Continuing to play the victim at the hands of the American media that love him, on Friday John McCain bashed both Barack Obama and the press. Appropriating Lance Armstrong's cancer awareness event in Columbus, McCain slammed the "throng of adoring fans" who greeted Obama in Paris. Sadly for McCain, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's glowing reception of Obama probably has less to do with media bias than with the insults McCain hurled at France in the run-up to the Iraq war.
``President Sarkozy and I agree that the world must send a clear message to Iran to end its illicit nuclear program,'' said Obama yesterday. ``A nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave threat to both our nations. It would endanger Israel and the rest of the region and could embolden terrorists and spark a dangerous arms race in the Middle East,''
In 2005, rioting between blacks and French police reached a boiling point. It was when the then interior minister of France, Nicolas Sarkozy adopted a no tolerance policy against the rioting and called the mostly black native youth scum.
The CNN translation from French to English was terrible, so I went directly to the French emission. (Sarkozy was agreeing with Obama how important Afghanistan is and was giving the example of a woman whose fingers were cut off because she used nail polish, if my French caught it right. This was a violation of the rights of all humans. The translator could not follow. Not good, so I watched the French questions and answers without translation.)
Sarkozy clearly is very, very comfortable with Obama and the NPR reporter asked him if he was endorsing Obama. Of course, Sarkozy said no.
The constant theme last night in the coverage of the Berlin speech that Obama delivered was the refrain: "We'll see what the voters think".... GREAT News, VOTERS LOVED IT!
Over half of Americans (55%) rate Barack Obama’s historic speech in Berlin yesterday good or excellent, and the Democratic presidential candidate is experiencing a modest bounce over John McCain nationally in the latest Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Even nearly a third of Republicans (32%) give the speech good or excellent marks, but Democrats are far more enthusiastic, with 75% feeling that way. However, 39% of Republicans rate the speech Poor versus only five percent (5%) of Democrats. Forty-seven percent (47%) of unaffiliated voters say the speech was good or excellent, while 16% characterize it as Poor.
Suck on that David Brooks!!! This is EXACTLY what McCain feared.... Let the new Meme be born...
On Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama will cap his European tour with an address in Berlin to an audience whose numbers may approach one million. But while the media will focus on Obama's call to strengthen America's trans-Atlantic alliance with France and Germany, lost no doubt will be John McCain's essential role in undermining it. As it turns out, back in 2003 John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the Berlin-bashers and Paris-hating purveyors of "freedom fries" and "old Europe."
I found this as a fresh angle on the decades-long futile attempt to reconcile Israelis and Arabs. Incorporating both parties into a greater transnational organization for the betterment of both and all others.
Just as the United Nations accomplished its mission by preventing a third world war and the European Union has erased borders between once warring nations, a Med Union could sew Arab/Israeli relations.
This new angle is being pushed by France's president (a conservative free trader but European conservatives would be more aligned with US Democrats than Republicans, imo).
Lost in the July 3 rush to start July 4th partying is the Commander Athlete in Chief's announcement that he will support the athletes by attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. This direct, single digit salute to people who care about human rights in China and who are concerned about the continuing genocide in Darfur, was delivered to avoid outcry. Put another way, it reeks of cowardice.
This past Monday, I was hanging out in a classroom during recess with two little French girls of African descent. They were talking to me about what's excited large parts of the French population these past few months: Barack Obama.
"Are you voting for John McCain or Barack Obama?" they asked me. I wish I could somehow express in writing how they pronounced the names in French; it's really cute.
They were excited, one said, because he'd be the first African president of the US. Their teacher corrected them and said he's African American, and there's a difference, to which one girl replied with a very French "Mais quand même!" (But still!)
It's the cuter and more inspiring part of what I've noticed out here - Barack Obama was generally preferred to Hillary Clinton out here, but, now that he's sealed the nomination, the world community has come down solidly in favor of an Obama presidency.
