Is President Obama ashamed to display the American flag to Iranians?
Watching TV clips of Pres. Obama’s special message to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, a holiday that celebrates the first day of spring and the New Year in many countries, I was struck by how tight the frame was cropped. My antennae went up. I found the official White House website for the message, and saw that there were . . . various versions of the message.
In the main, generic version, an American flag is plainly visible in the background [see screencap below the break]. But below that there are links to other versions, including “.mp4 with Persian subtitles.” Persian is of course the language of Iran, so that is the version designed by the White House to be seen there.
Click on it and you’ll see that—poof!—the American flag has disappeared from the background [see screencap above the break]. So that’s why the image was cropped so tight. At times, the prez’s American flag lapel pin can be seen, but during most of the message the cropping is so tight that even that small American symbol is invisible.
Looks like Pres. Obama was worried about offending the mullahs and Ahmadinejad by displaying Old Glory.
7 Comments
Damn Mark, you have an eye for detail.
Great catch. Unbelievable too.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks. Yeah, I think this is pretty big.
Mark it is pretty big…as far as I am concerned it is huge…it is outrageous!
When are people going to wake up!?!
This man is no friend of the USA whatsoever in my opinion.
Excellent detail and what a great catch…good work as always from you.
MARK! I’m not easily impressed, BUT I’M IMPRESED!
Thanks, BT and Joaquin: Have to say I’m disappointed this hasn’t gotten wider coverage . . .
Wow! I don’t why I am surprised by this. The same guy who hides the US flag can tell a joke about the Special Olympics…we sure got a “winner” for four years…?
The more things like this Obama does, the more I think he wants to exchange the title of president for the title of KING. Obama doesn’t want a military. The sooner our enemies defeat us (with Obama’s help) the sooner he gets to be crowned KING.
He thinks our wounded warriors SHOULD pay for their injuries through THEIR PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANY. Anyone joining the military in a combat roll would have their insurance at a much higher price, unless Obama makes it mandatory they all pay the same price. If he did that, then ALL OF OUR RATES WOULD GO UP.
I don’t care what it costs to take care of wounded warriors. They VOLUNTEERED to go out and do the fighting to keep ME free. I want them to have the best care possible for the rest of their life, no matter how much it costs. They paid for it first.
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[...] But Mark Finklestein decided to dig around a bit on the official White House website. In the main, generic version, an American flag is plainly visible in the background [see screencap below the break]. But below that there are links to other versions, including “.mp4 with Persian subtitles.” Persian is of course the language of Iran, so that is the version designed by the White House to be seen there. [...]
[...] 6. Finally, Maddow praised PBO video message in honor of the Korwuz holiday celebrated in Iran and many other countries in the region. She called it “nuanced and savvy.” Yeah. So nuanced and savvy that in the version intended for Iran, PBO arranged for the prominent American flag in the original version to be cut out. [...]