Procrustean History: Obama Manipulates the Past to Fit the Narrative
How the president and other revisionists cut and stretch the truth.
“In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a highway robber who tied travelers to his bed and made them fit; if their legs were too short, he stretched them; if they were too long, he cut them off.”
— Dictionary of Classical Mythology
President Barack Obama’s famous (or infamous) Cairo address of June 4, 2009, has been subjected to the unrelenting scrutiny of many reputable observers and distinguished political scholars — and found egregiously wanting. It is replete with distortions, fabrications, lacunae, misconceptions, inaccuracies, lies, exaggerations, and outright historical fallacies. There is scarcely a passage without its resident howler. I do not have the space to run through this near-interminable list here — anyone with a decent knowledge of history or ready access to a search engine can trawl for himself — but I will provide two exemplary instances of historical error.
As has been repeatedly pointed out, Obama’s allusion to Islam’s “proud history of tolerance” which can be seen “in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition” is a blooper of major scale. Islam flourished in Cordoba chiefly during the tenth century; the Inquisition began to wreak its havoc toward the end of the fifteenth. If the president can drop five centuries from the historical calendar without skipping a beat, one is surely entitled to suspect the pondered validity of many of his other calculations.
Less conspicuous but no less telling is his blunder respecting the initial, de facto recognition of the United States. For Morocco was not the first country to recognize the U.S., as Obama mistakenly, or disingenuously, claimed. The honor goes to the Netherlands, via its Caribbean dependency of St. Eustatius one year earlier. On November 16, 1776, on the authority of the island’s governor, Johannes de Graaf, an American warship flying the Grand Union Flag was given an armed salute, thus officially recognizing the United States as a sovereign nation. (Some say the Danish island of St. Croix got there several weeks earlier, but the record is unclear.) For this act of lèse majesté St. Eustatius was bombarded by the British. The price paid by this brave little island might have been worth remembering.
Obama is a classic example of a shrewd but poorly educated political impostor who has managed to achieve immense power — not very different, except in the outer gloss, from, say, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. But Obama’s flagrant ignorance, or deliberate rewriting of the historical record, is only an expression of a much larger and indeed commonplace tendency to misconstrue the past in the interest of a set of comfortable preconceptions. This is, at bottom, among the main reasons he was elected: he reflects both the cognitive deprivations and jaundiced mindset of what has come to be called “liberal” culture. And “liberal” culture in the West is pretty much the name of the game these days.
We live in an era in which those who actually know and study history are becoming a vanishing breed. Instead, we embrace “narratives” that play fast and loose with even the most ascertainable facts in order to maintain a favored reading of political and historical events, in other words, to reinforce our prejudices or emotional needs. We do not scruple to invent “truths” if necessary and, as if we were reprising the antics of Procrustes, have no compunction in either racking or dismembering the annals of the past. In the contemporary milieu, it is almost as if having truth on one’s side — demonstrable truth — is a liability or a very weak ally, a highwayman’s quarry.
As a result, the crisis in which the West now finds itself is largely one of its own making and is rooted primarily in the false relation it has entered into with history. Its response to the tangled exigencies of the contemporary world is grounded in a willful and Procrustean tendency to reconfigure the past in such a way as to decomplexify or distort the issues which confront and environ us. In effect, we lay the past upon the iron bed of our received assumptions and then proceed to adjust it to the frame’s dimensions. The past is consequently made to conform to the mold of the West’s majority prejudices while at the same time appearing to offer an explanation for the convolutions of the present — which for this reason remain unamenable to our best efforts at understanding and amelioration.
The process by which we manipulate the historical muniment is twofold, involving on the one hand a selective bracketing of episodes and periods in the life of a nation and on the other a deliberate rewriting of the dynamics at work in the life of a people. History is either politically truncated or mythologically stretched, as it were. And this double process has proven highly effective in creating a climate of obscurity and misapprehension from which, barring a crucial change of mind and heart, it seems unlikely we will emerge. This binary disposition is nowhere so evident as in the popular effigies of America and Israel.
Page 1 of 2 Next ->
David Solway is a Canadian poet and essayist. He is the author of The Big Lie: On Terror, Antisemitism, and Identity, and is currently working on a sequel, Living in the Valley of Shmoon. His new book on Jewish and Israeli themes, Hear, O Israel!, has just been released by Mantua Books.
 |
 |
 |
Podcasts |  PJM Home |
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
63 Comments
1. DavidN:I’m of two minds about Obama’s speech. When you’re talking to a proud person, and trying to make friends with them, you don’t start by going over all of their faults in detail, telling them what a jerk they’ve been in the past. At times, especially towards the end of the middle ages, the Muslim world was a leader in various artistic and technical fields. They then abandoned this leadership, and have for whatever reason become more and more backwards compared with us in the intervening centuries. When an Arab does something innovative these days, he usually lives somewhere in the West.
One quibble I have with your article, though. The issue of Morocco recognizing the United States first has been a discussion for some time. Regardless of whether the Dutch were first (and a flag salute by a small island, much removed from the home country, isn’t the same as a decree by the Sultan, from his palace), the longest continuously in force treaty between the United States and a foreign nation is with Morocco. It dates back to 1786, and is still in effect.
I’m not saying that all Muslims are good: obviously, there are many bad ones. I’m also not saying we should surrender to them. I’m actually pretty concerned about the rise of militant Islam in our country. I’m just saying…not everything he said was completely incorrect. Just criticizing Muslims, and not offering them any encouragement, serves no purpose.
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:35 am 2. whataloadacrap08:Obambi obviously believes in the old adage of repeat a lie often enough and loud enough then eventually the lie will become truth. Hey, it worked for all of the other tyrants in history, right?
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:51 am 3. David Thomson:“Obama is a classic example of a shrewd but poorly educated political impostor…”
I was among the very first individuals who clearly realized that Barack Obama is a shallow and poorly read man. It dawned on me almost immediately after hearing him speak. I also remain unimpressed by Obama’s famous 2004 Democratic Party convention speech. It was banal and superficial. Needless to add, many question my sanity. After all, didn’t Obama graduate from Harvard Law? Unfortunately, Obama’s credentials only indicate that he is able to pass a state board examination. Obama is probably unable to read a serious book. He is primarily interested in grabbing power. Disinterested and objective scholarship bores him to death.
Jun 30, 2009 - 2:59 am 4. Terry Gain:The sign says Bake Sale. Inside, however one finds not cookies and cakes but implements for baking.
I might well agree with the sentiments of the author however they are so poorly expressed and the misleading heading is such a turn off that I found myself skimming.
Jun 30, 2009 - 3:02 am 5. Mike2:Obama’s Cairo address was a Potemkin effort to hide the brutal reality of life in Muslim countries.
Jun 30, 2009 - 3:15 am 6. lefroy:The double standard again.
Just imagine if GW Bush, rather than Obama, had spoken at Cairo University and said “hajib” instead of “hijab”. It would still be running.
For that matter, just imagine if GW Bush had gone to Europe and spoken of his “Austrian”. The howls of derision!
Jun 30, 2009 - 4:26 am 7. RE:As long as people continue to let him get away with his lies, it seems perfectly reasonable to expect Obama to keep right on lying. Just because Obama is intent to mess with the success of the American economy, it does not necessarily follow that he is willing to mess with his own personal success by adopting some basic standards of truthfulness and honesty.
Jun 30, 2009 - 4:45 am 8. "progressive"watch:Before Obama rewrote American and world history,he rewrote his own,all calculated and ideological. No history which fails to met the ideology need apply.
Jun 30, 2009 - 4:56 am 9. Bohemond:Obama is ignorant of history, but he is well-versed in the Narrative, the alternative history concocted by the busy beavers of the Left, the Edward Saids and Howard Zinns.
We see this dangerous tendency again in Obama’s knee-jerk support for Zelaya in Honduras: never mind that Zelaya had gone rogue, that he was acting completely extraconstitutionally, that he was defying the congress and the supreme court as well as the law: his removal, in complete accord with Honduras’ constitution, was labelled a ‘coup’ by our commander-in-training-pants. After all, in his book any Chavista Leftist represents “the People” and must be right.
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:16 am 10. Steve:DavidN states:
“At times, especially towards the end of the middle ages, the Muslim world was a leader in various artistic and technical fields.”
No they weren’t. Very few Muslims made any contributions in artistic fields in the Middle Ages or any other period for that matter.
Islam was is and has always has been a parasite on other cultures.
You are exaclly the type of person Mr. Solway is writing about in his splendid column.
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:18 am 11. Thomas L......:As a student of history, real history, I bang my head against these same prefabrications every day, especially the narrative surrounding the Israel and the ME. When defending Bush or recent US actions in general, I’ve got to the point with lefties where after a minute I ask them to cut straight to the indians.
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:34 am 12. Thomas L......:As a student of history, real history, I bang my head against these same prefabrications every day, especially the narrative surrounding Israel and the ME. When defending Bush or recent US actions in general, I’ve got to the point with lefties where after a minute I ask them to cut straight to the indians.
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:35 am 13. Cybergeezer:A significant part of the problem is that these pathetic individuals haven’t passed a basic reading comprehension test; They can’t repeat anything unless they color it with their own interpretation.
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:44 am 14. Mongoose:The real issue is how we turn all this around.
We really cannot go on this way–it just leads to tyranny and a destruction of America.
Jun 30, 2009 - 6:01 am 15. Sebastian Shaw:President Obama is like any Leftist politician: They rewrite history to fit their own political ends. For instance, President Jimmy Carter was persona non grata in the Democratic Party due to his disastrous 4 year term, yet now he is hailed as some kind of hero on the Left. Why? The Left has erased Jimmy Carter’s sad, pathetic legacy, but, this cannot be wiped away. A little penetration of critical thinking will wipe out the illusion of pompous deeds & platitudes. President Obama is following Jimmy Carter’s path, yet he seeks to do more damage than Carter ever did.
Jun 30, 2009 - 6:52 am 16. scooby:People, Any real Ideas on how to get the country back in where it belongs? We can Blog all day long. The Tea Parties seem to be a good start. I live overseas and will be attending a 4th of July Party but it will not be on the air in the USA but it should be.
Jun 30, 2009 - 7:21 am 17. Captain Obvious:David Thompson,
You may be right. The trouble is, there is no documentary evidence to let us know much about our president’s education–or anything else.
It is only reasonable to ask to see transcripts and a birth certificate–try getting any kind of work without them. But anyone who asks why we have not seen President Obama’s is derided. Okay. I’m one of the cranks. I still want him to show us.
Jun 30, 2009 - 7:37 am 18. Adina Kutnicki,Israel:Scooby- a MASS tax revolt would be a good avenue to get the regime’s attention. After all, without taxpayer money they can’t take the country where they are planning to drag it.
So, in the same manner that one would not willingly ! give a home invader ones assets, so shouldn’t outraged citizens fund a runaway, dangerous and out of control leadership.
It takes alot of stones to start such a protest, but once started it would spread like wildfire.
After all, who doesn’t DETEST the IRS?
Citizens must think outside the box. When the country was being formed there was plenty of out of the box strategies.
NO taxation without (fair) representation…..
Jun 30, 2009 - 7:40 am 19. Adina Kutnicki,Israel:Bar none, Solway is the best essayist of this generation. Couple his literary prowess with his grasp of history, and he is a force to be reckoned with.
The readers would do well to internalize his predictions,as they are as likely to happen as day will turn into night.
Count on them….
Jun 30, 2009 - 7:48 am 20. Tina Trent:Sorry, DavidN. I can see where the sentiment comes from, but it is sentiment.
The last time I taught, the institution expected me to instruct from a textbook that deliberately summarized the entire pre-9/11 Islamic/European conflict (entire, as in 500 – 2001) as an example of Islamic tolerance and multiculturalism confronting “anxious” Christianity and Judiasm, which is, of course, insane. In other words, they wanted me to tell a lie to my students, a specifically anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish lie. It was there in the textbook, and with the exception of my class, the other students were taught this silly and transparent lie.
Instead of being taught actual history.
Instead of being taught anything at all, frankly, because this wasn’t just what they wanted me to teach: this was all that they wanted me to teach.
This is how Obama speaks about European history. It’s bluntly terrifying. It’s a fantasy. Better to say nothing than to lie. Better yet that he should close his eyes, summon some of the apparently selective courage he showed when opposing racial apartheid from the comfort of Harvard, and apply the same American ethical and moral standards to the human rights of women in the Middle East.
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:12 am 21. Professor Guvinoff:Ignorance trumps knowledge, early and often. The most plausible reason for the absolute black-out of all the academic records of today’s POTUS is simply that there isn’t anything of substance in it, and the presumption of excellence is better than the mediocrity of the material.
