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I actually feel sorry for Obama for this one.

post #1 of 25
4/19/09 at 12:02pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...tega-diatribe/

Quote:
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago -- President Obama endured a 50-minute diatribe from socialist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that lashed out at a century of what he called terroristic U.S. aggression in Central America and included a rambling denunciation of the U.S.-imposed isolation of Cuba's Communist government.

Obama sat mostly unmoved during the speech but at times jotted notes. The speech was part of the opening ceremonies at the fifth Summit of the Americas here.
That must have been hard to take.

I am thinking he should have gotten up and walked out, what say you all?
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post #2 of 25
4/19/09 at 12:26pm
You think he'll go home and tell Carter what a crackpot Ortega is?

Of course, this sort of thing goes on all the time, nothing new about it, so I guess we just have to take it in stride.
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post #3 of 25
4/19/09 at 3:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009...tega-diatribe/



That must have been hard to take.

I am thinking he should have gotten up and walked out, what say you all?
I tend to think the same way. But I just have the tiny inkling that Obama just sitting through the whole thing in a kind of "meh" fashion probably irritated Ortega far more than his walking out would have.
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post #4 of 25
4/19/09 at 4:13pm
I don't know why it would be hard to take, just hard to sit thru.

I like his come back later:

Quote:
To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We've all heard these arguments before."
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post #5 of 25
4/19/09 at 4:50pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Momofmany View Post
I don't know why it would be hard to take, just hard to sit thru.

I like his come back later:
That is a good come back.
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post #6 of 25
4/20/09 at 12:15pm
I don't feel sorry for Obama. I am sorry that our country has a president who goes on an "Apologizing for America" tour first to Europe and then South America.

I do not think his "comeback" to Ortega's diatribe was a good one because of this sentence: "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old." Yes, the now familiar "Don't blame me, I wasn't there, I was a child..." excuse.

A person needs a healthy ego to be President, but could Obama be any more focused on himself? How many more times will he use this type of excuse (regarding William Ayers: "I was eight years old when Ayers was blowing up the Pentagon...) to distance himself from tough issues?

Note to Obama: This is not about you. It is about the United States and representing the American people and their interests. It is not about apologizing for them, nor is it about trying to get yourself "off the hook" when a Marxist goes on a rant against your country.
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post #7 of 25
4/20/09 at 12:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KTLynn View Post
I don't feel sorry for Obama. I am sorry that our country has a president who goes on an "Apologizing for America" tour first to Europe and then South America.

I do not think his "comeback" to Ortega's diatribe was a good one because of this sentence: "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old." Yes, the now familiar "Don't blame me, I wasn't there, I was a child..." excuse.

A person needs a healthy ego to be President, but could Obama be any more focused on himself? How many more times will he use this type of excuse (regarding William Ayers: "I was eight years old when Ayers was blowing up the Pentagon...) to distance himself from tough issues?

Note to Obama: This is not about you. It is about the United States and representing the American people and their interests. It is not about apologizing for them, nor is it about trying to get yourself "off the hook" when a Marxist goes on a rant against your country.
I thought his comeback was a "tongue-in-cheek" remark rather than an apology. I cannot see it as an apology at all. Goes to show how we each interpret what is said in different ways.

I have to agree with him - it's time to put the past behind us and move on.
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post #8 of 25
4/20/09 at 12:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Yosemite View Post
I thought his comeback was a "tongue-in-cheek" remark rather than an apology. I cannot see it as an apology at all. Goes to show how we each interpret what is said in different ways.

I have to agree with him - it's time to put the past behind us and move on.
I don't see any apology in that either.
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post #9 of 25
4/20/09 at 2:05pm
Thread Starter 
I would have walked out for sure. I think KTLynn is right, his constant apologies for America are getting really old.

Is he, at least, going through the loooonnnnngggg list of how this country has helped others countries?
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post #10 of 25
4/20/09 at 2:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
I would have walked out for sure. I think KTLynn is right, his constant apologies for America are getting really old.

Is he, at least, going through the loooonnnnngggg list of how this country has helped others countries?
Every time I've read of some politician or dignitary walking out of a function in protest, I've always thought "oh, waaa", no matter who it was. It didn't accomplish anything other than letting the speaking know that they'd gotten to whoever they meant to get to. I felt that sitting there and basically ignoring the rant was far more demeaning of the speakers point that a public validation of walking out.

