USVI-On-Line

So President Obama gave his first television interview as president with a middle eastern television network. Fine, no problem with that. Bush gave interviews to the same network on several occasions throughout his tenure.

What I have a problem with is this statement from Obama during the interview:

"We cannot paint Islam with a broad brush".

Who was doing that? When the new president is speaking directly to the Islamic world, and makes a comment like that on behalf of me, I find that insulting. It only serves to stoke the flames of the propaganda that has been running rampant in that part of the world for a decade now.

Nobody with half a brain has ever thought, much less acted as though all of Islam is knee deep in terorrism. Poor, poor choice of words by Obama, which again, only perpetuates this myth.

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soxfan22 wrote:So President Obama gave his first television interview as president with a middle eastern television network. Fine, no problem with that. Bush gave interviews to the same network on several occasions throughout his tenure.

What I have a problem with is this statement from Obama during the interview:

"We cannot paint Islam with a broad brush".

Who was doing that? When the new president is speaking directly to the Islamic world, and makes a comment like that on behalf of me, I find that insulting. It only serves to stoke the flames of the propaganda that has been running rampant in that part of the world for a decade now.

Nobody with half a brain has ever thought, much less acted as though all of Islam is knee deep in terorrism. Poor, poor choice of words by Obama, which again, only perpetuates this myth.

soxfan, you know as well as anyone that many people have equated islam with terrorism. it's a stereotype but it has happened all over this country. so i think you are being disingenuous to say otherwise.

why don't you give this guy a chance before you start on your rants--i mean he's been in office all of a week and you and the rest of the right wing on this thread have gone gob smack on some supposed socialist agenda (maybe you didn't say this IN particular and i don't need your 'quote' back) if this guy si a socialist then i am someone far to the right -- anyway, if you just did some watchful waiting--you might be pleasantly surprised --and before you go burying your money in your mayo jar perhaps, if you haven't already, you might avail yourself of krugman's op-ed in the NYT yesterday--frankly the situation sucks, however, i think that he offers a very considered opinion.

Nothing but good can come of the US making overt gestures of a genuine desire to build bridges with the overwhelming peaceful and moderate majority of the muslim world. Also positive is an approach that makes it clear that we are not the ultimate problem solvers.

I particularly liked this statement: "Ultimately, we cannot tell either the Israelis or the Palestinians what's best for them. They're going to have to make some decisions," Obama said. "But I do believe that the moment is ripe for both sides to realize that the path that they are on is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people - and that, instead, it's time to return to the negotiating table."

To take the "America is evil" argument away from the far extreme element is a very smart move, but one that will take a tremendous amount of work and consistency to pay dividends.

Still, a bold step in the right direction.

I thought Bush spent seven years making this point, but doing so by directly appealing to the muslim world. Anytime he gave a national addres or a white house briefing about the subject, he was always sure to say somthing to the effect of "we know you are a peaceful people, and our wrath is not directed at you"...I believe even at one point appealing to the people of Iran to stand up against their "leadership"...etc.

But when you go on that network and say that "The United States should not paint Islam with a broad brush"...Well, it just infers that in the past we had done so, and now things are gonna change. I thought it something a more seasoned diplomat/statesman wouldn't have said.

And Loria...As for his not being a socialist agenda...Please take a look at this "bailout plan" in depth. Again, this is HIS plan, with no Republican influence, at this point. And now we have the birth control out, but $200 million in for ACORN. The Dems also tried to sneak that into the last bill, but backlash from the public forced them to takle that out...This time it's under the guise of "Neighborhood Development" or something to that effect.

I'm all for giving the guy a chance, BUT...His first 100 days will be when he tries to spend his political capital, as he's doing now. As a conservative, there is no better time than now to pay attention.

Also, I have no interest in "giving him a chance" to saddle my children with a 1.1 trillion dollar debt that will render our dollar worthless - so that we can have new grass on the Mall in DC, millions for a very corrupt organization (ACORN), and millions for the study of "Global Warming" - more snow tomorrow!!!. No thanks.

yeah, lets take birth control out..that's really smart.

loria wrote:yeah, lets take birth control out..that's really smart.

I believe they took all that money for birth control out family planning out and replaced it with this ACORN $$$.

Hey, Nancy Pelosi said that contraceptives and family planning will actually save the healthcare system money. It "reduces costs", were her words. Huh, so less people means less costs. I'm really starting to get this liberal thing!

sox, you really aren't that naive, right? these ill/unconsidered opinions are really sort of beneath what i would have expected from you.....sort of....., well, maybe not......





anyway, whatever.

Um, those weren't my thoughts...they were Nancy Pelosi's.

NEWSFLASH:

And now news of the political world:

President-Democrat
House-Democrats
Senate-Democrats
Whining-Republicans

Now back to your regular scheduled program.

Obama seems to feel he has to apologize for Amaerica. I hope our president figures out that we are the "good guys".

Speaking of deficits, I thought this was an interesting graphic.

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SJ-You can be part of the problem or you can be part of the solution. I think we've figured out which you intend to be.

One final thought--you better get on the train now, because when it leaves the station, you're out in the cold.

flip-flop wrote:Speaking of deficits, I thought this was an interesting graphic.

Wow! Looks like crap really hit the fan in...2001. Wonder what the heck happened then?