Obama’s apology tour
The other night during the debate, Romney accused Obama of going on a world apology tour and the President objected to the characterization. He said he never once said the words that could be construed as an apology. Of course, the Obama-supporting media has jumped in the fray, agreeing with the president that he never said the words out looud, so it wasn’t an apology tour, per se.
Well, Fox News has assembled some quotes from The Heritage Foundation’s “Barack Obama’s Top 10 Apologies” list;
– At a Summit of the Americas, Obama regretted how “at times we sought to dictate our terms.” In an op-ed about policy toward the America’s, Obama declared: “Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors.”
– Speaking to the Turkish parliament, Obama rationalized: “The United States is still working through some of our own darker periods in our history.”
– Addressing CIA employees about an administration report which castigated the use of enhanced interrogation techniques against terrorist suspects, the President urged: “Don’t be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we’ve made some mistakes.”
– In a speech, Obama denounced the techniques used in the war on terror: “Instead of strategically applying our power and our principles, too often we set those principles aside as luxuries that we could no longer afford. And during this season of fear, too many of us – Democrats and Republicans, politicians, journalists, and citizens – fell silent.”
– In that same address at the National Archives, he went into full apology mode over Guantanamo: “There is also no question that Guantanamo set back the moral authority that is America’s strongest currency in the world. Instead of building a durable framework for the struggle against Al Qaeda that drew upon our deeply held values and traditions, our government was defending positions that undermined the rule of law.”
You should read the whole thing at the Heritage Foundation’s link, though.
So, although those lips on his face never form the words for an apology, he still sounds like he’s mighty sorry that he has to represent this country. Luckily, there’s a cure for that.
Category: 2012 election, Barack Obama/Joe Biden
I have to disagree with this. I use Politifact.com to do a lot of political research and Gov. Romney received a “Pants on Fire” rating for that statement. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/17/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-says-barack-obama-began/
Please note that the President is up there several times as well with some less than truthful statements including “Pants on Fire”.
Many of those quotes in this video.
The ‘apology tour’ meme is one of the more petty and fallacious charges that the right has brought against Obama [not counting the tin foil variety].
There is no shortage of legitimate issues with which to rebuke and reject the Obama Administration’s performance out of hand…there is no need to invent issues that just serve to make the party look intellectually stunted.
Technically he never said, “I apologize.” I guess thats something.
Go ahead and hand me a tinfoil hat because I do not see this as a small issue. Because it is not.
The occupier did indeed make a world tour shortly after taking office in which he bowed to folks (pardon those of us who are of the antiquated philosophy that we collectively bow to no one), made repeated inflammatory and derogative statements about this country, and generally sent a signal to each and every one of our enemies and potential enemies that there was a new, and weak, game in town.
If you want to call it something other than an apology tour it will not alter the fact that he did it and that it invited the world to view us vulnerable.
Or “view us as vulnerable.”
CI…This was not invented– it is the truth. He has apologized over and over for America. They are intellectually stunted. And, again, they lied about Benghazi! How stupid does one have to be before seeing the truth? It is not fallacious at all.
Perhaps it was too nuanced for them to pick up on it??
Clearly I’m in the minority opinion; that’s fine because I don’t have a dog in this fight. I just think it’s silly to lower one’s intellectual standards to that of the left.
Yes CI…who should we believe…the spinmeisters, or our own lying eyes?
Believe what makes sense to you sans hypocrisy and hyperbole. That’s what I try to do.
Okay…there are multiple photographs showing him bowing to foreign officials. Some hyperbole there, no doubt.
And there are photographs of previous Presidents bowing [and holding hands] with foreign leaders….it didn’t seem to be an issue then.
Frosty,
Politifact is nothing but an arm of the left-leaning Tampa Bay Times, with the same biased journalists who undoubtedly contributed to their recent endorsement of Obama. They are the worst offenders of the self-declared, self-righteous almighty arbiters of all that’s supposedly true or false. Most of what they rate is subjective opinion, heavily inserting theirs into what too many people think is some kind of science.
There are no pictures of me bowing. I do not bow.
Bush Senior. Bow? Hell no! He threw up on ’em.
I saw Hannity of Fox news “fact checking on Obama’s aplogy tour. Videos don’t lie!!!
