I read nothing in the speech transcript as an apology. What I did read was that he was giving the rest of the world a warning.
I’ll leave it to the reader to figure out what that warning was.
Declan
Don’t bomb the US or we’ll bomb the living shit out of your country?
That was the result of involving the US in WW2 , but imagine hearing that warning in 1928 or 1930, would you have thought, that the worst that could happen was to re-fight WW1 and that was simply a redo of the Franco/Germany war in the last century.
No , I think Obama was stating that when two rights make a wrong the next time around, the casualty figures are going to be in the billions. I don’t imagine anyone in the world is going to be actually thinking of attacking the US directly or indirectly, after 9/11.
Declan
I have no desire to push this into GD, but I personally remember seeing, on the afternoon of 9/11/01 itself, ample news footage of Palestinians cheering & celebrating in the streets (in the Middle East) that very evening. Search YouTube for ‘palestinians on 9/11’ to view some of it.
As for its meaning in the grand scheme of things, well, not very much. I mean, how would you expect them to react…
Trump claimed they were in New Jersey. By the thousands.
When it was pointed out the only footage was from the M.E., he doubled down on the N.J. claim.
And his supporters started claiming they had seen the N.J. celebrations, too.
Snopes
America Firsters were not pacifists, they were non-interventionists. They supported an impregnable defense, and most of them swung into war mode on a dime after Peal Harbor.
And? Did you read my post?
It took years to ramp up the equipment and public support to wage yet another war to end all wars.
The world has always been, and will always be a shit hole of warring nations. That you think the US should have jumped into WW-II after the losses of WW-I and the Great Depression without any of the assets needed is beyond reason.
We can’t generate enough public support to fight ISIS head on AND we have all the assets needed to do it AND an alliance capable of doing it.
I was kinda joking, but let’s get real. The folks in Da-esh would like nothing more than to stage a 9/11 type attack on the US. After all, we’re been bombing the living the shit out of them, pretty much, for almost 2 years.
A) It didn’t sound like an apology to me.
B) Trying to find meaning in Obama’s speeches is pointless. It’s like trying to find meaning in your average pop song. It sounds nice to the ears, it gets a nice applause, and is forgotten quickly.
Can’t argue that a brand name terrorist organization, or freelancers would not want to pull off something of a 9/11. But a flagged country attacking America ? No I can’t imagine who would be stupid enough. You might think NKorea , but for all their blather, they still have done nothing.
Declan
Agreed.
Now you know how conservatives feel when liberals whine about “microaggressions”.
Depending on the subtext and the context, the actual text is usually ignored, and often irrelevant.
It probably says more about the circles I travel in than anything else, but the only folks I ever encounter complaining about microaggressions and trigger warnings tend to be card-carrying conservatives. Most liberals I’ve known were huge fans of offensive humor.
It’s almost as if trying to paint a third of the population with the same brush is an exercise in futility.
EDIT: But no, Obama can’t win with the more entrenched conservatives, any more than Bush could with the more entrenched liberals when he was in charge. Then again, nobody challenged Bush to prove he was a US citizen.
Q: Has ‘The Post’ printed a retraction or an apology yet?
“OK, but its too simplistic. Good-guys, bad guys, too simplistic.”
“What if I make him poor?”
“Still too simplistic…”
“What if I make him deal with an Evil Angry Asshole who is ALWAYS WRONG and cheats him out of a decent living wage.”
“You might be on to something… go on…”
“An Opinionated Scumbag… an Editor of a paper that throws crap on the front pages without ever checking facts… headlines always slanted and always dripping with venom. I’ll call him… J. Jonah Jameson…”
“Oh man, thats risky. Its already set in NY. What if ‘The Post’ sues…?”
"If ‘The Post’ sues, I’ll say its ‘The Daily News’… and if ‘The Daily News’ sues, I’ll say its ‘The Post’.
“Stan, You’re Brilliant…! Do It!!!”
And any evidence that this was due to a major pacifist movement in the US? (England, yes.) The resistance to getting involved in Europe again, which I’m not arguing, did not come from pacifism.
It’s not hard to back up the premise that it was an apology. He planned on it back in 2009 and it was rejected by the Japanese government.
Not only did he make a symbolic apology he did it against their express wishes.
the saddest and most disappointing thing about Obama’s presidency is how long it took him to figure out that trying to compromise with his political opposition just made things worse. He should have given the Republicans 2 weeks at the start of his first term and then gone ahead and done what he needed to do. Instead he spent years trying to compromise and come to a middle ground. All wasted years. Worse, it encouraged gridlock. The Republicans learned they could either stop him completely or at least get a good part of what they wanted just by standing there and saying no. A lesson learned by both parties unfortunately. If Obama had tried to compromise for a couple of weeks then moved on, the Republicans would have quickly learned that compromise was better than no and the country would be much better off.
I know I blame Obama, much as I admired his willingness to try at the time, and I want to blame the Republicans, but in fact they were just doing what got them the most. Too bad it torched the political process and taught everyone bad habits.
And I know the Republicans are being more accommodating right now, at least a bit, and the Democrats are doing the same-everyone is afraid of the upcoming election. The problem is that a destructive tactic has been shown to work and work well. Someone will adopt it again the future.
Back to the OP. Of course he didn’t apologize. The White House specifically stated there would be no apology when the visit was announced. Reality isn’t important in attacking Obama. And of course he will be blamed by the right for apologizing. Facts aren’t the issue with Obama. It is all about energizing the base and raising money.
I’ve already cited that was his original desire. Pretending a visit to Hiroshima with a speech about how the dead want us to look inward and take stock of ourselves isn’t an apology is a complete denial of reality.
He did this knowing they didn’t want it and he did it right before Memorial day.
I tend not to believe that. I think they were gonna dig in their heels no matter what Obama did. And they’d say they had no choice but to stonewall him on everything, as if their behavior was somehow his fault.
Emphasis mine.
:smack: