10.20.2011

Obama's prescient words

It seems like yesterday that, recalling the phrase “Prague Spring,” I was emailing friends inquiring about the sudden appearance of a new term, “Arab Spring.”

Moammar Gadhafi and I go back decades to the early 1980s when his name was spelled Khadafy and I was editor on a world news desk.

This morning, as news came of the death of the former Libyan leader, I could not help reflecting on an earlier breaking news story:

OSLO – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.
- The Associated Press, 9 October 2009, LINK

To those who scoffed at that announcement and in light of all that has occurred during this “Arab Spring,” I can think of no better time to reflect on President Obama’s sppech made on 4 June 2009 at Cairo University. There is a copy of the speech – “A New Beginning” - in The Reading Room.

There is no question that our president’s prescient words planted a seed in the minds of peoples who have lived in regions of tyranny and turmoil.

Our president.

Isn’t it time this man is given the respect he has earned and deserves?

6 comments:

Sue said...

It absolutely is time Barack Obama, POTUS, gets the respect he deserves and the recognition for a masterful job overseas! Those of us who do respect our president have been heaping praise on him, those who hate him have not, but they are the minority and are irrelevant!

Tiny said...

Not only give him respect for his accomplishments, but give him credit for the list of his achievements since he took office. Tiny is tired of him being trashed by the racists and ignorants who do not want to give him credit for his diligent work.

It seems the candidates running for president in the opossing party are presently quaking in their boots even more this morning. They know the 99% out number them and will win back this country and the democracy.

So, as one wise man said, "Let us be up and doing what our hands find to do."

BJ, you do a good job of doing that in order to inform and educate those who are willing to open their eyes and their minds. We thank you for your good work.

B.J. said...

“So, as one wise man said, ‘Let us be up and doing what our hands find to do.’ BJ, you do a good job of doing that in order to inform and educate those who are willing to open their eyes and their minds.”

Tiny, I would never knowingly pass along or publish false information. I work to research and document every word. And you know I’m a stickler for reliable sources.

In a political atmosphere filled with lies and propaganda and, yes, hate, I am perhaps obsessed with facts.

If someone reads what I have to say, takes issue with it and tells me so, that is one thing. It is those who delete or refuse to read who break my heart.

On an almost daily basis I tell myself to just quit. To relax and enjoy my golden years, then a story breaks or an idea forms which must come out in words.

One day I will understand, I suppose, that people who close their minds to information exist, and there’s nothing you and I can do about it.

In the meantime, every one who reads and comments here is a blessing.

BJ

B.J. said...

When asked by a reporter today in Council Bluffs, Iowa, if President Obama deserves some credit for Gadhafi’s death, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney replied, “Yes, yes, absolutely.” URL:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/20/romney-gives-obama-some-credit-for-gadhafi-death/

Tiny feeling queezy said...

Tiny saw some pics of a very bloodied and mutilated Khadafy and it turned her stomach that any human being can be so cruel and heartless to another human being regardless of how rotten the other human being's behavior has been.

Will we ever evolve to the state of not being so savage. All Timy can say when she see such as this is , "God have mercy on all of us. All of us!"

All of us have the potential to be the greatest sinner or greatest saint. The choice is given to each individual. It is not mandatory that we choose to stoop to the lowest denominator of treatment to others just because that's what the other choose.

Man's inhumanity to man disturbs Tiny's soul. We were not created to stoop so low.

Frodo, laying blame where it belongs said...

It is hard for Frodo to accept the fact that it is Reagan, Nancy, not Ron, who set the agenda for the Republicant Party for the 21st Century. Who would have ever believed that a third-rate, second tier actress, with no breasts, would author the actions taken by the Party of Lincoln?

"Just say, No."