PrintApril 19, 2009
Obama silent as Oretga trashes America
Nicaraguan President (and anti-American Marxist thug) Daniel Ortega gave off quite a stemwinder at the opening ceremonies at the Summit of the Americas yesterday, lashing out at a century of what he called terroristic US aggression in Central America.
President Obama stood mostly unmoved during the speech, jotting notes every once in a while (An academic, forever; the world is a symposium. Perhaps his notes will end up in the Presidential library he is probably envisioning these days); When asked later to comment, he blithely remarked "It was 50 minutes long. That's what I thought".
Maybe Barack Obama is an adherent of the principal that sticks and stones can break my bones but words cannot hurt me.
President Obama stood mostly unmoved during the speech, jotting notes every once in a while (An academic, forever; the world is a symposium. Perhaps his notes will end up in the Presidential library he is probably envisioning these days); When asked later to comment, he blithely remarked "It was 50 minutes long. That's what I thought".
Maybe Barack Obama is an adherent of the principal that sticks and stones can break my bones but words cannot hurt me.
But we also know that this is a man who once professed that the power of words is paramount and ridiculed the view that words don't matter.
We also know that during the campaign he warned that criticism of his wife was "off-limits".
But criticism of America-well, that is fine.
So words do matter to Barack Obama and criticism does rile Obama-just not when they are use to tarnish and defame the image of America.
A president - especially one who is acclaimed to be so gifted an orator - should be able to rise to the occasion and have enough faith and pride in America to defend her image overseas. Of course, we know that Barack Obama has no desire to do so. He showed that in his apology tour of Europe.
So words do matter to Barack Obama and criticism does rile Obama-just not when they are use to tarnish and defame the image of America.
A president - especially one who is acclaimed to be so gifted an orator - should be able to rise to the occasion and have enough faith and pride in America to defend her image overseas. Of course, we know that Barack Obama has no desire to do so. He showed that in his apology tour of Europe.
Is silence assent?
Why is America surprised that Barack Obama seems so supine in the face of attacks against America?
He spent years hearing the same anti-America invective from Pastor Jeremiah Wright, Junior, gave the majority of his charitable donations to Wright's church, raised his daughters hearing that hateful rhetoric, and then had the audacity to call Wright his "sounding board" and "moral compass".
One yearns for the days of both John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan who defended America abroad - never weakening in their resolve to project a positive image of America abroad. We may not always be the "shining city upon a hill"; nor should we be the punching bag of the world's tinpot dictators.
Rick Moran adds:
This is incomprehensible. Even Carter responded to Brehznev's over done critiques of America. It's bad enough he didn't just get up and walk out as his nation was being insulted by, what Ed rightly refers to as a "Marxist thug." But to make that bland, silly response about how long the speech was when asked for his response demonstrates a curious detatchment about the feelings of the American people (save his fellow leftists) who don't take kindly to foreign leaders making wildly exaggerated charges against America.
I would say Ortega, Chavez, Morales, the Castro boys, and other Latin American leftists are playing Obama for the fool. Too bad America also looks bad in the process.