One thing the black poet and politician Aimé Césaire did very well: he had a knack for turning the oppressor’s weapons against him. Sometimes I think it was a useful knack, but a limited one: Césaire celebrated Africanness in a French as fine as Racine’s; as Mayor of Fort-de-France he helped to give Martinique the worst traffic jams in the Caribbean; and today, if you go to the bookstore he co-founded in Paris, Présence Africaine, you’ll find it rather quiet, while just down the street there’s another publisher, l’Harmattan, whose shop is crowded every day with people from all over the African Diaspora, carrying on.
De mortuis nihil. Today, once more, Césaire and friends and family turned the oppressor – a very short man by the name of Nicolas Sarkozy – out of his smug position of power. A few years back Césaire had refused to meet with Sarko to protest the then-Interior Minister’s defense of French colonialism. Today he had no say since the occasion was his own State funeral. Césaire was 94 years old.
In today's New York Times there's a wonderful article about how the French (both the right and left) are appalled at their new president whose cultural affinities run decidedly low-brow. How refreshing to have a country up in arms about the boob they elected to their presidency. Meanwhile back in this lovely country, politicians have to pretend to be as regular as joe six-pack. What a fucked up country this is!
Not being French, I can't say more than that it's an interesting read. And for those interested in intellectual currents, one wonders if this new "French neoliberalism" will have a greater impact on the EU than traditional French thinking. And Marliere depicts how the leaders of the French right have diminished in intellectual stature:
Before Sarko, the Gaullist right was not quintessentially vulgar and anti-intellectual. Charles de Gaulle was a well-read man who had the good taste to choose André Malraux as Minister of Culture. Georges Pompidou was an Agrégé de lettres and a student at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. The apparently less highbrow Jacques Chirac is a great connoisseur of Japanese civilization (and, some cynics might like to add, of his banking system) [and leaves the splendid Branly museum as a monument, Editors]. Sarkozy breaks with the Gaullist tradition on that count: he is a self-professed idiot.
Sometimes you want to cry just to keep yourself from laughing. The librarian was explaining why I couldn’t have access to the medieval manuscripts: "You see, these books are made of vellum and they’ve been put on display recently, so the vellum needs to rest." Really? I wrote the goddamn book on medieval vellum, and I was going to ask the librarian if she gave the vellum a little pillow and tucked it in at night and then I thought, better not. Just cry.
Today French President Sarkozy took the moral initiative from right under the nose of the American government (which, tacitly, is still backing the Chinese authorities, and given that the US in on hock to China to the tune of several trillions, it's not surprising) and has threatened to boycott the Olympic games unless the Tibetan crackdown is halted. He asked for restraint and has urged Beijing to enter into a dialogue with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Link: http://news.yahoo.com/... Naturally, the response from the White House is well, typical of the smugness that has pervaded the Bush regime: press secretary Dana Perino said President Bush still plans to attend the Olympics.
On Tuesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said any attempt to disrupt the torch relay for the Olympic Games was shameful. Well, Darfur is shameful. As is the Tibetan crackdown.
Over the past two days, the fawning American media has provided rave reviews of John McCain's visit to France. While the New York Times lauded "McCain's soothing tones," Time gushed about "McCain's Paris romance" and the transformation of Franco-American relations made possible by his warm embrace of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. But lost in these accounts is John McCain's vitriolic France-bashing in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Back in 2003, John McCain stood shoulder to shoulder with the Paris-hating purveyors of "freedom fries" and "old Europe."
I suppose it was inevitable that with Bush’s loss of his trusted British poodle, Tony Blair, another neophyte would soon take his place. Enter Nicolas Sarkozy, France's debonair (and sometimes acerbic) new president. He’s been panting for an opportunity to hump Bush’s leg from the day he was inaugurated. But, hey, look at the bright side; at least this [French] "poodle" belongs to a breed that is AKC registered.
Snark aside:
The French president signed a deal on Tuesday with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to immediately begin building a permanent military base in the Gulf region. The size of the proposed new base has not been disclosed but it’s been said that the new state-of-the-art facility will house up to 500 personnel.
The permanent UAE base marks the first time a western country other than the U.S. has ventured to build such an lasting structure in the region.
