Sunday, April 12, 2009

President Obama Was Correct To Bow To King Abdullah; Conservatives Are Idiots Here

Warning. If you're conservative, you're not going to like this post, ok? But the fact is President Barack Obama was correct in his act of bowing to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. It's called - drumroll please - the right protocol. What it does reflect, is the end of American Machismo in foreign affairs. You know what I mean. The desire to show we're better than someone else, (because they're different) which could be thought of as a kind of racism since the basic idea is to put someone down because of their race. President Obama is a breath of fresh air here. He seeks to make partnerships around the World, not line up new candidates for industrial exploitation.

Conservatives are upset because many it seems want Obama to show America as tough. OK. That got us September 11th 2001, or what we call "9-11." Yes, much of our foreign relations have been tied to America showing its military or economic muscle over the decades, but now the era of Pax Americana is over. We have to use another approach. It's called diplomacy. But the general, accepted rule is Royalty outranks heads of state. The idea is a President is only such for a few years, but Kings and Queens are that for life.

Obama not only did the right thing, even if his press secretary is trying to make it go away, but Obama signaled a major shift from how America has dealt with the Arab world, and he did it at the right time. We need to have a better image around the World.

Also, bowing is considered a move of affection in East Asia and Obama was expressing just that. What masks an appreciation of Obama's act is simple, pure, American ignorance. The xenophobic idea that one who's of the USA doesn't need to know about another country or its customs, but that everyone should know about ours. It explains why so many of us don't know another language let alone english, or embrace the themes of other cultures. Here, the San Francisco Bay Area is different from America (come to think of it, so is Manhattan and Seattle and LA, and Miami). We don't have that problem to as great a degree as in, say South Carolina, and at least in what I call the "Inner Bay Area", which is between the Pacific Ocean and the Hayward Fault line.

But other parts of America need a whole sale intellectual cleanup. And yes, we have a lot of appologizing to do around the World because we've screwed up so much of late -- that's what created 9-11. Remember our ill-advised President Clinton-directed 1993 Somalian incursion under the idea of a humanitarian mission, when it was really an occupation? It was Osama Bin Ladin's group that got us out of there. And successful, they were emboldened to consider an attack on America which led to 9-11.

The Chicago Sun Times ran a shameful opinion piece on this matter and Sun Times Columnist Steve Hunley wrote a column that represents the macho, non-thinking American more concerned with being tough than being smart. I just hope he's not that way.

Frankly, Rambo was a dumb movie and an even dumber idea. Best to leave him where he belongs -- in the past.

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