As for the help statement, that would actually be opening up a new source of debate after all the help that was offered by a loooooonnnnnnggggg list of other countries after the Katrina disaster. It makes no difference that the help was refused merely to preserve the "help them but nobody ever helps us" diatribe. They were there for us if we needed it.
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post #11 of 25
4/20/09 at 3:01pm
Thread Starter 
Yes, Katrina is off topic for this thread.

I see some people walked out on the big UN shindig today on Racism.
I have to say I am glad we boycotted this one.
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post #12 of 25
4/20/09 at 3:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
Yes, Katrina is off topic for this thread.

I see some people walked out on the big UN shindig today on Racism.
I have to say I am glad we boycotted this one.
Katrina is perfectly on topic of countries helping other countries, a subject that you brought up.

As the US, along with numerous other countries, didn't attend the conference to be able to walk out on it, that would appear in the same vein as "off topic"
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post #13 of 25
4/20/09 at 3:52pm
Thread Starter 
I didn't say that no one ever helps us, but I certainly don't think the Katrina failures with regards to foreign offers of help were to:
Quote:
preserve the "help them but nobody ever helps us" diatribe.
That doesn't seem logical to me. But refusing help wasn't logical either I guess.


But to get back on topic, the dude could have given some good with all that bad he was dishing out for goodness sakes.
It is like many feel America is just this big evil empire that doesn't have one redeeming quality and that just isn't true.
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post #14 of 25
4/20/09 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
I didn't say that no one ever helps us, but I certainly don't think the Katrina failures with regards to foreign offers of help were to:


That doesn't seem logical to me. But refusing help wasn't logical either I guess.
Logic sometimes plays a very small, if any, part in politics.


Quote:
But to get back on topic, the dude could have given some good with all that bad he was dishing out for goodness sakes.
It is like many feel America is just this big evil empire that doesn't have one redeeming quality and that just isn't true.
If we had said one or two things positive about Iran over the last year or so, I'd be inclined to agree. But, it just appears like middle eastern quid pro quo.

As for thinking Obama should have walked out, I completely disagree. Walking out, or "dropping" a subject, IMO simply shows an inability to defend one's position. If a subject, issue or cause is truly rational or righteous, then it can always be defended. If defending that subject, issue or cause merely generates more questions that can't be answered, or frustration to the point of walking out, then perhaps it's not as rational or logical as originally thought.

Myself, I think Obama should have taken a nap through the entire thing...that would have really gotten the dude's dander up.
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post #15 of 25
4/20/09 at 6:24pm
Thread Starter 
Did Obama "defend his position"?

Tell me something positive we could have said about Iran. I think we have told the people of Iran we have no quarrel with them. But the President of Iran is a nutcase that constantly says the, "Holocaust never happened" and talks about how they want to "wipe Israel off the map".

Maybe there is something positive about Iran we could have said, I just don't know what it is.

It just seems like Obama keeps apologizing for this country and meekly accepting all the outrageous things people like Hugo and Abedinejad
and Ortega spew about him and this country. It is embarrassing to me.

BUT then I think of what it says in Scripture, "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth" it just won't be in this lifetime.
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post #16 of 25
4/20/09 at 6:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
Did Obama "defend his position"?
Yes, simply by not retreating, as so many others would have done by walking out.

Quote:
Tell me something positive we could have said about Iran. I think we have told the people of Iran we have no quarrel with them. But the President of Iran is a nutcase that constantly says the, "Holocaust never happened" and talks about how they want to "wipe Israel off the map".

Maybe there is something positive about Iran we could have said, I just don't know what it is.
Excellent point. In light of our referring to their leaders constantly as "nutcases", tell me something positive Iran could say about the US.

Maybe there is something positive about the US that Iran could have said, but they just don't know what it is.

Quote:
It just seems like Obama keeps apologizing for this country and meekly accepting all the outrageous things people like Hugo and Abedinejad
and Ortega spew about him and this country. It is embarrassing to me.

BUT then I think of what it says in Scripture, "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth" it just won't be in this lifetime.
If that is true, then "the meek" will probably be the various earth faiths and the bushmen, the one's who will remain after "the big 3" have killed each other fighting over semantics.
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post #17 of 25
4/20/09 at 7:20pm
Thread Starter 
I call 'em like I see 'em and he IS a nutcase IMO, just like anyone that is a Holocaust denier and wants to wipe a people off the face of the Earth. I don't give a person like that to much credibility.
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post #18 of 25
4/20/09 at 9:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
I call 'em like I see 'em and he IS a nutcase IMO, just like anyone that is a Holocaust denier and wants to wipe a people off the face of the Earth. I don't give a person like that to much credibility.
Then why does it make any difference at all what he says?

