POTUS: "there have been times when America has shown arrogance"

April 3, 2009

I sure wish I had a video for this because barry discusses America's arrogance - something I wrote about earlier - though it was his arrogance while representing the US. He's telepromptering at a gymnasium-type "townhall meeting which sounded like a stump speech to the world replete with we are the ones!

Found a video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T17qt_tU6wo]

TPMTV

Here's a few bits from the Washington Post:

At the crossroads where we stand today, this shared history gives us hope, but it must not give us rest. This generation cannot stand still. We cannot be content merely to celebrate the achievements of the 20th century or enjoy the comforts of the 21st century. We must learn from the past to build on its success. We must renew our institutions, our alliances. We must seek the solutions to the challenges of this young century.

This is our generation!

This is our time!

And I am confident that we can meet any challenge, as long as we are together!

Kumbaya my Lord!

Now, such an effort is never easy. It's always harder to forge true partnerships and sturdy alliances than to act alone, or to wait for the action of somebody else. It's more difficult to break down walls of division than to simply allow our differences to build and our resentments to fester.

So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift. I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there's something more that has crept into our relationship.

In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic Union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive [he does his dismissive extended arm motion that he used in every debate and on the View to Elizabeth] even derisive.

But [Shakes his finger] in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad.

On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us both more isolated. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America.

And then it goes on. What do you feel when you hear this?

As president, I can tell you there's no decision more difficult, there's no duty more painful, than signing a letter to the family of somebody who's died in a war.

"Somebody"? In a war?

They are brave soldiers, courageous Americans, selfless sons, daughters, wives, mothers and fathers dying on Afghani or Iraqi soil. They're not "somebodys".

He then opens it to questions:

So just raise your hand if you want a question, and I will call on you.

And then what are the odds the very first one is an American?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Oh, I called -- now, I just want to say I did not call on the American on purpose. (Laughter, applause.)

Why would he feel the need to say such a thing if he wasn't thinking it?

And then he brought up his Kenyan father he met once.

And my father was from Kenya, and when I traveled to Kenya, I had just been elected to the United States Senate. Everybody was very excited and, you know, they greeted me and -- you know, as if I was already a head of state. And, you know, there were people waving and lining the streets. I went to speak at a university, and I had to be honest, which was, America has an obligation to provide Kenya help on a whole range of issues. But if Kenya doesn't solve its own corruption problem, then Kenya will never grow. It will never be able to provide for its own.

Yes and he promised an orphanage and a school he personally would help them out and he never did - as of his world tour. And then the next person he called on was from? Chicago. Then he talks about whether he regrets his decision to run for president. I don't think he regrets running because he's still campaigning. The problem is governing.

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POTUS: "I'm gonna call one foreigner"
POTUS: "there have been times when America has shown arrogance"
To POTUS: "Do you regret running for president?"