If you have a strong stomach, watch the above clip of our president pressing the flesh, bowing and sharing an intimate moment with Cuba's communist dictator Raul Castro, while CNN's Christiane Amanpour has an orgasm on live television.I'm certain the thousands of political prisoners in Raul's gulags on the Isle of Pines and elsewhere would have a different view of this if they were allowed to speak.
Our president (at a cost to the American taxpayer of a cool $5 million) wasn't done yet. Then came his speech eulogizing Mandela, whom he compared to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and - wait for it - Abraham Lincoln.
For those of you interested in exactly why these comparisons are so ludicrous, I suggest you read this to get an honest look at Nelson Mandela's real legacy.
The short version, of course is that Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were apostles of non-violence, while Nelson Mandela was definitely not. Nor were either of them communists or the leaders of terrorist groups. And the comparison to Lincoln is an outright insult to anyone who knows anything about his life and character. I suppose we can write that off as yet another expression of both our president's ignorance of history and his general feeling toward our country.
Chavez, Castro, Rouhani, Mahmoud Abbas, Mohammed Morsi...the list goes on, and you have to wonder about our president's dictator fetish.
If he were a private citizen, that of course would be his business, but as the representative of the American people, it's simply disgraceful.
ok, the comparisons are beyond the pale, but what's the big deal?
ReplyDeletei mean really.
one communist dictator shakes hands with another communist dictator.
what's the big deal?
I'm a White South African. I was forced in my youth to fight our own "Vietnam" against Mandela. When he finally came out of prison, he put a stop to what could have been a bloody revolution here. Instead we have lived in peace for the last 19 years. I did not like his revolutionary style, but how do you change a corrupt government. You Americans have that problem for yourselves now. The ballot box won't change a thing. You'd better be thinking of more "Seroius" was to change.
ReplyDeleteHello Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI personally don't think Vietnam is an apt comparison, because you were fighting for your own country,but I'm familiar with what you're talking about.
I also would quibble with the way you word this: "he put a stop to what could have been a bloody revolution here."
I think it's more factual to say that Mandela ordered his troops to stand down in exchange for the National Party and de Klerks' de facto surrender and turning over power to Mandela and the ANC.
Given the progression from Mandela to Mbieki to Zuma (talk about a corrupt government)and what's happening to South Africa, I'm not sure I personally would call it peace as much as a temporary armistice with quite a bit of violence on the fringes that appears to be increasing.
I certainly hope I'm wrong about that.
Totsiens,
Rob