It has been recognized in psychology that illiterate people are very good at pretending to read, and hiding their handicap by all kinds of tricks beyond the imagination of the litterate. This is just their adapation, at which they get very good indeed, because they want respect as much as anyone else, with the result that we often underestimate the spread of illiteracy.
Some people go through college(s) having learned nothing more than the “power” of big words, which puts them just a couple of notches above total illiteracy.
What has happend to critical thinking and to our educational system? Children will enjoy developing their own critical thought if only some examples of it are given to them. If the cultivation of appearance, all the way up to speech coding, is the only example they are given, they will soak that up, too.
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:21 am 22. Paul -Indiana:#16. scooby, the best way would be to get people to vote. Obambi was elected by 31% of the electorate, largely because 42% failed to vote.
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:29 am 23. inspectorudy:What could the thinking people of our country do to make the MSM delve into the past and present actions of this imposter? Unless the “Average” American is made aware of his lies and distortions on a daily basis, like GWB, they will think of him as a nice cool guy. Is there no way to turn the MSM toward the truth?
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:53 am 24. Delia:9. Bohemond [nailed it solid].
Our country is in for a WORLD OF HURT when the very ‘leader’ we appointed at the helm hates everyone but himself except for other ‘dictatorial, egomaniacal types’, but, especially hates the very country he ‘resides’ in.
Hope-n-Change has metamorphed into ‘doped-n-deranged’.
There are so many wonderful black people in this world but 0bama ain’t one of ‘em.
Jun 30, 2009 - 9:03 am 25. Strawman:FWIW: http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/who_wrote_dreams_from_my_fathe_1.html
Jun 30, 2009 - 9:16 am 26. Blarty Blarckleblart:The trouble is, there is no documentary evidence to let us know much about our president’s education–or anything else.
Just imagine – it’s possible Obama’s just a hologram, or Pixar-like computer animation.
It’s possible he DOESN’T EXIST AT ALL
WAKE UP SHEEPLE
Jun 30, 2009 - 9:26 am 27. gclarke:The recent Churchill miniseries has Churchill walking into a Yalta meeting, deferring to FDR’s decision to assign the resolution of the “Polish Problem” to Stalin, who was already in full possession of the country Britain and France went to war in 1939 to liberate. “What do they [the Polish gov't in exile] expect us to do, Start another war?” grumbles the head of the financially-wrecked “British Empire.” (In the crowd scene at that point, I wondered who was playing Alger Hiss).
I was not alive in 1945, but my father fought in Europe and traced for me his movements into Bavaria. I read enough to share Churchill’s frustration: WWII was started by Ribbentrop’s agreement with Molotov to split Poland. Stalin waited a few weeks so did not enter his half of Poland until Sept 1939 was half gone, with the horror of the world falling on Hitler and Ribbentrop, not Stalin and Molotov who were just as guilty.
The horrors of Auschwitz have been well known since 1945. But the 1939 atrocity of Katyn Forest, where the cream of the Polish military and elite, to the tune of 20,000 souls, secretly got a bullet in the back of the neck at the hand of the Soviet Army in 1939, is not so well known. (Stalin later blamed Hitler for this when he reentered Poland in 1944, having been pushed out by Hitler in 1941).
I point this up because anyone paying attentiion to the tragic narrative of WWII, knows how Poland, like the Arabs after WWI, ultimately got screwed, as did all of Eastern Europe, as Hitler’s liberated slaves got pushed, by our guys, screaming, onto the cattle cars going back East (to the Gulag it turns out, at our ally Stalin’s orders). Anyone who knows this knows not one American soldier entered Poland to “liberate” it in 1945. Anyone paying attention knows Auschwitz was in Poland, as it was used to liquidate the Jews from the Ghetto in Warsaw, as well as the other major Polish cities.
So how could Obama, if he was paying attention, think his great uncle in the US Army liberated Auschwitz? Clearly the man is not paying attention. He sent Churchill’s bust back to England because his father as a Mau Mau/Marxist fought the British colonials in the ’50’s. His perspective on history is not mine. Whose will prevail? The winner’s history always prevails, but whose will that be?
Jun 30, 2009 - 9:28 am 28. Moogie:#26 Blarty: “The trouble is, there is no documentary evidence to let us know much about our president’s education–or anything else.
