On this evening’s Hardball, NBC News correspondent Jim Maceda reported that in the wake of his speech, Arabs view Barack Obama not at all as an American president, but as an “enlightened regional leader” and “an imam.”
Chris Matthews was, naturally, thrilled.
JIM MACEDA: And in the streets, they said they never heard anything like this before from a US president. They mentioned the word “affection,” the lack of condescension, quoting four times from the Koran, greeting them in Arabic.
One analyst said that Obama spoke more like an imam at Friday prayers. Another Arab analyst again said that Obama didn’t sound like a US president at all, but more like an enlightened regional leader. And that really struck me, because if he’s an enlightened regional leader, then on a very visceral level, some Arabs are responding to Obama as one of them, and if you’re going to move any kind of peace process forward, you have to have that empathy first, that trust. That has what’s been missing for certainly 60 years.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Jim Maceda, you make me happy. That’s what I think we have to do in the world.
5 Comments
“responding to Obama as one of them,”
This is worrisome.
“…and ‘an imam.”
Somehow I think that may be a little closer to reality than most are comfortable admitting, and I am not referring to the Arab perception of him that Maceda is referring to, either.
In recent days, it appears that Obama is getting in touch with his “inner Muslim.”
I find that not a little unsettling, particularly when one takes into account recent events in North Korea and Iran.
Obama said we should not impose our values on others, but that apparently excludes Israel, as Obama has tried to bully them into halting settlements, giving up land that would handicap their conventional defensive military capabilities, and looking to maneuvering them into surrendering their nukes.
Obama is no friend of Israel.
Question: Why was Michelle not by his side on his little jaunt to Cairo?
-Dave
Obama also said no nation should be able to decide which nations have nuclear weapons and which don’t (except if it’s him saying no one should).
I am also very disturbed at how soon in his term he is beginning to back away from Israel.
Answer to your question, Dave.. Michelle and the girls were going to meet up with him in Paris.
You know, for the “fun” part of the trip. I guess he figures Michelle wouldn’t be “adored” there so why bother?
This report from Maceda is sickening…Matthews goes without saying…
Isn’t it nice that these are the same people that were all outraged at the use of O’s middle name, but their messiah is now considered the cats meow when he uses his muslim roots/name.
People are such fools…there is plenty of knowledge out there about O and his roots and ties along the way…and his is no friend to this country in my opinion…not at all.
Maybe he’ll apologize for the terrible wrongs this country has done again before he reaches the WH…a place he never stays, let alone work, real work…something he knows zilch about too.
You have to wonder if there is an ounce of honesty in the man, BT. He and they are masters of the expedient–whatever works for them today, but they are not driven by morality; they are driven by results, winning.They will try to crush anyone along the way. We must not let them have their way!
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[...] Germany. The Israelis are ticked at him, too. The only folks who seem to like him are . . . the Arabs, who see PBO as an imam. [...]