Monday, January 26, 2009

President Obama Does First Formal TV Interview as President with Al-Arabiya

This is wrong on so many levels...

16 comments:

Jim said...

Wrong? Why? He's done any number of formal interviews with any number of networks and cable channels up to now. If he had done this interview before taking office, you would have griped. Now he takes an opportunity to talk to the Arab world as he sends his envoy off to try to work on solutions instead of threats or nothing from the past administration.

Anonymous said...

why?

if he had chosen to speak to arutz sheva, which specifically broadcasts to talmudist extremists and radicals, would you have had such a problem with it?

serious things are brewing in the middle east, it is better to have some sort of authoritative presence in their media, even if it is barky, the infidel, LOL!

Anonymous said...

Oh no, BHO is talking with the enemy! He'll probably give more "formal interviews" in his first year than GWB gave in 8 yrs. What a travesty!

Anonymous said...

if the emiratis are the "enemy", why was it okay for the bush crime family to approve handing over our ports over to them?

our relationships with ALL of these nations are totally distorted!

jhbowden said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jhbowden said...

This is The Triumph of the Therapeutic in the worst way.

It reminds me of progressive parents I often see in grocery stores. While the kid is trashing up the place, the progressive parent, acting like the kid is in charge, tries to plead and reason with "Please stop for Mommy! Please! Please! Why are you upset!" Sometimes they offer a candy bar as a concession. All they end up doing is reinforcing bad behavior.

Anonymous said...

So Americans are sorta the parents of naughty Muslims? Interesting analogy.

Anonymous said...

jason, your idea of "progressive" could run the gamut from susan sarandon, to geert wilders, to moshe feiglin, so, a bit of clarification, please?

"progressives" generally don't HAVE children, because they quite genuinely aren't willing to expend the energy to parent (which is jake by me!), so, do you REALLY want to get into what particular demographic of parental unit fails to discipline their children, and allows them to run their mouths, and everything else, in inappropriate places? Hmmmm..

Nay...better yet! Answer me one question.

When your back is to the wall...which shall you choose?

"Progressivism", or serfdom?

And, once you've made your choice, do you think you'd acknowledge it to yourself?

Anonymous said...

"So Americans are sorta the parents of naughty Muslims? Interesting analogy..."

refer to the quickly-forgotten "clean break" memo, for additional backup...they NEED to be prodded, provoked, and bombed into oblivion

how else do you stir up a batch of "instant enemy"?

jhbowden said...

hash--

Religious supremacists *are* my enemies. I prefer them extra-crispy.

You guys are always (correctly) saying that there are good Muslims and a minority of bad Muslims. Asking evil Islamists to sit down on the couch and talk about their feelings isn't going to stop what they're doing in India, in Russia, in the Philippines and other locations. Sure, we're the Great Satan, but not because we're a bully like the progressives say; rather, our omnipresent pop culture is seen to undermine local traditional values. The reaction against us has a lot to do with the prospect of independent women, open homosexuality, and a cluster of similar issues.

Anonymous said...

"Religious supremacists *are* my enemies. I prefer them extra-crispy..."

ah, an evangelical atheist??

"You guys are always (correctly) saying that there are good Muslims and a minority of bad Muslims..."

no, i'm not, because it is unimportant

when dealing with geopolitical and sociological concerns, i have my beliefs, and i have my opinions, my beliefs are only useful as a moral compass and to explain my own opinions, as history

again, would you choose progressivism, to save yourself from serfdom? it is not a difficult question....

"Asking evil Islamists..."

boring, and hysterically funny, since there are more pervasive forms of evil you've seen fit to make peace with, whereas i'm approaching this with an eye toward formulating solid, practical, workable, cohesive american foreign policy, with an aim to prevail

"talk about their feelings..."

who cares, when formulating effective foreign policy? nothing i've said here, could remotely give you any reason, to compare me with geraldo...

"The reaction against us has a lot to do with the prospect of independent women, open homosexuality, and a cluster of similar issues..."

and there is no shortage of hatred toward us from talibanesque christian factions, "religious" zionists, even huge, powerful nations governed by marxist precepts and organized crime, who will attack us, and join up against us, for whatever twisted reasons...my point is, NONE of them are allies, and to align with them, simply because of their own internecine vendettas and the fact that we are militarily vulnerable at this point, is foolishness

i am a firm believer, that, if we are to arm ourselves against foreign aggressors, lets arm ourselves against them ALL, rather than foster false allegiances and build up tomorrow's enemies, which will only come back to bite us in the ass later

shut off the foreign aid spigot, use our resources to double our military budget, take care of the homeland for once

Anonymous said...

Non-issue to me.

No matter what he did (whether it was arabic, chinese, european or american), they would have found a reason to blame him.

If he gives inerview to any channel other than Fox, it would be "liberal bias". If it's Fox, it will an "opportunistic/shrewd" move.

Here is what he could have done - Invite a reporter from each channel and give them a chance to ask a few questions - More like a press conference! It would have made everyone happy (or equally unhappy) lol

Anonymous said...

seriously, i think it was a mea culpa to the muslim world alone, to indicate they would no longer be completely ignored, diplomatically

it was probably unwise to make that interview the FIRST one he granted

other than that, i agree that he'll be roasted alive by the neocons no matter what he did, but remember, the neocons have a specific, microtargeted agenda, that rarely dovetail with the interests of america, and americans

so he's gonna get that anyway, much the same way carter is demonized, every time he has the temerity, as a former president, to (gasp!) actually express an opinion that most americans dare not voice

either way, i don't hold out much hope, but at least this is better than feeling strapped down and beaten, year after year after year

neocons see negotiation and discussion as surrender, yet they never seem to triumph on the battlefield, either

jhbowden said...

"again, would you choose progressivism, to save yourself from serfdom?"

This is like asking who would win a football game, Mike Ditka or God. It is a trick question -- Mike Ditka *is* God my friend.

Progressivism *is* serfdom buddy. I'd rather be in charge of my own life; we don't need stupid theocrats and bureaucrats telling us what to do.

Anonymous said...

"Mike Ditka *is* God my friend..."

not mine

"I'd rather be in charge of my own life..."

are you?

Ron said...

The reaction against us has a lot to do with the prospect of independent women, open homosexuality, and a cluster of similar issues.


This is where your view is so distorted it is dangerous, to your life and mine. That shit has nothing, repeat NOTHING to do with it at all. This is the part where the rightists are totally and completely brainwashed and over come with dangerous patriotism. The reason they hate us..all of them, be moslems, latin american countries, you name it, is that we have used our power in the name of corporations to rob and steal from the people. How do I know this? All you have to do is ask them. This is what Osama says, this is what Hugo says, this is what everybody that opposes us says.That is absolutely the truth and if you cant see that you are blind, blind, dangerously blind- to our country and yourself.
Respond if you must but anything other than this will prove to me how uninformed and childish you really are kid. I like to think of you as intelligent but here you are dumb,dumb, dumb.