Just imagine – it’s possible Obama’s just a hologram, or Pixar-like computer animation.
It’s possible he DOESN’T EXIST AT ALL
WAKE UP SHEEPLE”
Another brilliant counterpoint lobbed by our resident naysayer. Content, dude… give us some content. Do you have Obama’s college records? Why are his sealed and untouchable when every other politician in this country has theirs available for public scrutiny? You shoot back with a water pistol when we aim a machine gun at you. C’mon, fella… get with it.
Jun 30, 2009 - 10:05 am 29. Blarty Blarckleblart:Why are his sealed and untouchable when every other politician in this country has theirs available for public scrutiny?
Really? Every other politician? Hmmm. I’m dubious.
But let me ask you this: assuming for the sake of argument that you’re correct that Obama’s college records really aren’t available – so what?
Jun 30, 2009 - 10:21 am 30. paul_unalaska:The Cairo speech, as well as others are filled with inconsistencies/ lies because the speeches are written by a 20-something speech writer! My intention isn’t to offend the 20, 30 somethings who comment. Though the understanding, fathom of history is YEARS away from coming to a well, thought out conclusion. History was my minor, I’m 33 and am still a history enthusiast. Though I realize my ignorance on the subject when speaking with older, educated historians.
Sadly, many people for sometime get their ‘History’ lesson from but a few ‘History’ books, skewed to Obama-like misinterpretation. Truly sad.
Progressive Watch’ #8 comment nails it. Obama rewrote history with his absurd autobiography (it too filled with inconsistent dates in history, including his own!) and is again doing it via the world to see.. and ridicule..
What an empty suit..
Jun 30, 2009 - 10:41 am 31. Moogie:So what? “Transparency.” Why not release the grades? What is he hiding? I’m just sayin’…
http://www.nysun.com/new-york/obamas-years-at-columbia-are-a-mystery/85015/
http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/obama-still-has-not-released-his-college-grades-his-thesis-his-medical-records-a-valid-birth-certificate/
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/05/obama-mythical.html
Jun 30, 2009 - 10:50 am 32. Blarty Blarckleblart:So what? “Transparency.”
Hmm. Transparency. So what do you think might be in there?
Jun 30, 2009 - 11:03 am 33. Scott:DavidN wrote:
“At times, especially towards the end of the middle ages, the Muslim world was a leader in various artistic and technical fields. They then abandoned this leadership, and have for whatever reason become more and more backwards compared with us in the intervening centuries.”
You’re parroting what they taught you in public school David. The truth is that many of the things attributed to “Muslims” were in fact Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and others who were forced to convert to Islam. Basically what happened is Muslims bled the population dry of ideas and innovation in a generation or two due to Sharia law and “Arabization” of the people. You neglect to realize that Islam had been spread via war and genocide since the 7th century. Its adherents continued to attempt to spread it via conquest until they were stopped at the Siege of Vienna, Austria in 1683.
Jun 30, 2009 - 11:29 am 34. Scott:A quick note. Muslims didn’t stop trying after 1683, they just realized that they weren’t powerful enough to assail the Western powers directly until the last 50-100 years after oil was discovered in their lands. Then they began a two fold attack, one that involves immigration (and the wombs of oppressed Muslim women) and another one that involves violence & terrorism.
There is not such thing as a “moderate” Muslim, there are however people that call themselves “Muslim” yet are not adherents and would likely be subject to intimidation, attacks, and even death from the true Muslims. Its kind of like a Catholic who doesn’t go to church (or rarely attends), is pro-choice, uses birth control, and never goes to confession yet still calls themselves Catholic.
Jun 30, 2009 - 11:45 am 35. Realist:Blarty thanks for being we need left wing Moonbats like you just to prove to the world how dim ‘neolibs’ are and you never disappoint. So please list for us all the documents about his past Obambi HAS made available should not take long as there are virtually NONE and in that I include hiis Birth Cerificate and please don;r come with the fake COLB excuse no one with any sense has swallowed that except neolibs of course but then a ’sensible left winger’ is an oxymoron of course
Jun 30, 2009 - 12:02 pm 36. altalena:In an era when most written English reads as if it had been put through a meat-grinder, David Solway’s prose reads like something out of the eighteenth century at its best — prose with crystalline clarity, sonority and, when called for, majesty. PJ readers who haven’t already done so can do no better than read his “The Big Lie,” not just for its style, but for its remarkable insights into the world we live in — and the fix we have gotten ourselves into. Warning: After reading it, you’ll spend the rest of your life disgruntled about the quality — or lack of it — of most present-day English writing.
