Free Republic

Barack Obama blunders again on the world stage By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: November 19th, 2012 Barack Obama: hardly off to a flying start It is only two weeks since his re-election, and his second term remains two months away, but Barack Obama is already blundering again on the world stage, with the kind of gaffes that would have been plastered on the front page of The New York Times if they had been committed by George W. Bush when he was in the White House. Obama's first term was littered with foreign policy gaffes, and there is every...

Big Guy took his FORWARD! campaign to Southeast Asia this weekend. At his presser in Thailand yesterday, BO explained how he’s planning to deport the American System to the Near East: Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra: main reason Lady M did attend. Plus she hates Thai food. (snip)because Thailand I think is more successful economically than some of its neighbors, it's now in a position to be a donor country. Got that Thailand? You didn’t build that on your own! Somebody else made that happen! Now it’s time to spread your wealth around. Although the presser was in Bangkok,...

President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday, targeting a foreigners' housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people. It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when security had been tightened for Obama's visit and Wednesday's anniversary of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan. Obama arrived at Bagram Air Field late Tuesday, then traveled to Kabul by helicopter for a meeting with President...

President Barack Obama’s one day visit to his ancestral homeland of Moneygall in Ireland cost the taxpayer $16.5million – much of it in overtime. Irish Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has revealed the full breakdown of the $36million security costs for the recent visits by Obama and the Queen. Shatter has confirmed to the Irish parliament that travel and subsistence allowances worth close to $5million were paid to police on duty in May. Other unspecified ‘other costs’ for police work around the visits amounted to almost $6million, according to the final figures. The Queen’s four-day visit resulted in a security...

South Africa President Jacob Zuma has snubbed the visiting Michelle Obama by sending his prisons minister to meet the first lady at the airport and failing to see her during her three-day stay. Mr Zuma was out of the country for the first day of Mrs Obama's second solo trip abroad on Tuesday and although he returned on Monday night, aides said he was "not available" to meet her. Instead, he arranged for Corrective Services Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to greet her on her arrival in Pretoria on Monday night, and one of his three wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, to meet her...

India is preparing for Barack Obama's first visit to the country by removing coconuts from palm trees in Mumbai to protect the US president. Mr Obama will visit India, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and China on the 10-day tour. Photo: WHITE HOUSE Mr Obama will arrive in India on Saturday for the first leg of an Asian tour. But as well as the usual security measures that come with welcoming a a visiting dignitary, Indian authorities have decided to go one step further, by removing all natural threats to the president as well. Mani Bhavan, where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during...

The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday. Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi. He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai...

Why’s he coming at Diwali? He wouldn’t host an official visit the White House on Christmas Day. So why’s he coming to India during our biggest festival? So say many residents of Mumbai, where US president Barack Obama arrives late on Friday for a three-day trip to India. The privileged few who will meet the great man might be excited by the prospect. But for many Mumbaikers, Obama will get in the way of what they like best - a good party. Fireworks, a highlight of any Diwali - after all, it is the festival of lights - will be...

The First Family's weekend getaway in Bar Harbor ended on Sunday as Air Force One took off a little after 10:00 in the morning. For the folks around the Bar Harbor area things have started to return to normal. Matthew Schneider, the General Manager at the Qarterdeck restaurant, says he's already looking ahead to the rest of the summer. "It's gonna be business as usual," he says. "We have a big cruise ship coming in tomorrow. 2200 people coming off that boat. Our normal everyday tourists are here, yeah it's back to business as usual." But for some of the...

Obama to visit Columbus on Friday President will deliver opening words at a ceremony Updated: Wednesday, 16 Jun 2010, 1:10 PM EDT COLUMBUS, Ohio (WDTN) - Air Force One will touch down in Ohio's capital city when President Obama visits on June 18. Obama will visit Columbus to meet with workers and deliver remarks at the groundbreaking of a road project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. U.S. Route 40 is set to be resurfaced along with bridge work on Interstate 71, among other projects made possible by the recovery and reinvestment act.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is canceling a scheduled meeting with Barack Obama at the White House tomorrow to return to Israel to deal with the fallout of the raid by Israeli forces to enforce the Gaza blockade on a flotilla of ships trying to run the blockade, MSNBC reports.Netanyahu is in Canada today. YNET News reports he is cutting his trip short in Canada to leave for Israel.

WASHINGTON -- During his whirlwind visit to Las Vegas two weeks ago, President Barack Obama mentioned U.S. Sen. Harry Reid by name four dozen times, gave him a big hug and talked him up as if he was a long-lost brother. In remarks that could not have been more laudatory, Obama repeatedly characterized the veteran Democratic leader as a man "made of very strong stuff" who was making the right decisions for the state back in the nation's capital.

On her first visit to Britain since husband Barack became US president, Michelle Obama dazzled London with her signature classic style Wednesday, leading one newspaper to dub her "Mighty Michelle". The First Lady accompanied her husband to Downing Street first thing for breakfast with British premier Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah before the men discussed Thursday's G20 summit and the women visited a cancer care centre. Later, she was to meet "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling when she sits next to her at a pre-summit dinner. Michelle Obama's understated chic has injected a welcome dash of class into the...

As challenges mount, ardor for Obama cools abroad By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer Barack Obama got a global standing ovation long before he was elected president. But in a fickle and fast-moving world, the overseas reviews are already turning mixed. Though much of the world will party through the night Tuesday after Obama is sworn in as America's 44th president — just as it did when he was elected — there are signs the ardor is cooling as the sheer weight of his challenges sinks in. A deepening global recession, new hostilities in the Middle East, complications in...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paid a German company nearly $700,000 for staging, sound and lighting services at the time [Note] CQ [/NOTE] he delivered a speech this summer in Berlin and declared himself a citizen of both the U.S. and the world. Billed as a highlight of Mr. Obama's July trip to Europe, the speech [-] delivered before hundreds of thousands of people in front of the historic Victory Column in Tiergarten [-] was organized by the Berlin-based company Mediapool, opening much like a rock concert, with warm-up performances from the band Reamonn and reggae singer Patrice. The...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama paid a German company nearly $700,000 for staging, sound and lighting services at a time he delivered a speech this summer in which he declared himself a “citizen” of both the U.S. and the world. Billed as a highlight of Mr. Obama's July trip to Europe, the speech - to hundreds of thousands of people in front of the historic Victory Column in Tiergarten - was organized by the Berlin-based company Mediapool, opening much like a rock concert, with warm-up performances from the band Reamonn and reggae singer Patrice. The German company, whose Web...

Iraqis want victory in the war; Obama wants victory in the election.The status of forces agreement (SOFA) can be regarded as the crown jewel of the U.S.-led change in Iraq. ItÂ’s not an overstatement to say that it represents an aspect of victory in this war. By victory I mean that it will mark the beginning of a time in which Iraq is officially a partner of the U.S., as it will join Iraq and the U.S. in a new relationship that serves the national interests of both countries. Above all, it will be a major boost for the effort...

The Statement: Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin said at a campaign stop near Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 10 that "Senator Obama tried to make a secret deal with the Iraqi government" to delay an agreement that would spell out the U.S. troop presence in Iraq. Referring to an October 10 Washington Times article, Palin said Obama "tried to influence negotiations with Iraqi leaders in a way that would set back America's cause there."

[quote]EXCLUSIVE: At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.[/quote]

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.