Friday Open Thread | 88 comments (88 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

President Obama's Full Townhall In Strasbourg

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 12:34:25 PM EST

watchin this (4.00 / 3)

it's fun to see what's been applauded by the public when homage is given by Obama:

Sarkozy: silence
mayor of Strasbourg: big applause
Strasbourg as a symbol of peace: big applause
NATO: silence
America cannot go alone, but Europe cannot do without America: silence
bankers to be cut, "new era of responsibility": applause

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 01:51:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: watchin this (4.00 / 4)

And:

closing Guantanamo: huge applause
ending torture: huge applause
getting rid of nuclear weapons: huge applause

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 03:07:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 8)

Thank you Melancthon for this link. I watched almost all of it (not having a life anymore since Anya's gone)... cutting out only the end of his formal speech. here's some random (self) uncensored thoughts...

While some of what he says really irked me, him having to continue with the USA leadership stuff, i think he represents some sanity, if only compared to the rest of the oligarchical world.
he did DoDo proud, by twice confirming his jealousy of yuropean hi speed rail. from an amurkan politician? wow
he didn't really address the question about Belarus, going off on Botswana and his reception in Kenya, but by talking about responsibility and mentioning that democracy doesn't mean people being swept off the streets, i guess it shows he does understand what the questioner was attempting.
He showed he's committed to fostering renewables and sustainability, at aleast as much as a (bought) preznit can be.
he managed to separate amurka from the bush era quite well, with very subtle digs and separations from his policies.
I'm not sure which of his names means peace in Hungarian, but if true that wins him points.
he really does have the rock star Town hall game down.
amurkan policy even under the holy one remains arrogant, but he does it well.
the man seems to understand sustainability... it's one thing to talk about doubling renewables, but it's completely other to actually address building insulation. point Obama.
He accented shutting down gitmo, and we don't torture, twice. there was another line distancing his policy from the previous, carefully crafted.
he was going to say "liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" but knew he would fuckitup, so he stopped with Liberte. (proper accents deleted because of time constraints.)
That on his first official visit to yurp he does a Town Hall, successfully like a rock star, will not be lost on yurpeen politicos, to our benefit.
Given the grand rhetoric about amurka against the reality of the last hundred twenty years or so, he's doing good at rehabilitation.
his acknowledgement of yurpeen health care bodes well.
for the purtposes of this comment, i will defer to a potential future all the impressions i've already forgotten, or which don't come immediately to mind, though there are some.

Endergebniss? Der hat gewonnen. Auch Heidelberg.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 02:19:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 5)

I think he did go for the full, liberte, egalite, fraternite - after his initial hesitation.

Worst line "In America people doen't resent the rich, they want to become rich" - once true and still so to SOME extent - but a LOT of resentment has developed about rich bankers, obscene bonuses, etc. A lot more people in America now know they're never going to be rich and have lost what they did have - while fat cats are still ofetn doing very well. Hence there has been a lot of popular rejection of the bail-outs.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 05:00:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Friday Open Thread | 88 comments (88 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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