I was shocked at Obama’s immature and very harmful remarks against United States. He put blame on all of the United States for actions of individuals. He even condemed the Hiroshima bombing of Japan in 1945. He doesn’t know his history when the Hiromshima bombing saving millions of lives that would have been lost on both sides if United States would have had to invade Japan in the conventional way. Please watch Hannity’s video and listen carefully to Obama’s statements. Yest he didn’t say the words “I apologize.” But he was harming the United States’ image with what he said.
Please, if you agree with me, send this informational video to the swing states. Obama on that Arab tour was a public relations nightmare for the United States from it’s own president!!!.
We’ve made mistakes, he said that a lot the first year to all those world leaders. How is that not an apology.
I didn’t say that it was not an apology. As a matter of fact, what Obama said was worst then an apology. An apology would be an honest sincere acknowledgement of a straight forward wrong. What Obama did was worst then that. What he said, and how he said his words was very harmful to the United States image. Please watch Hannity’s video, you will see what I mean.
K James
“I can’t believe I threw up in front of Dean Wormer!”
“Face it, Kent – you threw up ON Dean Wormer!”
Hey, it’s all good, folks. After the election, I’ll have a lot more flexibility.
It becomes pretty clear there is no middle ground on this type of issue, you either view it as nothing of importance if you like Obama and something of great distaste if you don’t like Obama.
Bowing has been done by every president meeting a foreign leader where that type of greeting is a social norm, nothing new there. Reagan was the first president to recognize the church/state of the Vatican, nobody seemed to get all crazy about it.
Obama doesn’t like some of the aspects of interrogation at Gitmo and thinks it hurt our image. He’s allowed to express that as our elected representative. His opponent in the last election wasn’t much of a fan either of those techniques and could quite possibly have expressed those views as president as he had already expressed them as a Senator and member of the Armed Services Committee…..
Obama has not done what he promised, he did not alter the political landscape in a positive manner and improve the economy. Good enough reasons to be removed.
@22 – All very true excepting the part about middle ground; one doesn’t have to hold Obama in any esteem to not get worked up over this issue.
No shortage of issues in which to advocate his removal.
The bowing portion did not bother me. He was showing the custom of the guest nation. Pretty much everything else in the tour pissed me off though.
Yeah, except when Obama bowed to the mayor of Tampa, Florida. Is that a custom of the host? Or guest? http://ace.mu.nu/archives/297685.php
Can this guy remain upright for more than 3 minutes when he greets someone, or is the bow his default position?
If you want to know what President Obama said to foreign governments, check out the UK’s news outlets and Al Jazeera. American press, with the exception of Fox News, spent the last 4 years jockeying for jobs in the White House.
“Apology” is really a very kind, kind way of characterizing what Obama did and said.
Good point, DaveO! That was what I thought as well – and was thinking of a couple of retorts that Romney could have used. One or two might even have been rated for prime time!
I looked at that 2010 photo of Bo bowing to the mayor of Tampa, which I had not seen before today, and the first thing I thought was “What is WRONG with that man?”
After all, the mayor of Tampa is not the Queen of England, and protocol does not require anything more than a handshake and a smile and a polite greeting, whereas the Queen could rightfully expect the courtesy of a nod of the head from a man or a curtsey from a woman, even though she is not our sovereign. It’s simply a courtesy of custom.
There is something decidedly peculiar about that photo and all the other things Bo’s been doing.
@25. Her Highness, The Mayor of Tampa! That was a scream. I never did see that pic before. I googled and viewed bows conducted by other presidents (real presidents?) and there is no question that Obama wins the low bow award, hands down. I mean that guy looks like he’s about to munch zipper. Eisenhower and Reagan did nods. Reagan did his head bob to the Queen of England while still walking toward her. When he arrived, they shook hands.
AirCav, the Naval officer on the right side of the pic looks like he’s undecided whether Baracka’s going to keep right on going til he boinks his noggin on the concrete or, he’s thinking, “Shit, Again? Really?”.
@30. Yeah, UpNorth, I caught that the first go around. I thought, he’s thinkin, “What the …?”
Hey. Anyone seen Sparky? He was last seen in the Junk Mail Gulag Jail and that was that. No more Sparky.
Zoooool has seen Sparky.