thanks for bringing that to our attention

[reese125]

yep cause thats what I was hoping for today

a breaking news update on CNN that said, "Obama did it....peace in the middle east!"

stop trying

[Diomedes]

...some of it was pure revisionist history....

I've only heard clips.  Explain.

[Magical_Retard]

...some of it was pure revisionist history....

I've only heard clips.  Explain.

I assume he means the things Barack mentioned Islam, Muslims, or the ME region have provided society over time.

[Diomedes]

How would that be revisionist?

[rjs246]

I'll dig up the specific examples I was talking about later if you'll just keep your pants on.

[Diomedes]

But they're getting so tight from thinking about your impending response.

[rjs246]

...some of it was pure revisionist history....

I've only heard clips.  Explain.

I'm going to cut and paste a lot of this as others can put it more intelligently and succinctly than I could. He tries repeatedly to draw parallels that are tenuous at best and sort of dangerous in how they could be interpreted...

- He mentioned how "Islam has always been a part of America's story." He said: "In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, 'The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.' " That made the treaty sound like a celebration of American-Muslim partnership when in reality it was a treaty whereby the U.S. paid substantial bribes to the ruler of Tripoli in return for a cessation of attacks on American shipping by his corsairs. Tripoli didn't keep its promises, and the result was America's first overseas conflict - the Barbary Wars fought against the Muslim states of North Africa.

- He glossed up the shocking denial of women's rights in many Muslim countries, and made a comparison to the lives of women in America today ("the struggle for women's equality ... in many aspects of American life"). They are in no way equivalent and to suggest that they are is borderline irresponsible.

- He said: "Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's." Based on past negotiations and public statements, most Israeli leaders don't deny Palestine's right to exist as a Muslim state as long as it is willing to live in peace, whereas almost all Palestinian leaders have shown no comparable willingness to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. (As an aside, Palestinian leaders have also taken billions of dollars over the years from supporting countries and built no roads or courthouses or any recognizable infrastructure during their struggle. These are the things that would show that they are ready to govern their people and provide basic services. They've spent their money largely on guerrilla warfare instead. Now, Israel is partially to blame for that, of course, but to have not even made cursory efforts to tend to basic infrastructural needs of a country shows a lack of priorities and makes their own case less convincing to the western world.)

- He also said, "In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians." That is accepting the narrative of the Iranian Revolution, which holds that America's role in overthrowing Mossadeq more than half a century ago is just as bad as the campaign of mass murder and kidnapping that Iran continues to support today.


Now I think that our allegiance with Israel is absurd and I applaud Omaba's efforts to narrow the gap of our relations with the Muslim world, even in the face of the Israelis. But I wish he would have stuck a little more to policy and done a little less moral equivalency.

[fansince61]

newsflash reece...no one in the world thought/thinks a speech can bring peace to the middle east

but thanks for bringing that to our attention

There were a lot of things in his speech I liked but was GREATFUL he said the War in Iraq was a war of choice and the war in Afghan was a war of necessity

[reese125]

Im having a real hard time believing that you just capitalized that word..actually...scratch that

[ATV]

That is accepting the narrative of the Iranian Revolution, which holds that America's role in overthrowing Mossadeq more than half a century ago is just as bad as the campaign of mass murder and kidnapping that Iran continues to support today.

I think there would be a lot of pissed off people, for many generations, if an outside power were to infiltrate and overthrow our democratically elected goverment.

[rjs246]

What you're failing to factor in is that you're an idiot.

[ATV]

There you go again. That's just not very nice.