Reason #41 – Obama’s Pride in America – a Mixed Message

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Reason #41

Obama Finds Pride in America as Election Nears

During an interview with Barbara Walters, aired on ABC Nightline, on December 23, 2011, President Obama said:

“Here in the United States,  everybody’s always talking about China and how they’re rising.  When you’re in Asia, people are still looking to the United States.  They don’t look to China.  They look to the United States for Leadership, for security, on economics, on culture, on politics – not because they think we’re perfect, but because they realize that we are a unique superpower in the sense that we don’t just think about our self interest.  We also think about what’s good for the world.  And, I wouldn’t want us to trade places with anybody – and I want to communicate that more effectively to the American people.”

In October, 2010, he was not quite so happy with America, when he said of China:

“Right now, China’s building hundreds of thousands of miles of new roads. Over the next 10 years, it plans to build dozens of new airports. Over the next 20, it could build as many as 170 new mass transit systems. Everywhere else, they’re thinking big. They’re creating jobs today, but they’re also playing to win tomorrow.”[i]

In August, 2008, then Senator and Presidential Candidate Obama was quick to show the losing role of America – particularly, as compared with China:

“Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now…”[ii]

And, as for receiving the world’s admiration for not just thinking about our self interest, but also thinking about “what’s good for the world,” could Obama have been more supportive than in his 1990 statement that we were “mean-spirited” and ungenerous,[iii] or, in his January, 2009 interview on Al Arabiya TV, when he told their audience that “…all too often, the United States starts by dictating…”[iv] or, in his April 2009 speech at  the Summit of the Americas, where he confessed, “…we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms.”

The contrast of his current statement to his consistent position on these issues is indeed something to behold.  Perhaps, it has something to do with the proximity of the 2012 Presidential elections.

In true keeping with his “No Drama Obama” persona, time and time again, the President  illustrates his rugged ability to stare his own statements in the face and deny them with impunity.  Still, for those who watch and listen, he is indeed transparent.

(Excerpt from 203 Reasons Not to Vote for Obama)


[i] President Barack Obama, (Oct. 11, 2010), White House web-site, Speeches & Remarks, Remarks by President on Rebuilding America’s Infrastructure, retrieved December 26, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4McJhMjum4

[ii] Senator Barack Obama, (August 21, 2008), quoted in article by Jim Geraghty, (Aug. 22, 2008), National Review Web-site, The Campaign Spot, Obama, Fan of Chinese Ports, Trains, and Airports, retrieved December 28, 2011, from http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/9045/obama-fan-chinese-ports-trains-and-airports

[iii] Allison J. Pugh, Associated Press, (Cambridge, MA 1990), “Law Journal’s Leader Wants to Help Poor,” appearing in National Section of Altoona Mirror, April 16, 1990, p. B7, retrieved from Newspaper Archive.com http://www.newspaperarchive.com

/PdfViewerTags.aspx?img=70515705&firstvisit=true&src=search&currentResult=5&currentPage=0&fpo=False, using search terms “Barack Obama” “between years 1987-1995”, (Retrieved June 8, 2010)

[iv] President Barack Obama, (Jan. 2009), release of President Obama’s interview with Al Arabiya TV by Consulate General of the United States, Dubai-UAE, retrieved December 28, 2011, from http://dubai.usconsulate.gov/obama_arabiya.html

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