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Another impressive Obama speech; this time in Berlin concluding his week-long foreign visit. However his speeches aren’t merely words, as his opponents would like us to believe. Those who bother to listen come away with the impression that this guy knows his stuff and admire his ability to put succinctly (and eloquently) facts that no other candidate mentions:
The terrorists of September 11th plotted in Hamburg and trained in Kandahar and Karachi before killing thousands from all over the globe on American soil.As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.
Poorly secured nuclear material in the former Soviet Union, or secrets from a scientist in Pakistan could help build a bomb that detonates in Paris. The poppies in Afghanistan become the heroin in Berlin. The poverty and violence in Somalia breeds the terror of tomorrow. The genocide in Darfur shames the conscience of us all [emphasis mine].
Pakistan, the so-called major non-NATO ally in the War on Terror has plenty of transgressions that would put such a status in jeopardy. But no candidate apart from Obama dares to point out the failing of this aspect of the United States foreign policy. He seemingly landed in trouble for suggesting that he might authorize tactical operations in Pakistan if the regime failed to act. He was criticized by the current administration for trying to violate an ally’s sovereignty shortly before they proceeded to do exactly just that.
Mostly due to his work with Dick Lugar in dealing with nuclear proliferation, Obama is aware that threat of nuclear smuggling was made real by the actions of a certain Pakistani scientist which no American politician cares to mention as a reason the lives of Americans might have been placed under the threat of a mushroom cloud. The North Koreans and Iranians have this Pakistani scientist to thank for their nuclear capabilities which have got the Americans hopping made today. It is sad that the other candidate who is supposedly an expert on foreign policy is still making basic geographic mistakes that would make a certain Miss Teen North Carolina proud.
And yup, for all desis out there, Obama is the only one who has mentioned reforming the legal immigration system. That reason alone is enough for us to sport a Obama ‘08 bumper sticker on our car.
by Patrix | on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 1:28 pm | 
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July 25th, 2008 at 5:03 am reply
[...] Barack Obama in an inspiring speech in Berlin: “People of the world - look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.” [via.] [...]
July 25th, 2008 at 10:45 am reply
I don’t know about his speech but I am a little disillusioned by Obama overall. These guys give great speeches written by 8 writers sitting and stage managing the whole thing like a movie script. I mean the founding fathers were really talented men and great thinkers but now all we need is a teleprompter.
Obama will be just like the others. You just have to look at his vote on the Fisa bill (which Hillary voted against now that she is no longer in the race). I will vote for whoever is the Dem nominee but do not expect much from BO. As a des born Amrikan I think that these guys are the same as our desi corrupt, thali ka baingan politicians, they just wear better suits ;-)
July 25th, 2008 at 1:04 pm reply
Shanthi, like it or not today’s political campaigns are carefully orchestrated but what is true of Obama is true of McCain as well. Good speeches doesn’t mean that there is much smoke-n-mirrors. If it helps, the race speech was written in entirety by Obama and given his background in editing the Law Review at Harvard, I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays a major part in writing his speeches.
Voting for FISA admittedly was a step back in what Obama promised but as he moved from the primary stage to the general election stage, moving to the center is expected. You didn’t expect him to building a consensus without making any compromises, did you? I don’t know how long you have been here but trust me, he is a lot better than the politicians back in India. You just had to watch the trust vote proceedings to know that. How Obama will eventually turn out? Only time will tell us.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:42 pm reply
The Fisa bill is the only test that remains to see what a person thinks about the US constitution. Is it a holy paper that guarantees liberties or is it a guideline that can be discarded? There cannot be compromises on Fisa imo.
So he did not move to the center he actually went to the right when he supported it!! And am not just talking, I actually waited for John Kerry at a rally and spoke to him for maybe a brief 15 seconds about the bill.
And talking about trust vote, it is a lot easy to buy politicians here. For less than 100,000 they will kiss your and my brown asses! I think the trust votes were priced at millions of $ right?
So what’s the deal with the cruise ticket info?
July 25th, 2008 at 4:43 pm reply
ps: I voted for HRC in the primaries and will be voting for the Dems/BO in the Gen election.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:08 pm reply
Shanthi, I admit that his compromise on FISA was unexpected but then Clinton did once cast a vote that haunted her throughout the primaries and questioned her intentions. It remains to be seen how much will this vote cost Obama. IMO, not much coz of the ‘lesser of the two evils’ factor. I’m sure Obama is glad to have your vote.
And talking about corruptibility, politicians will kiss brown asses for lot less than 100,000 (even in rupees). The closeness of the trust vote race hiked up prices. Imagine a multi-party democracy in the US and an impeachment vote comes up. Do you still think the congressmen are going to ask for only 100K?
And if you had read my comment on the previous thread where you asked for the cruise info, you would have emailed me.
July 25th, 2008 at 7:25 pm reply
I hope Obama doesnt fall into the “Vajpayee” trap where he went after all the educated urban elite in our country and forgot about the real “India” in the villages, whom Sonia trapped. Little did Vajpayee realize that bad leaders are elected by good people who don’t vote.
So, while Obama is going around world in 80 days, I hope his own country-men don’t become disillusioned by him, or much less label him as “he thinks about world more than about us” coz he is not here that much hehehe - if Mc Cain is smart, he should make the most of this hehe.
I hope this doesnt happen, and Obama behaves like what he is right now - a “nominee”, not a “president”.
July 26th, 2008 at 6:48 pm reply
Supremus, I don’t think Obama falls into that trap. He is simply forced into the ‘elitist’ stereotype by the Republicans regardless of the fact that he didn’t have a privileged childhood and adulthood as compared to his opponent. But you are right about voter mis/disinformation that leads them to elect bad leaders e.g. Bush’s second terms. America definitely deserved him.
Obama’s ME and Europe tour was aimed at building his presidential image but what you mention has already been mentioned by McCain but his photo-ops in the cheese aisle didn’t help much :)
July 28th, 2008 at 4:10 pm reply
Supremus,
It was a terrible week for Grandpa. He came off looking like a senile has been, making so many errors and mis-speaking about every country possible! Why go to Germany when we can go to the sausage house off route 44 in Ohio? McCain staff is lazy, incompetent or must be colluding to cost him the election.
This election is for the Dems to take. But there is still time and so much can happen. I predict a Dem control of the house for the next decade at least. Sort of like what Karl Rove wanted , only it will be the GOP in the back benches ;-)
P,
I saw the comment you made asking for my email. I was kinda hoping you would just post a few lines. I didn’t on giving you BFF status for that kind of info, lol!
July 28th, 2008 at 7:31 pm reply
Shanthi, you give out your email ID only to your BFFs??? Even Dick Cheney isn’t that secretive. What would I do? Sell it to the next spammer I meet? Anyway, we booked our cruise from Carnival’s website. That’s all I can say on here.