[macFanDave]

paulgunn said:

>... It was also loaded with a a lot of Obama's speeches. (Again it's all about him.) If President Bush had done this it would be considered classless and I would agree.

If President Bush had given The Queen an iPod preloaded with Barack Obama speeches, it wouldn't have been classless, it would have been bizarre.

For Bush to give anyone an iPod pre-loaded with his speeches would be like Woz presenting a collection of his dance numbers. His speaking was a national embarrassment. Even at his most polished and rehearsed, he looked and sounded wooden and phony. When he spoke extemporaneously, the profundity of his ignorance or psychopathy was put on public display.

It is a matter of fact that Barack Obama speaks very well and that improves America's image in the world, especially the English-speaking countries. I believe he leads very well and history will remember him as one of our most effective presidents. I know that people like you, paulgunn, have a not-so-hidden agenda to sabotage the Obama Administration regardless of the suffering and depravation it could cause your fellow Americans and the world.

The next four to eight years are not really about whether Barack Obama succeeds or fails, but whether the United States of America succeeds or fails. So what are you: a patriot or a Republican?

[Concorde]

Obama is a great speaker ... as long as he is being fed by his teleprompter. It has become almost a joke that Obama needs a teleprompter for even the most minor speaking event. When he is off teleprompter, his speaking ability is ugh ugh ugh much less impressive. Almost like he does not really know what he is talking about. While no one will accuse Bush of being a great communicator, his words were usually his own.

[mslavick]

Jeez, I would expect this hatred of the President (who has inherited the most garbage on his plate since FDR and has been president for a whole two months now) on a Fox News forum, not Macworld. Where are all of these d nozzles coming from?

[strangemax]

Concorde said:

Obama is a great speaker ... as long as he is being fed by his teleprompter. It has become almost a joke that Obama needs a teleprompter for even the most minor speaking event. When he is off teleprompter, his speaking ability is ugh ugh ugh much less impressive. Almost like he does not really know what he is talking about. While no one will accuse Bush of being a great communicator, his words were usually his own.

Along with his 500+ entourage he brought along 12 teleprompters for his overseas trip. They practically needed a plane all their own.

[trip1ex]

Yeah the iPod seemed lame.

I heard he gave another leader a bunch of Dvds a few months back. I think it was the PM of England.

This stuff sounds like what kids give each other in high school.

It's trying too hard to be hip or something.

This is crap you buy off the shelf in Britain and the footage you can get off YouTube probably. Give her something unique.

[palane]

You beat me to it, leicaman. My first thought. I wonder if he wears a crown?
BB

[TowerTone]

...and were you a Democrat or a patriot the last 8 years?
As far as his speaking abilities, some folks actually get beyond style and look for the substance.
While President Obama may be a great instiller of hope (an excellent quality for a leader), credibility can be lost quickly when the other values of a great leader are lacking.

[palane]

Any chance this could not be a trash the POTUS thread? Nope, guess not.



BB

[sporks]

embraboy said:

Be as pedantic as you like. Shall we start referring to Obama as President of New York?

Nope. The United States has a different type of government.

[sporks]

Macnificent said:

Oh dear.

Royal hierachy in Ireland and France? Do you know what most Irish think of the British Monarchy? Have you heard of the French Revolution? What are you taught in school?!

I don't know what you mean by "royal heierarchy" - this is garbled gobbledegook.

I think its safe to say everyone in the world today was not born before 1776.

The reason you don't have to worry about the Monarchy is not because you were not born before 1776. It is because you don't have a Monarch. That is your good fortune. It should not be assumed that those who live in Monarchies necessarily support the monarchical principal. Many British (not English) and Commonwealth "subjects" are upset at having to pay for a (largely) powerless mascot/religious leader, as you say. Some dislike it on principle (like this writer!)

The lack of knowledge of the world outside America, by Americans, can be frightening at times. I think I read once that only eight per cent of the US population held passports and probably many of those passport holders only ventured as far afield as Canada and Mexico. When George Bush described Mexico as America's closest ally, jaws dropped around the world.

You need to keep in mind we are talking about Heads of State.


When President Obama, as a Head of State, gives a well-chosen present to another Head of State (who happens to be a Monarch), he is not expressing approval for monarchy, merely being polite and courteous.


This is normal. I'm sure such an educated man as he, would no more refer to QE2 as Queen "of England" than she would call him the President of Illinois. To do so would be ignorant, not a supporer of monarchy.

Because, of course, people outside of America are experts in the politics, geography and culture of all the world, and embrace each other in giant group hugs.

Give me a freaking break. Way to reinforce the stereotype of arrogant blue-blood european.

[sporks]

mslavick said:

Jeez, I would expect this hatred of the President (who has inherited the most garbage on his plate since FDR and has been president for a whole two months now) on a Fox News forum, not Macworld. Where are all of these d nozzles coming from?

It's not what he inherited, it's his proposed fixes. Nationalizing banks. Nationalizing the auto industry. Tripling the national debt in a single year. Giving billions to corrupt political organizations (ACORN). Appointing tax cheats to cabinet positions.

Obama has earned the scorn he receives from people who understand that liberty and free-enterprise are inextricably linked, but he wins the adoration of the hoi polloi who have been indoctrinated with envy, greed and lust for what they don't have to the point where they rejoice with religious fervor when Obama takes down someone they've been programmed to view as the enemy. They'll gladly surrender every bit of freedom to the tyrant as long as the Kristallnacht against corporate CEOs continues.

[sporks]

TowerTone said:

...and were you a Democrat or a patriot the last 8 years?
As far as his speaking abilities, some folks actually get beyond style and look for the substance.
While President Obama may be a great instiller of hope (an excellent quality for a leader), credibility can be lost quickly when the other values of a great leader are lacking.

Those folks who get beyond his style and look for the substance see a hate-filled communist. So if you admire him and claim to because of his substance, then you are also someone to be defeated ideologically.

[TowerTone]

sporks
I am a Conservative. Mine was a reply to MacfanDave.

[mslavick]

Kristallnacht? I was wondering how long it would take to get to the Hitler references. You conservatives had your shot and effed it all up. Let the grown ups clean up your messes and move us forward. Thanks for trying, though!

/pats you on your head, wipes your tears.