Jun 30, 2009 - 12:02 pm 37. Moogie:I don’t know Blarty … what do YOU think he’s hiding?
Jun 30, 2009 - 12:04 pm 38. Realist:Don’t forget the Hindus Scott algebra and the Zero came from them and many of the inventions Obambi commended the Mohammedans for were Chinese. He really is an uneducated Mohammedan ars*licking buffoon.
Jun 30, 2009 - 12:05 pm 39. Joe Bison:You have to understand that leftists have
created a world of myths to support their
policies. Myths of course are not true
but as long as enough people believe them
they serve their purpose.
Actual facts and history are counterproductive
Jun 30, 2009 - 12:10 pm 40. Delia:to these myths and therefore would undermine
the policies the leftists wish to pursue at
home and abroad.
39. Joe Bison,
Ah. I always likened myself to Persephone [pərˈsɛfəni].
You’re right though. The whole ‘idea’ of ‘the first black president’ is ‘mythical’ and ‘retarded’ [i.e. slowwwww and not to be confused with people who are born with a congenital abnormality of the brain].
Jun 30, 2009 - 12:39 pm 41. Mike Murray:Excellent piece.
To be sure, Obama plays fast and loose with “facts.” He fancies himself (presents himself, anyway) as a student of history. But, as such, he earns a failing grade.
Most dangerous of all, from my persepective, is his ignorance of — or his flat-out dismissal of — the documents that guide our republic’s governance: U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
See “Not the boss of us,” posted at: http://emmeffemm.com/id103.html
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:05 pm 42. Robert:It wreaks of Orwells 1984. The more Obama is allowed to advance his agenda the more our history and heritage are rewritten; or outright erased. I only wonder when dissenters will start to befall the same fate.
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:07 pm 43. Marc Malone:#29 Blarty – So what? What might be in them? Disqualification for office might be in them.
The few facts we can glean indicate that he may have managed to get into college by declaring his Indonesian citizenship, and getting minority waiver status. He was ostensibly adopted by his Indonesian Stepfather. There is no record of his ever having retaken an oath of citizenship.
If it is true that he was a) Born in Kenya or b) Naturalized as an Indonesian and never regained his U.S. citizenship, then he represents a coup d’etat of the U.S. by the Democratic Party, as they are required to certify his qualification for office.
At the least, it will likely turn out that he had poor grades and was an Affirmative Action graduate. Same with his being “the first black editor of Harvard Law Review”, one who never published anything. It would kill the meme that he is so “brilliant”. Suddenly, all his utterances would be viewed with suspicion. The lies would be exposed soon after.
Either result would be the death knell for the Democrats.
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:15 pm 44. Paul -Indiana:Are you still glad that you voted for Obama?
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:37 pm 45. Paul -Indiana:If you are looking for Michelle Obama’s thesis, it’s here http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html .
They should have kept this hidden and just concentrated on her ‘buff arms’. She sure doesn’t have a buff brain. Another quota admission to college.
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:41 pm 46. sportutegirl:“It was Islam — at places like Al-Azhar — that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment. ”
The above statement from Obama’s speech is almost an exact quote from the Spaceship Earth attraction in Epcot.
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:56 pm 47. Delia:0bama’s ADMITTED duel citizenship makes him nill and void for presidency but, some asshats didn’t want to take the time to properly vet their ’supah-duhapah star’.
Now we pay the price.
Jun 30, 2009 - 1:57 pm 48. Horace Wells:Guess what, it wasn’t a history lesson, he was trying to jerkoff the Muslims/Arabs. If he can make them happy with some verbal BS, why complain?
Jun 30, 2009 - 2:15 pm 49. Blarty Blarckleblart:I don’t know Blarty … what do YOU think he’s hiding?
Nothing.
#29 Blarty – So what? What might be in them? Disqualification for office might be in them.
Like what? A “C” in calculus?
You guys need to quit basing your whole worldview on email forwards you get from your fishing buddies.
Jun 30, 2009 - 2:16 pm 50. Horace Wells:DavidN
Jun 30, 2009 - 2:18 pm 51. Greg:You are too reasonable for the smug ignoramuses here, who clamber for red meat to make themselves feel unwarrantedly smart.
So, why do suppose the Swiss aren’t getting a phuked-up view of history like the liberal Americans? Do they shoot left wingers?
Jun 30, 2009 - 2:38 pm 52. Michael:And all the usual suspects come to show us how the President’s history quotes are all correct. Oh,wait. No they aren’t. They are just trying to derail the discusion. Again.
It’s a bitch when one doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Jun 30, 2009 - 3:47 pm 53. Aureliano:You guys need to quit basing your whole worldview on email forwards you get from your fishing buddies.
That’s unfair. I base my worldview on what I see on TV.
Actually, that’s not true. I base my worldview on how often I see something on TV.
That’s how I know anthropogenic global warming is settle science, that the Iraq War was lost, that Black Liberation Theology doesn’t exist, that Michelle Obama is oh so dreamy, and that Obama has nothing to hide because … er … because there’s nothing on TV to make me think he does (except Fox News).
Sheesh. Some people are just so obtuse ….
Jun 30, 2009 - 3:57 pm 54. Patrick of Atlantis:Hey! He went to Harvard. He’s in the club, man. It doesn’t matter what he says. I hope I live long enough to see his face on Mt. Rushmore.
Jun 30, 2009 - 4:07 pm 55. Blarty Blarckleblart:…and that Obama has nothing to hide because … er … because there’s nothing on TV to make me think he does (except Fox News).
Do you ever question FOX News? Don’t you find it suspicious that no reputable Republican leaders question Obama’s legitimacy? Are they all part of the conspiracy too?
Jun 30, 2009 - 4:08 pm 56. Delia:54. Patrick of Atlantis:
“Hey! He went to Harvard. He’s in the club, man. It doesn’t matter what he says. I hope I live long enough to see his face on Mt. Rushmore.”
LMFAO! Oops. Better be careful. I almost LITERALLY laughed my ass off. OUCH
Jun 30, 2009 - 4:21 pm 57. Mike:An entire generation of US citizens has lost contact with history with the advent of the Internet. Instead of analyzing history, we regurgitate information obtained online. This is not the Internet’s fault, it is the fault of individuals who are not taught the enormous value of history. Obama is abusing the relative ignorance of the Internet generation by contorting history for political purposes.
Obama does not care one whit about history. He is an idealist who believes that “change” occurs even when it follows precedent. This is not the first time in history where a President believes that he has fresh ideas, only to be shown that they are stale and banal. Obama lacks the perspective to see that policies similar to his have failed in the past (Carter’s policies are only one example).
Greg:
“So, why do suppose the Swiss aren’t getting a phuked-up view of history like the liberal Americans? Do they shoot left wingers?”
The Swiss have a very nationalistic view of history, which often conflicts with reality (one such conflict is the Swiss understanding of their relationship with the Nazis in WWII.) However, that reality does not have to catch up with them because they are financially well off. Financial stability tends to lead to conservative politics, and politics that are very low-key. Low-key politics does not require politicians to use an abnormal amount of rhetorical flair to “motivate” change (like Obama.)
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:16 pm 58. Aureliano:Do you ever question FOX News?
I told you: I believe EVERYTHING I see on TV. If it isn’t on TV, it doesn’t exist; if it is on TV, it must be important, and the more I see something on TV, the more important it is. From losing the Iraq War to all those majestic mountain ranges in ANWR, from the importance of Michael Jackson to the unimportance of Obama’s black separatist church. EVERYTHING is television based, and oh so accurate. What else is there?
Sheesh. Some people are just so obtuse ….
Don’t you find it suspicious that no reputable Republican leaders question Obama’s legitimacy? Are they all part of the conspiracy too?
Don’t you find it suspicious that you’re too dumb to know when I’m not being serious?
Sheesh. Some people are just so obtuse ….
Jun 30, 2009 - 5:43 pm 59. DavidN:OK, this is now officially a weird discussion. I can’t believe I’m being attacked for supporting Obama. I voted against him, and will do so again unless something very drastic happens.
All of that being said, making blanket statements about this (or any other) speech he’s made, if the statements aren’t correct, is probably a bad thing. One commenter assures us that all of the inventions of the Muslim era were actually conceived by Christians, Jews, and others who were forced to convert to Islam. I’m now in the uncomfortable position of pointing out that Christian societies from Western Europe tended to do the same thing (check out how the Catholics acted in Latin America, where they typically enslaved the natives, and worked them to death). At least the Muslims allowed people, after they converted, to participate in the daily life of their countries.
The difficulty with a discussion like this is several fold. Saying that “the Muslims” did something overlooks the fact that while some Muslims did something, others perhaps did something else. Every Western historian on the left wants to put forward the provinces in Spain because of their tolerant and multi-cultural societies, and of course they put forward the fact that some Jews fled the Inquisition and wound up in Muslim territory, because they were treated better there than among the Catholics.
There are several points to be made from this. For one thing, the Muslim provinces in Spain were short-lived (about 75 years, if memory serves correctly) in their tolerant regimes. Much of the rest of Islam, then and obviously now, was/is nowhere near as tolerant. Acting as if they hadn’t existed, or acting as if they were representative of Islam’s rule of non-Muslims, is pretty stupid. History happened: trying to twist, exaggerate, or obliterate it for your own purposes just upsets people, and generally doesn’t work.
Interestingly, no one has questioned my central point: the United States’ longest-standing treaty is with a Muslim country. It’s true; you can look it up.
Oh, and by the way; to the one idiot who said I am parotting what I learned in school, all I have to say is you obviously don’t know me. I learned nothing in high school, beyond how to type, fill out an income tax form, and avoid bullies. Never went to college, but I’ve read thousands of books, and am essentially self-taught. One thing I learned a long time ago is to never make assumptions about people you don’t know…they’re often wrong, and you wind up looking like a fool as a result.
I just recounted all of this to my wife, and she laughed uproariously at the idea of me defending Obama in any context. She’s the family liberal, and thinks I’m the conservative scourge of humanity. That being said, I still think if you call someone on something they say, they ought at least to be incorrect.
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:10 pm 60. Strawman:If you gotta ask…
Jun 30, 2009 - 8:16 pm 61. Blarty Blarckleblart:Don’t you find it suspicious that you’re too dumb to know when I’m not being serious?
So you don’t question Obama’s legitimacy. Good to know at least one of y’all is tuned in to the real world.
Jul 1, 2009 - 9:43 am 62. Siddharth Kala:When speaking of “Islamic” achievements one must first recognize how much Islamic societies obtained from merely absorbing and internalizing the philosophy, the mathematics, the science and technology of India (as mentioned briefly and in passing by a previous commentator).
In the West, a few scholars know about Indian contributions in mathematics – (which were actually quite immense in themselves) but know little else about what else was picked up. Much of “Arab” science and knowledge came from Hindu Brahmins and other scholars who were force converted and brought to Baghdad and other Arab cities to serve as accountants, doctors, food inspectors and so on. To this day, Indian professionals provide signficant manpower to Saudi Arabia and the Sheikhdoms of the Gulf.
Secondly, when it comes to art and architecture, much of it ought to be credited to some Sufis – who would never be recognized or accepted as true Muslims by Quranic Muslims.
The achievements of Quranic Islam are almost NIL. While one can attribute certain cultural achievements to some Sufis, it would be most inappropriate to describe these as “Islamic” achievements.
Islam was a medieval fascist idealogical system that could only sustain itself through brute force and tyranny. That is why every nation that was ruled by Islam fell prey to European colonization.
And that is also why Asian nations like Japan and Korea (who escaped the vissictudes of Islam) developed very rapidly and have now become some of the world’s most advanced nations.
Take away their oil wealth, and it is almost certain that the Islamic nations would be the world’s most backward.
There is virtually no developed Islamic nation that is not rich in oil or other precious resources.
Islamic states are parasitic states, and Europe finds a way to collaborate with such states because it hasn’t fully gotten over its colonial mentality.
For instance, colonial Britain systematically used Islamic treachery and violence to put down nationalist Hindus in India.
It is one thing to be for democracy in ones own country – it is quite another to also support it in a country you wish to exploit and hold down.
Nations that refuse to acknowledge their hidden colonial (or racist) attitudes will never really unite to fight Islamic terror.
That is the sad but unvarnished truth.
Jul 1, 2009 - 11:16 pm 63. Aeschines:I really don’t need to hear a “Canadian poet” lecture about American history.
Jul 8, 2009 - 12:47 am