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Prom the employers of Peter Vescey comes... more nuanced journalism!
This is an editorial from the NY Post
Berlin Wall blunder
Last Updated: 8:14 AM, November 9, 2009
Posted: November 09, 2009
World leaders past and present will be in Berlin today for the 20th an niversary of the fall of communist repression's most visible symbol: the 112-mile concrete wall that split the city for more than a quarter-century.
Con uously absent: the president of the United States, Barack Obama.
Obama's folks say he's too busy to accept German President Angela Merkel's invitation to attend today's festivities.
It's pathetic that Obama won't be there -- and telling, as well.
After all, it was one of his own supposed heroes, President John F. Kennedy, who famously flew to Berlin in 1963 and denounced the wall as "an affront to history" when he memorably proclaimed to all the world: "Ich bin ein Berliner."
And it was another predecessor, Ronald Reagan, who even more famously stood before the heinous barrier and declared: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
Less than two years later, the wall had tumbled.
But, then, Reagan -- like JFK -- viewed the Cold War as a defining battle between freedom and oppressive totalitarianism. And it was a war, he said, that the West, led by America, had to win.
For Reagan, that meant ongoing confrontation with what he rightly called "the Evil Empire." By openly declaring that America would never allow the Soviet bloc to triumph, he paved the way for the collapse not only of the Berlin Wall but of communism itself.
It was also, he understood, the triumph of American exceptionalism, leadership and strength.
All of which runs counter to Obama's view of America's global role -- and how to deal with adversaries.
For Obama, America is but one nation among many, no different -- or more exceptional -- than any other. Its record is one that, increasingly, he has felt compelled not to extol but to apologize for.
And, for this president, ideologies bent on America's destruction must be met not with resistance but with rhetoric, outreach and "understanding."
The Cold War, in this view, is an irrelevant historical relic -- an example of American paranoia and fear-mongering prolonging a conflict that could have been resolved with warm-and-fuzzy speechmaking and the soft-pedaling of political differences.
Gone, it seems, are the days when America championed freedom, led by presidents whose oratory was matched by commitment and determined action.
It's not only shameful -- but dangerous.
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And this is one of the comments posted after the editorial. The guy is spot on!
"What would you expect from a US President who offered tepid support for Iranian protesters of a rigged election who carried signs written in English? Oops, I forgot, he was a training guy for ACORN. ACORN likes rigged elections. Well, what would you expect from a President who supported Zelaya in Honduras who tried to engineer his own reelection which would have violated the Honduran Cons ution. Oops, I forgot, he doesn't like our Cons ution either. Well, what would you expect from a President who has no criticism of the Marxist Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chaves. Oops, I forgot he is a Marxist.
Well, let's put it this way. President Obama is more associated with the people who built the Berlin wall than the people who tore it down."
Prom the employers of Peter Vescey comes... more nuanced journalism!
Wait, wasn't it the republicans who got mad when he went to Europe before? Now you want him to spend time doing things other than fixing the country? I like having it both ways too.
Hilarious combination btw.
Petty.
Too funny.
just can't win the eyes of those that hate him, huh?
It's not only shameful -- but dangerous.
Shame on you, DarrinS, for getting scooped on this article.
i keep forgetting, is he a marxist or facist? it gets confusing when you guys try to mix two completely different ideologies...
Meh, the 20th anniversary of the Berlin wall falling and the end of the Cold War doesn't require the Messiah's presence. Now, if an Olympic bid were on the line....
which one of those two would have the possibility of bringing money to his country?
seriously would you guys be just as offended if forgot to go to another foreign country's Independence/reunification day?
Or a political fundraiser in SF
Does Obama have a plan for the soldiers in Afghanistan. I already know his run and leave a vaccuum in Iraq.
There's so much hypocrisy in the initial post, I wouldn't know where to begin.
The fall of the Berlin Wall was far more than an Independence Day. Reagan stared evil in the eye and didn't blink. The fall of the wall signaled the end of Soviet dominance - and as a result, millions and millions of people were able to live free from Communist oppression.
"Reagan stared evil in the eye"
St Ronnie didn't do , and it's to your typical discredit that you think he did.
You believe Repug press releases and revisionist Repug history with the same naivete with which you read the Bible.
great.
good for them, hooary for germany.
now what does this have to do w/the US now?
i could understand if we didn't have landmark lege moving through washington, but the presidents work is set out for him right now, to take a break to celebrate german reunification would be a mistake. send sec clinton or vp biden and call it a day.
is a president going to have to fly into baghdad 20 years from the day saddam fell to comemorate that as well?
why don't we go to france to celebrate their revolution too?
and if i read my history book correct, it had less to do w/the gipper staring "evil in the eye" then moscow going bankrupt, hard to keep up with satellites when you can't feed your own people, right?
But Reagan stared evil in the eye!!!
What you don't get?
/sarcasm
No .
I was in Germany when this happened. It was nothing short but a miracle for the people, to be able to easily visit long lost family on the other side.
I hope Obama had something life threatening, or....
My God...
How could he miss something so important to one of our best allies?
Last edited by Wild Cobra; 11-09-2009 at 07:17 PM.
Somehow, "The One" managed to make this day about him:
i think you have a strange obsession with him.......
enough of that stupid song already
Yeah - like he had anything to do with it. In fact, if he'd been President at that time, the Wall would've never come down. But Obama can't give a speech without making it somehow about him. Narcissist!
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