| |
Ja Können Wir |
July 24, 2008
|
Cheryl and I tuned into Obama's speech in Berlin today.
It was inspiring. Not the speech so much--as Obama speeches go, it was a little more laid back than most of them. But Obama didn't need a stemwinder today. He needed to look "presidential." That's quite a ways different than giving a stemwinder stump speech. No, it wasn't a stemwinder. But what was most inspiring to me was watching young Europeans wave American flags once again.
I got a lump in my throat. It's been a long time.
Some 200,000 people attended the speech. Obama is not unique in his ability to draw a crowd of this size in Europe; Bush has done it too. However, Bush's crowds weren't so friendly.
Should we let Europeans choose our President? Of course not. But was it important to appeal to Europeans? You bet your ass it was.
For nearly eight years, our stock in the world has fallen. President Bush's "my way or the highway" cowboy diplomacy has pissed a lot of people off. If we had the luxury of living in isolation, that would be fine. But we don't. And we have little hope of getting anything important done if the rest of the world doesn't take us seriously.
The right has taken aim at Obama's statement that he is a "citizen of the world." That statement might piss off the people who hated Obama to start with, but it doesn't bother me a bit. The war on terror is not going to be won with cowboy diplomacy. Terrorism knows no national boundaries. To win the war on terror, we and the rest of the free world will need to act together. We haven't had that support for a long time. Being told that we are all "citizens of the world" reminds our allies that our problems are everyone's problems.
What Obama reminded us and the rest of the world was that whatever problems face us, we're pretty much all in the same mess together. And together we have more chance of solving our problems than if each of us tries to go it alone.
What I wanted to learn out of Obama's trip abroad was whether he was comfortable dealing with foreign leaders. And whether foreign leaders were comfortable dealing with him. It wasn't, at least to me, about Obama being a rock star, or whether he would make some gaffe or misstatement or otherwise step on his crank. To me, it was about whether our allies abroad take Obama seriously. If they do, then maybe we should. On this trip, they did.
Like him or hate him, Obama showed today that he is ready to be the leader of the free world and that the free world is ready to follow.
That's important because the rest of the free world really, deep down in its heart, loves America. Or at least wants to. It's been tough for some foreigners to love Americans for the last 7-1/2 years. Today, Obama made it a lot easier for them.
McCain's whining about the press coverage being afforded Obama makes him look weak and inconsequential. The press is going to cover whatever is news. McCain hasn't made any lately. Simply hurling baseless insults isn't news. It's just politics as usual.
Although it's important at age 71, simply having a good bowel movement isn't enough to get your name in the paper. You want to be in the news? Make the news.
----------
Speaking of making news where none existed, Sentinel reporter Gary Harmon has redefined what passes for news.
Harmon (and his editors) turned the rantings of a fat blowhard into a front-page story.
I guess it's time to sell my radio. I no longer need to listen to Rush Limbaugh. The Sentinel will tell me what he says. And try to pass it off as news to boot.
Passing off opinion as news isn't my idea of good journalism. But that's just what the Sentinel did. Then again, covering Brittney's little sister's baby isn't news either. At least the "reporters" who cover Brittney's little sister's baby get off their asses and go get the story instead of simply listening to the radio.
|
©2008, Junction Daily Blog. All rights reserved.
|
| Link to this article |
1 comment
|
|
| Recent Articles: | | July 23, 2008 |
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished |
| July 22, 2008 |
Satire Squared |
| July 21, 2008 |
Doing Business With Fugitives |
| July 20, 2008 |
Yawn (for real) |
| July 19, 2008 |
GI Jo |
| July 18, 2008 |
A Pretty Good Day |
| July 17, 2008 |
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: It's So Over! |
| July 16, 2008 |
Satire |
| July 15, 2008 |
Heroes |
| July 14, 2008 |
A Picture Worth 1000 Words To People Who Can't Read |
|
|
|
|
|
