Posted on 10/02/2010 10:43:30 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
WASHINGTON: Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography and his teachings on social justice through non-violence have helped US President Barack Obama shape his life, a senior US official has said.
"Barack Obama, first African-American President and a student of those principles, identifies Gandhi's autobiography and Taylor Branch's terrific three-part biography of (Martin Luther) King as works that helped shape him," said Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
"The President has repeatedly noted that Gandhi and King were among his heroes," he said while delivering the 27th Annual Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Lecture at San Diego State University in California.
Earlier this month, Blake had said, Washington was abuzz with unveiling of the new Oval Office decorations - a tradition that follows the election of each new President.
The new Oval Office rug is the centrepiece of the room, and on it President Obama had inscribed the famous Dr King mantra which reads: 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.'
"That same sentiment helps animate our foreign policy agenda and our strategic partnership with India. We are democratic countries founded on the principles of tolerance and pluralism, driven by optimism and knowledge-based economies," Blake said.
Gandhi's message, along with his philosophy and brilliant strategy of social justice through non-violence, was always consistent, he added.
"Dedicating his life to the peaceful empowerment of Indians of all backgrounds, he inspired hope and peace among many and set a powerful example for future change-makers to follow," Obama's point man for South and Central Asia said.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofindia.indiatimes.com ...
So does Obama drink his own urine as Ghandi did?
That little Yoda dude in the butt thong...
Laughable.. Alinsky’s writings, along with NOI writing, and Marx shaped his views.
Suddenly, I find myself hating Mahatma Ghandi.
Probably Frantz Fanon had more influence on Obama than Gandhi did...I’d guess the influence of Gandhi was mostly indirect (”MLK admired Gandhi, I kind of admire MLK although Malcolm X was cooler, so I must admire Gandhi too”).
And what about Jesus.....
Gandhi did not take expensive vacations, did not play golf, did not throw lavish parties, and did not smoke or drink alcohol.
Gandhi lived in a bare bones cottage, made his own clothes, and traveled in 3rd class compartments on trains (the lowest level).
Big difference.
I think this bolsters Dinesh D’Souza’s thesis re Obama.
What utter bull&&&t.
I can't see the Mahatma telling people to "get in their face" or "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
I thought Obama was Lincoln, then FDR, and now Ghandi?
Remind me when Gandhi said, “Hit em twice as hard” and ‘If they bring a knife you bring a gun?
They do share at least one thing in common; they are both symptoms that the once dominant civilization is dying.
This is illustrated by the fact that to the India of Clive Gandhi would have been a joke. To the India of Churchill he was fatal.
Let’s see now... Ghandi called Hitler his “friend;” Essentially advocated that Jews should commit suicide; And, supported the “two-state solution.”
Yup, that sounds like Obama.
Cheers
Group says Gandhi racist, plans to protest statue
Just sayin'...
Those are just rumours. He never consumed his own urine.
No- he was non-violent to the point of it not making sense. He felt that the British and the Jews of Europe should lay down their arms and give Hitler and Mussolini whatever they wanted and go willingly to the slaughter. He felt that those who wouldn’t do that lacked courage.
Does Obama know that he’s saying this- or does he just have some vague notion that Ghandi ‘taught peace’?
There. I fixed it.
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