Obama bombs in Berlin: a weak, underwhelming address from a floundering president

[Marcus Aurelius]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100222637/barack-obama-bombs-in-berlin-a-weak-underwhelming-address-from-a-floundering-president/


When John F. Kennedy delivered his “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate on June 26, 1963, 450,000 people flocked to hear him (http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/obama-s-turbulent-european-vacation-20130619). Fifty years later a far more subdued invitation-only crowd of 4,500 showed up to hear Barack Obama speak at the same location in Berlin. As The National Journal noted (http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/obama-s-turbulent-european-vacation-20130619), “he didn’t come away with much, winning just a smattering of applause from a crowd that was one-hundredth the size of JFK’s,” and far smaller than the 200,000 boisterous Germans who had listened to his 2008 address as a presidential candidate.


In stark contrast to that of his presidential predecessors, Barack Obama’s message on Wednesday (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/19/remarks-president-obama-brandenburg-gate-berlin-germany)was pure mush, another clichéd “citizens of the world” polemic with little substance. This was a speech big on platitudes and hopeless idealism, while containing much that was counter-productive for the world’s superpower. Ultimately it was little more than a laundry list of Obama’s favourite liberal pet causes, including cutting nuclear weapons, warning about climate change, putting an end to all wars, shutting Guantanamo, ending global poverty, and backing the European Project. It was a combination of staggering naiveté, the appeasement of America’s enemies and strategic adversaries, and the championing of more big government solutions.


But Barack Obama underscored again why he is no JFK or Ronald Reagan. In front of the Brandenburg Gate, Obama sounded more like the president of the European Commission than the leader of the free world. It is never a good sign when a US president parrots the language of a Brussels bureaucrat when he is supposed to be a champion of freedom. Obama’s distinctly unimpressive speech in Berlin was another dud from a floundering president whose leadership abroad is just as weak as it is at home.

It's sad when they don't even realize how ineffective they've become.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100222637/barack-obama-bombs-in-berlin-a-weak-underwhelming-address-from-a-floundering-president/







It's sad when they don't even realize how ineffective they've become. Not so ineffective. America has officially declared Egypt a democracy and while it has installed Sharia law as its justice system . And we are giving billions in money and even more in military hardware--20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks. Giving this massive military assistance to our enemy (Israel's enemy) and hardly a peep of outcry against it. Obama's reputation suffers but his agenda marches on. We are arming our enemies and giving monetary aid to them .The plan marches on and that is what we should be alarmed about but so few know it that the main flock(sheep) graze peacefully on as they are being herded to their eventual sad little tragic fate.

[Marcus Aurelius]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-obama-hits-a-wall-in-berlin/2013/06/20/bfff0426-d9df-11e2-a016-92547bf094cc_story.html


The question of whether Barack Obama’s second term will be a failure was answered in the affirmative before his Berlin debacle, which has recast the question, which now is: Will this term be silly, even scary in its detachment from reality? Before Berlin, Obama set his steep downward trajectory by squandering the most precious post-election months on gun-control futilities (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-unveils-gun-control-proposals/2013/01/16/58cd70ce-5fed-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html) and by a subsequent storm of scandals (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-obamas-tapped-out-trust/2013/05/16/4c50ff12-be5e-11e2-9b09-1638acc3942e_story.html) that have made his unvarying project — ever bigger, more expansive, more intrusive and more coercive government (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-obamas-desire-to-transform-the-united-states/2012/09/05/35f2d582-f790-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_story.html) — more repulsive. Then came Wednesday’s pratfall in Berlin (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/06/19/transcript-of-obamas-speech-in-berlin/).



Regarding another threat, he spoke an almost meaningless sentence that is an exquisite example of why his rhetoric cannot withstand close reading: “We may strike blows against terrorist networks, but if we ignore the instability and intolerance that fuels extremism, our own freedom will eventually be endangered.” So, “instability and intolerance” are to blame for terrorism?


Shifting his strange focus from Russia’s nuclear weapons, Obama said “we can . . . reject the nuclear weaponization that North Korea and Iran may be seeking (http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/30/opinion/blechman-nuclear-deterrence).” Were Obama given to saying such stuff off the cuff, this would be a good reason for handcuffing him to a teleprompter. But, amazingly, such stuff is put on his teleprompter and, even more amazing, he reads it aloud.
Neither the people who wrote those words nor he who spoke them can be taken seriously. North Korea and Iran may be seeking nuclear weapons? North Korea may have such weapons (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-04-11/world/38458962_1_doug-lamborn-dia-young-leader). Evidently Obama still entertains doubts that Iran is seeking them.