Does anyone other than me feel that it's just comical that all the pundits that insult the President, his administration and his plans nearly every time they're on the air, are now worried sick about someone insulting the President?
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post #19 of 25
4/21/09 at 5:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skippymjp View Post
Then why does it make any difference at all what he says?

Does anyone other than me feel that it's just comical that all the pundits that insult the President, his administration and his plans nearly every time they're on the air, are now worried sick about someone insulting the President?
You should be a judge - you are so good at seeing thru the spin & the hyperbole!!!!
I am sure that if our President had gotten up & walked off, he would have been called a coward, baby, and sissy (or similar terms). by those who now deride him for sitting through it all!
there's an old saying "the dogs will bark at the passersby no matter which way he goes!"
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post #20 of 25
4/21/09 at 5:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skippymjp View Post
Then why does it make any difference at all what he says?

Does anyone other than me feel that it's just comical that all the pundits that insult the President, his administration and his plans nearly every time they're on the air, are now worried sick about someone insulting the President?
No Mike, you are not alone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by catsknowme View Post
You should be a judge - you are so good at seeing thru the spin & the hyperbole!!!!
I am sure that if our President had gotten up & walked off, he would have been called a coward, baby, and sissy (or similar terms). by those who now deride him for sitting through it all!
there's an old saying "the dogs will bark at the passersby no matter which way he goes!"
Ain't it the truth.

I've said from the beginning, he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.
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post #21 of 25
4/21/09 at 7:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skippymjp View Post
Then why does it make any difference at all what he says?

Does anyone other than me feel that it's just comical that all the pundits that insult the President, his administration and his plans nearly every time they're on the air, are now worried sick about someone insulting the President?
1. Ummm, perhaps because he is trying his best to develop nuclear weapons so he can wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.\\

2. When the heads of other countries insult our President they are insulting our country IMO.

To me, it is a tad different when it is Americans criticizing our President. But that's just me.
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post #22 of 25
4/21/09 at 2:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
1. Ummm, perhaps because he is trying his best to develop nuclear weapons so he can wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.\\

2. When the heads of other countries insult our President they are insulting our country IMO.

To me, it is a tad different when it is Americans criticizing our President. But that's just me.
1. He doesn't have too. Everyone is so worried about Iran that they don't even appear to be watching the extremists taking over Pakistan, with their nuclear arsenal already in place, large modern military and nuclear delivery systems. But of course, Iran saying mean things is so much more important.

2. When pundits on cable/sat news networks insult the President, they are insulting our country in front of the entire world. Sometimes I wonder if our news agencies even realize that they can be seen outside of the US.

People like Limbaugh and Riley are not criticizing, they are insulting. Same-same. And some of the things they seem to be claiming are "direct insults" to the President from other governments are, IMO, less insulting than some of the things they have said.
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post #23 of 25
4/21/09 at 7:57pm
Thread Starter 
Skippy, I assume when you say "Riley" you mean Bill O'Reilly and I can't tell you how many times I have heard Bill O'Reilly defend Barack Obama.
That is one thing I really like about him, he calls it like he sees it.

Believe it or not there are things I agree with Obama on.
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post #24 of 25
4/21/09 at 7:59pm
Thread Starter 
And you are wrong, about me, at least, if Obama had gotten up and walked out I would have said, "RIGHT ON BARACK"

Maybe it is better that he just sat there, I don't know, but I think it sucked that he was subjected to that.
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post #25 of 25
4/21/09 at 9:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv View Post
And you are wrong, about me, at least, if Obama had gotten up and walked out I would have said, "RIGHT ON BARACK"

Maybe it is better that he just sat there, I don't know, but I think it sucked that he was subjected to that.
I actually agree with you totally that some kind of reaction was needed. And I'm afraid that Obama has already waited too long for any kind of meaningful response. But I still don't think that walking out would have been the way to handle it.

Shortly after becoming King of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah sat in a meeting where Israel had the floor. Instead of walking out, he listened attentively, spoke to his adjustant a couple of times, and remained for the entire presentation even though he no doubt disagreed with most of it. Any other Saudi King would have walked out.

Obama really needed to show himself to be at least as big a man as King Abdullah, if not bigger.
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