US Features
Obama claims foreign credibility from international roots
Feb 11, 2008, 6:39 GMT
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois makes remarks during a campaign rally at TC Williams High School, in Alexandria, Virginia, 10 February 2008. Obama, fresh off winning three states this weekend, competes against Senator Hillary Clinton 12 February in Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia primaries. EPA/MIKE THEILER
Alexandria, Virginia - US presidential candidate Barack Obama said Sunday that his election would change perceptions of the United States overseas, and argued that his own international background gave him an understanding and credibility with foreign leaders and people.
In a rare and lengthy discussion of foreign policy - other than Iraq or terrorism - at a high school rally in northern Virginia, Obama reiterated that he would meet with foreign adversaries, including Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, despite what Obama called his 'strong despotic tendencies.'
'I will meet not just with our friends but with our enemies - not just with those we agree with but those we don't,' Obama said, answering a question on Venezuela from the audience of more than 2,000 in Alexandria.
Obama also said his Kenyan, Muslim father and the early years of his life spent in Indonesia - the world's largest predominantly Muslim nation - gave him an understanding that would help in negotiations with Muslim leaders.
'They may know that I'm Christian but they also know that I lived in Indonesia ... and so I understand their culture,' he said.
Obama moved to Indonesia with his mother and stepfather at the age of six and spent four years in the country before moving back to his birthplace of Hawaii. His biological father left him and his mother when Obama was two years old to return to Kenya, where Obama still has relatives.
Obama, 46, is vying to be the first African American president and is locked in a tight battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's nomination.
Obama said a key reason he was running for president was that his success despite his own 'funny name' and background would help heal the country's own divisions and restore US credibility abroad.
'The day I'm inaugurated, I think this country looks at itself differently,' he said. 'It changes our perceptions in this country but it also changes perceptions oversees.'
Obama warned that the United States has ignored Latin America 'at our peril' while growing economic powers such as China invested in the continent's infrastructure and established trade ties, and he chided the current US administration for viewing Latin America as a 'junior partner.'
'Our Latin American policy cannot just be 'I oppose Castro, I oppose Chavez' and that's the end of it,' he said, but added that talks with such leaders had to make clear US priorities.
'We are going to talk about human rights, we are going to talk about freedom of the press, we are going to talk about political prisoners in Cuba,' he said.
Obama strongly attacked Chavez for the treatment of his people and his attempt to gain a stranglehold on power.
'I don't actually agree with Chavez's policies or how he's dealing with his people. I think he has consolidated power. I think he has strong despotic tendencies. I think that he's been using oil revenue to stir up trouble against the United States,' Obama said.
'So he is not a leader that I admire,' he said.
Obama also criticized African leaders for failing to unlock the 'boundless' potential of the continent, but said wealthy nations had an obligation to work with the poverty-stricken region. He called for the US to sign trade agreements that could 'hugely' benefit Africa without harming the US economy.
Economic development and investment in Africa would only be successful if 'we have leaders who are willing to root out corruption, institute basic rule of law and overcome tribal divisions,' he said.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
Trying to denigrate Obama for his religious beliefs is so low I cannot begin to tell you just what you sound like. It is just another neocon conspiracy to find something on this guy that will sink him. Go dig somewhere else SP!
...but go inform yourself before denigrating me.
The left made it's life's work denigrating Romney for HIS religion, and in the blink of an eye, gives Barak-the-magic-negro a pass for a religion FAR more bigoted than Mormonism.
This is blatant libnazi bigotry. Then again, they are going to softball this guy all the way to the White House.
Can you provide a link to this manifesto, SP4?
That sounds rather complicated for SP4 - perhaps you could ask him a few meaningless rants and phrases stuck toether with useless statistics instead
In fact, I got my link from someone on this site but did not save it. I'm sure a little searching will find it.
Interesting reading, to be sure.
Type in 'the black value system' with 'trinity church' or 'Obama' and see what pops up.
Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the Black Value System written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Vallmer Jordan in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Blacks are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:
1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of 'Middleclassness'
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting Black Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.
===========================================================
Now, re read that and replace the word 'black' with 'white'...Would you vote for a white man who believed that? Why would you vote for a black man who believes that?
==============================================================
white church had that ''White Value System'' as their pledge, they would be damned by the black community as the worst kind of racists. Please close your pie-hole.
'If a
white church had that ''White Value System'' as their pledge, they would be damned by the black community as the worst kind of racists'
that's the whole point..
...is that Romney had to endure scorn from the left for his religous views while Barak-the-magic-negro gets a pass from the libnazi press, and the sheeplike constituants for his.
resent Barack-the-Magic-Negro because he is in fact a Negro?
Did anyone see putney swope?
TO SP4 - you are a racist turd, and all who believe in your views, ideology, how is the burden?
Read the church doctrine that Barak worships under every day and then ask yourself which of us is the so-called racist. Which one of us is a racist and which one a racialist?
Then, ask yourself just how far this chucklehead would be if he were white?
Now, who are the real racists here?
I see liberal bigotry, at this site, every day and no one except me points it out yet, the minute someone of a different ethnicity or race is insulted, the word 'racist' is tossed about.
Get in line.
We are to believe that, because he lived in another nation, he has some kind of vibe no one else can possibly have?
When are these people going to stop throwing rose petals in front of this guy?
Flipping the coin does not change the value of the coin.
Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the White Value System written by the Robert Byrd Recognition Committee chaired by Billy Graham in 1981. We believe in the following 12 precepts of our covenant. These White Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Whites are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:
1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the White Community
3. Commitment to the White Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the White Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the bourgesois.
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System.
12. Personal commitment to embrace the White Value System.
===========================================================
The only thing missing here is that 'Whites are naturally superior to all other races'. Notice, however, that this IS an important omission. But, I would like to understand one thing. Why do leftists, black and white hate the middle classes so much? They are forever trying to tax them out of existence.
Liberals hold the middle class in contempt because they feel that they are, somehow, intellectually superior to them.
This is for the most obvious reason: most of them are from the middle class. This is the unremitting reminder that they are average. No matter how they excel, they look back and are constantly reminded of this. This is why so many of them worship acadamia, because it acts as a cloak to their origins.
The flower generation is the Rosetta stone for this. They pretended to reject the middle class ideals of the 1950's, only to re embrace them once they went into middle age. They actually borrowed money from their parents to support their hedonistic lifestyles, pretended to study and practice complex eastern religions, not actually understanding any of it, acting like monkeys imitating humans, but not comprehending their actions.
They lived large, sex, drugs, and music, looking, and acting, rediculous. Ridiculous clothes, rediculous lifestyle, and rediculous politics.
I cannot tell you how many old friggin hippies I know rant and rave about the right, while they drive SUV's drink harder than their parents, if that was possible, cheat on their spouses, and exhibit behavior exactly like the class of 1945. The sad thing is, their kids are now either heartbroken at Daddy or Mommy as drug addicts, or worse, turn out just like them.
It is the ugly truth of the dem libnazi religion: they are just regular joes, masquerading as intellectuals. In the 1960's, they tried to live the lie of another plane of existence, while their brothers and sisters and Dad's went to war, then pretended to protest it to assuage their guilt.
When they returned, to a world they did not recognize, the flower children turned ugly, and rejected them.
Why?
The libnazis were exposed as the posers of the 20th century. Like the old south,they needed someone to hate. Who better than those who went to war? In the libnazis mind, they were the enablers of it all. They had to be punished, so they stood at the airports and spit on men, who won EVERY battle, as the came home.
Vietnam never split this nation apart: Libnazis did. Just do me one favor:
Make sure that these men know that it was their own generation that did it, not their little brothers and sisters.
This, Noharr is why they hate the 'middle class' so much. It is them, and they cannot stand it.
'written by the Robert Byrd Recognition Committee '
LOL!
page: 1
SP4: I WonderFeb 11th, 2008 - 14:48:46
...how these internationalists would feel if they ever bothered to look at the manifesto his church espouses?
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