Obama’s vanity is a wonder of the world that never loses its power to astonish, but really: Is everyone in his orbit too lost in raptures of admiration to warn him against delivering a speech soggy with banalities and bromides in a city that remembers John Kennedy’s (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/obamas-berlin-speech-expectations-big-shoes-to-fill-including-his-own/2013/06/19/8f7912ca-d8a8-11e2-b418-9dfa095e125d_story.html) “Ich bin ein Berliner” and Ronald Reagan’s “Tear down this wall (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7328-2004Jun26.html)”?

[Robert A Whit]

Not so ineffective. America has officially declared Egypt a democracy and while it has installed Sharia law as its justice system . And we are giving billions in money and even more in military hardware--20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks. Giving this massive military assistance to our enemy (Israel's enemy) and hardly a peep of outcry against it. Obama's reputation suffers but his agenda marches on. We are arming our enemies and giving monetary aid to them .The plan marches on and that is what we should be alarmed about but so few know it that the main flock(sheep) graze peacefully on as they are being herded to their eventual sad little tragic fate.

Thanks Tyr. Can you perhaps PM proof of that to me? I would appreciate that.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Thanks Tyr. Can you perhaps PM proof of that to me? I would appreciate that.

why should he PM it? Why can't it be on the open board?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/07/us-egypt-usa-idUSBRE95600J20130607

Secretary of State John Kerry quietly acted last month to give Egypt (http://www.reuters.com/places/egypt?lc=int_mb_1001) $1.3 billion in U.S. military aid, deciding that this was in the national interest despite Egypt's failure to meet democracy standards.

[Robert A Whit]

Not one word about what Reagan did for Berlin to secure their freedom.

Listening to Obama, one might get the idea that Kennedy actually got action.

I saw the Soviet tank up on a sturdy building. Why it was there I could not figure out.

I saw the military of the Soviets up on top of the Brandenburg Gate, peering at us using binoculars and armed with machine guns.

Hubris is Obama's unwritten middle name and at this, he excells.

Those that never visited the wall when it was up, simply can't actually vision what it is like to die for your own freedom, much less send young men off to war in the hope of adding to freedom.

Obama did not mention how Bush fought for freedom.

No, this was about Obama and little more.

[fj1200]

Not so ineffective. America has officially declared Egypt a democracy and while it has installed Sharia law as its justice system . And we are giving billions in money and even more in military hardware--20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks. Giving this massive military assistance to our enemy (Israel's enemy) and hardly a peep of outcry against it. Obama's reputation suffers but his agenda marches on. We are arming our enemies and giving monetary aid to them .The plan marches on and that is what we should be alarmed about but so few know it that the main flock(sheep) graze peacefully on as they are being herded to their eventual sad little tragic fate.

Not exactly.



Despite stating in a May 9 memo that "we are not satisfied with the extent of Egypt's progress and are pressing for a more inclusive democratic process and the strengthening of key democratic institutions," Kerry said the aid should go forward.
...
Under U.S. law, for the $1.3 billion to flow the secretary of state must certify that the Egyptian government "is supporting the transition to civilian government, including holding free and fair elections, implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion, and due process of law."The legislation, championed by Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, also gives the U.S. government the ability to waive that condition if it deems this in the U.S. national security interest and provides a detailed justification.
According to the May 9 memo, the U.S. national interests served by the aid include increasing security in the Sinai, helping prevent attacks from Gaza into Israel (http://www.reuters.com/places/israel?lc=int_mb_1001), countering terrorism and securing transit through the Suez Canal.
"A strong U.S. security partnership with Egypt, underpinned by FMF (Foreign Military Financing), maintains a channel to Egyptian military leadership, who are key opinion makers in the country," Kerry wrote in the memo which was obtained by Reuters.
"A decision to waive restrictions on FMF to Egypt is necessary to uphold these interests as we encourage Egypt to continue its transition to democracy," he added.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/07/us-egypt-usa-idUSBRE95600J20130607

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Not exactly. Never fear amigo. Obama wants his fellow Muslims to have it they'll get it one way or another. You can bet your last taco on that.....- ;)-- Tyr

[Voted4Reagan]

http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/f/2012/107/f/f/ich_bin_ein_berliner_by_noobhack-d4wjwr6.jpg

[gabosaurus]

We are arming our enemies and giving monetary aid to them .The plan marches on and that is what we should be alarmed about but so few know it that the main flock(sheep) graze peacefully on as they are being herded to their eventual sad little tragic fate.

Sounds like the Reagan administration.

[fj1200]

Never fear amigo. Obama wants his fellow Muslims to have it they'll get it one way or another. You can bet your last taco on that.....- ;)-- Tyr

Anyway. :rolleyes: