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World sees Obama as symbol of change
seattlepi.nwsource.com ^ | 07/31/08 | AMY GOODMAN

Posted on 07/31/2008 5:33:33 PM PDT by TornadoAlley3

TALLINN, Estonia – When I arrived in Estonia last week – a former Soviet republic that lies just south of Finland – everyone had an opinion on Barack Obama's speech in Berlin. The headline of the British Daily Telegraph we picked up in Finland blared "New walls must not divide us," with half-page photos of the American presidential candidate silhouetted against a sea of 200,000 people.

One of the first people I met in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, was Abdul Turay, the editor in chief of The Baltic Times, an English-language weekly that covers Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the three Baltic nations. Granted, he's not a typical resident for this country of largely fair-haired light-skinned people: Turay is a black Briton whose parents come from the West African nations of Liberia and Sierra Leone. And he is Muslim. While Estonia has no mosques, he notes with pride that the Quran has just been translated into Estonian, and to the publisher's surprise, it's been an instant best-seller here.

I asked Turay what Obama's candidacy means to him. "It'll open doors for me personally if he becomes president," he said. "It's a momentous thing to have a black president, given America's history. Some people say it's not a big deal, but it is a very big deal. The U.S. is a model for the world. If people see a black man can be president of the U.S., maybe they will see me differently. If he's special, I'm special."

As for Obama's politics, Turay says he doesn't actually think Obama's foreign policy will be that different from fellow presidential candidate John McCain's. He said he was surprised after reading Obama's first book, "Dreams From My Father": "He's almost talking about black nationalism. He's very liberal. He's very much a black politician,

(Excerpt) Read more at seattlepi.nwsource.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: blueturban; change; muslim; obama; obamasbigadventure
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To: TornadoAlley3

Cancer is change.


21 posted on 07/31/2008 8:22:14 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: TornadoAlley3
If people see a black man can be president of the U.S., maybe they will see me differently. If he's special, I'm special."

The fallacy of the undistributed middle, Abdul. Or don't they teach logic in Africa?
22 posted on 07/31/2008 8:24:27 PM PDT by aruanan
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To: SledgeCS
OK I will ask again. What CHANGE is he proposing and where is the HOPE. Can anyone detail what that is?

I HOPE his tires go flat and he has to CHANGE them himself. lol

23 posted on 07/31/2008 8:31:45 PM PDT by TigersEye (Berlin '36 ... Olympics for murdering regimes. ... Beijing '08)
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To: SumProVita
"But certainly not THIS half black/half white Marxist."

An easier way to say this is here!

Halfrican-American Marxist
[aka HAM]
24 posted on 07/31/2008 8:49:56 PM PDT by the anti-liberal
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To: SledgeCS
"OK I will ask again. What CHANGE is he proposing and where is the HOPE.
Can anyone detail what that is?"

It's called "Black Liberation Theology" (which include a black flavor of Marxism). Perhaps with a dash of Obambi style Sharia Law.

25 posted on 07/31/2008 8:53:08 PM PDT by the anti-liberal
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To: aruanan
"Or don't they teach logic in Africa?"

That was a rhetorical question, right? Imagine if they did!

Imagine all the money we and the rest of the world would save in foreign aid?

26 posted on 07/31/2008 8:56:42 PM PDT by the anti-liberal
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To: TornadoAlley3

The Seattle PI is a World newspaper, it’s important to them how the citizens of their nations see Hussein.


27 posted on 07/31/2008 10:17:00 PM PDT by NoLibZone (All Democrats must be rationed fuel to reduce their hypocrisy about global warming.)
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To: sionnsar

:)


28 posted on 08/01/2008 5:38:48 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

A bowel movement is change also.


29 posted on 08/01/2008 5:39:34 AM PDT by aruanan
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