I'm watching obama's speech at the nato meeting in Strasburg.
It looks like he's using a teleprompter, but it's still a painful speech to
watch. he pauses and stops sometimes as if he's forgotten his place.
I know how he feels, if I'm giving a presentation and I forget what I'm supposed
to say with a particular slide, that is one of the worst feelings in the world
The idea that he's a great speaker is a load of crap.
Now he's doing a town hall. Why? what freaking office is he running for
in Germany. Stop running for office and appoint people to all the spots in
government then govern!
First question seemed to be what are his goals.
-make globalization good for all
-reduce nuclear stockpiles
-reliable health care system for the usa
- usa to take the lead on a new approach to energy...you cannot expect poor countries
to be partners on climate change if our carbon footprint is many times bigger than the average indian person. we have to lead by example.
[one of the things I truly dislike about obama, he constantly denigrates the usa]
next question - all children around the world without rights and are hungry, what is your
strategy to deal with this situation?
-feeding the hunger(sic) and educating the children isn't charity, a pandemic (sic) can get on a plane and go to the west, we have to provide health care, we have to increase our commitments.
we should promote democracy everyplace we can and civil societies that will allow countries to be successful.
is this crises an opportunity to restructure industry in an ecological way ?
- we passed a large stimulus package, we doubled the amount of renewable energy,
retrofitted government buildings, high speed rail...I'm jealous of european high speed rail.
reduce our carbon footprint and achieve our goals.
what do you expect from the french and european countries on the war on terror?
- In the last 7 or 8 years we 've had a lot of tension with our european allies and I want
to work much more effectively, yada yada. after 911 europe responded as true friends saying
'we are all americans'. all of us had an interest in preventing that kind of vicious act. but
after that initial nato engagement we got sidetracked by iraq. Even though i'm now president
and w. is no longer president, al queda is still a threat. ....
it is true that we have to change our behavior and show the muslim world more respect and
change our policies towards the isreal-palestinian conflict.
- usa is changing plan in afganistan, not just a military strategy in afganistan, offer basic services and uphold the rule of law.
"europe should not expect the usa to shoulder the burden alone, this a joint problem and requires a joint effort". in dealing with terrorism we have to uphold our values, that's why I closed guantanomo. abu graib wasn't a good policy.
last question "your name in hungarian means Peach, have you regreted running for president?"
- some times during the campaign and some times during the last few months it was heavy.
3 comments:
I couldn't disagree with you more.
I'm half French and half Italian and also a British citizen, and I never ever heard an American President (or any political head of state for this matter), addressing a young public in mass, without formalizing and over patronizing his listeners.
Not only the content of what is says is mostly welcome to the majority of our European social, cultural and political realities, but it is transparently clear that this is a political leader capable to relate to anyone with the priority of being appreciable, open and available in his person (as much as in political discourse) more then useless formality of language.
I also would like to stress to you, that the reputation of the USA is gradually increasing positively since his election. Feelings of true anti-Americanism were very high all over Europe (and worldwide of course). Obama is working very hard (visibly) to regain the trust and respect of the rest of the international community before 'demanding' any cooperation from our part in any of the USA endeavours and national interests.
Now, you may see this as 'denigrating' your country, I see it as a remarkable inspiration to leaders worldwide to 'rethink' how they practice political democracy. Obama is showing an incredible strength of character and courage in choosing to be honest and direct in his thinking, independently form the usual possible 'political lobby' and manipulators that in the last decade have been behind the government of the USA.
Proud citizen of the USA everywhere can now talk about their country to people in Europe (and not only in Europe) who 'now' are listening.
Mdm. Masha
when I say he denigrated the usa, I'm talking about when he litterally says bad things about the usa, that we are polluters, torturers, global warmers, things that might be true, but I don't see it as his job to point those things out.
when he toots his horn by saying that he closed guantanamo, he didn't mention that he's really just studying closing it. so he gets it both ways, the usa is bad, obama good...meanwhile he continues the same policy.
anyway, thanks for the comment.
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