They say when you take office, the "firsts" you pick need to be well-chosen because they carry a lot of weight. Here's one that will freak out a few of my blogger pals: Obama has given his first formal interview as President with Hisham Melhem of al Arabiya television.
Among the more interesting pull quotes:
Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world...even as we are decisive in going after terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians, that we're going to do so on our terms, and we're going to do so respecting the rule of law that I think makes America great. ... I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down. But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship.This is going to anger a lot of people on the right, if Malkin or Limbaugh get their hands on it. It amounts to "nuance", this distinguishing of Muslim Terrorists from Muslims. Most Muslims have no interest in killing Americans. But if you insist that all Muslims are terrorists who must be killed, then what incentive do they have to behave differently? And yeah, I've heard that viewpoint expressed more than once, though if you try to pin 'em down they'll say only the majority of muslims are terrorists. If you think this, you are mistaken.
Look, if you imprisoned a few hundred Americans without trial, you could expect a little retaliation from America. If Iran posted soldiers around Boston, local Bostonians would try to remove them. These are not unreasonable responses.
The hand of friendship is going to make us a hell of a lot safer, if it's accepted at this late date, than all the bombs and rhetoric we can throw out there.
(h/t THINK PROGRESS)
3 comments:
Just proof that he is THEIR president and not an American president, really.
More accurately, he's OUR President, not yours - it's you guys against the rest of the world. No wonder you're all so thrilled with John Bolton!
Well, settle into your petulance, because it's gonna last you at least four years.
I wouldn't have had a problem with President Chamberlain's Muslim appeasing if he at LEAST pointed out some of THEIR problems, too.
Instead of saying the USA is wrong about everything and getting on his knees invoking his Muslim roots that we were called racists for talking about just weeks ago, instead of saying how WE are the ones that cause all the world's problem's, instead of telling his Muslim constituents that he is their friend, maybe it would have been nice if he highlighted a few things he thinks they are wrong on? You know, to show AMERICA that he isn't OUR enemy?
Like how Muslims...
stone to death gays
beat women
sanction female "circumcision"
oppress Jews and Christians
etc, etc
You know, some of the things his Muslim roots dictates that they do?
The war on terror was lost to Islamofascism on Nov. 4, 2008. When Obama helps sponsor the next 9/11 attack, get back to me on how proud of him you are.
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