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Why Is Obama Apologizing for America?
The Daily Beast ^ | 4/8/09 | Nicole Wallace

Posted on 04/09/2009 9:10:00 AM PDT by lewisglad

Europeans aren’t better than Americans—so I can’t figure out why our president is saying sorry to them instead of explaining what makes our country great.

I guess I had it coming to me. I mean, I did insult Old Europe this week when I said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that President Obama’s suggestion that we should celebrate Europe’s union was “ridiculous.” I mocked the idea of celebrating Europe, saying, “What should we do, have a ‘celebrate Europe’ stamp?”

What Obama describes as “American exceptionalism” sounds like a political-science professor’s definition of nationalism, not a belief in America’s unique accomplishments and history.

So when a German tourist wound up his arm and slugged my 35-pound dog on Wednesday morning in Central Park for greeting him with too much exuberance, I should have been prepared. When I turned to him and said, “We don’t hit animals in this country,” he sneered at me and said, “I am German. I am lawyer.”

I called the cops and, God bless them, they were on the scene in less than five minutes. “Were they tourists?” the cops asked me when I explained what happened.

“Yes, Germans,” I said.

“Mmmhmm,” the cop said.

“Mmmhmm, what?” I asked.

“It happens a lot,” the cop said.

So, nasty European tourists have been known to hit dogs in Central Park. Who knew? It got me thinking. Of course, not all European tourists are dog beaters—most of them are pleasant, and I imagine more than a few of them love dogs. But they are not better than us, and I can’t for the life of me figure out what the hell our president is over there apologizing for.

Republicans have paid close attention to clues this week about Obama’s working definition of American exceptionalism. This examination does not mean we suspect he is anti-American, as some on the left have suggested. Waking up to news Tuesday that he’d visited our brave troops in Iraq before returning to Washington, D.C., I am quite certain, as I was Monday and the day before that, that Barack Obama loves his country.

But his definition of American exceptionalism differs from that of most Republicans. At just about every stop on his weeklong tour, Obama missed opportunities to remind audiences of America’s generosity and compassion by emphasizing our shortcomings and failures. He is wildly popular overseas (and at home), but instead of spending some of his abundant personal and political capital to deliver a clear and direct message that promoted and defended American values, he muddied the message by emphasizing occasions in which America had been “arrogant, dismissive, and derisive” toward Europe.

Liberals found it refreshing. Conservatives found it offensive. The way we see ourselves as Americans and the role of America in the world today is one of the greatest philosophical divides in this country.

Asked if he believed in American exceptionalism during his overseas trip, Obama said, “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

His suggestion that a belief in American exceptionalism is akin to the Brits’ belief in British exceptionalism and the Greeks’ belief in Greek exceptionalism played well in foreign capitals and at the United Nations. But what Obama describes as “American exceptionalism” sounds like a political-science professor’s definition of nationalism, not a belief in America’s unique accomplishments and history of unrivaled freedom, generosity, productivity, innovation, militaristic and diplomatic strength, and record as liberators, protectors, and defenders


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: backstabber; couricbiotch; couriclover; couricminnion; dirtbagnicole; nicoleisaho; palinbackstaber; rino; scumbucketwallace; sellout; tratior
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To: Texas_shutterbug

The brow ridge is a thick piece of bone on top of the eyes. Its to reinforce the weaker bones of the face in much the same way that the chin of modern humans was developed to reinforce their comparatively thin mandibles. This was necessary in early humans because of the tremendous strain put on the cranium by their tremendous chewing apparatuses. The brow ridge was one of the last traits to be lost in the path to modern humans, and only disappeared with the development of the more pronounced frontal lobe. This is one of the differences between Homo sapiens and neanderthalensis.

Therefore, women are the more evolved species /tease.


61 posted on 04/09/2009 12:41:33 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: Lady Jag; Texas_shutterbug

Lady Jag is being nice. It is because men are neanderthals.

/wiza gurl


62 posted on 04/09/2009 12:43:46 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: little jeremiah

That’s all I have right now. Not sure what younger pix would be out there.


63 posted on 04/09/2009 12:45:10 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: PhilDragoo
MSNBC not less ---


64 posted on 04/09/2009 12:51:32 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: Calpernia; Texas_shutterbug

Yes, but the conservative ones are so cute!!


65 posted on 04/09/2009 12:55:40 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: Lady Jag
Haha Yeah, like Gary Sinise.

Yummy. :)

66 posted on 04/09/2009 12:57:59 PM PDT by Texas_shutterbug
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To: Lady Jag; potlatch; devolve; ntnychik; MeekOneGOP
That's the scariest thing I've seen in quite some time.

Grew up in Jesse Jackson's house don'tcha know.

Breaking bread with the late Edward Said.

Makes Angela Davis look like Barney the Dinosaur.

67 posted on 04/09/2009 1:01:27 PM PDT by PhilDragoo (Hussein: Islamo-Commie from Kenya)
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To: lewisglad

Apologizing for a group isn’t really apologizing.

Apology and repentance are always an individual matter. Confessing the sins of some amorphous group to which you tenuously belong is at its heart, empty.

The act of someone setting himself up to announce the collective guilt of other people is not an act of humility; it’s just the opposite. It’s the essence of pride and arrogance.


68 posted on 04/09/2009 1:02:55 PM PDT by denydenydeny ("I'm sure this goes against everything you've been taught, but right and wrong do exist"-Dr House)
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To: PhilDragoo
Makes Angela Davis look like Barney the Dinosaur.

Reminding you to trust your intuition.


69 posted on 04/09/2009 1:40:28 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: Lady Jag; Calpernia

Other photos show that exact pose in a mortarboard cap and a gown. It’s gotta be the exact same photo. So it must be ‘shopped already, I wonder which is the “real” one, with cap and gown or without?

Odd.


70 posted on 04/09/2009 2:35:44 PM PDT by little jeremiah
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To: Lady Jag

She always has those “sanpaku” eyes - showing a lot of white underneath.


71 posted on 04/09/2009 2:38:03 PM PDT by little jeremiah
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To: Lady Jag

No, Meeechelle...AMERICA rocks....

....your OUTFIT sucks!


72 posted on 04/09/2009 2:47:19 PM PDT by luvie (Zero is dumb as a rock)
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To: little jeremiah; Lady Jag

I’ve also seen the exact same photo/pose with lipstick and an earing added too.

Which one is real.


73 posted on 04/09/2009 2:55:31 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: little jeremiah

Could be better living through chemistry.


74 posted on 04/09/2009 2:55:45 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: little jeremiah
The color version of the BW shot I posted has her wearing an orange nehru-type shirt.
75 posted on 04/09/2009 3:00:18 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: Lady Jag
Same picture. One with earing, one without.


76 posted on 04/09/2009 3:01:11 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: little jeremiah

post 76


77 posted on 04/09/2009 3:01:55 PM PDT by Calpernia (Hunters Rangers - Raising the Bar of Integrity http://www.barofintegrity.us)
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To: Calpernia

Am I hallucinating about the cap, then? Look at the earring added.

These people are so freaking mysterious and secretive. I hope the truth comes out and we can read the long book about them (after they are deported or incarcerated, of course).


78 posted on 04/09/2009 3:11:38 PM PDT by little jeremiah
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To: Calpernia

Due to the bent of the discussion, I turned the color photo to BW, removed the earring and cropped the shirt in an asexual way.


79 posted on 04/09/2009 4:37:29 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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To: little jeremiah

Jeremiah, see my post above.


80 posted on 04/09/2009 4:40:48 PM PDT by Lady Jag (Hezbollah - Al Qaeda - Obama - Stone Age)
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