Obama Apologizes to Europe
ByThe Telegraph’s Toby Harnden writes:
Here in the Rhenus Sports Arena in Strasbourg, I’ve just witnessed what is surely a very important – I hesitate to say historic – moment in transatlantic relations. Barack Obama went further than any previous president in apologising for American behaviour.
“In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world,” he said in a prepared speech delivered before a campaign-style town hall meeting in which he took questions from mainly French and German students.
“Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.”
But he balanced this startling mea culpa – or, perhaps more accurately, a George W. Bush culpa – with a clear message to Europeans that blaming America for everything was unacceptable.
“In Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognising the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad.”
Then, in classic Obama fashion, he sought to find a synthesis between the two poles. “On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth.
I’m having a very hard time trying to maintain an iota of cynicism about this man.
15 Comments
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
At this point, anything Obama says means zip to this American. I didn’t vote for him but I still hoped for leadership. Instead all he can do is grovel and show us how unprepared he was for the job. Why did Europe go gaga over him, anyway? A British tabloid headline called all Bush voters “dumb” after the 2004 election. Do you like what we gave you this time? A LOT of conservatives voted for this loser.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Like Pat, I did not vote for Obama but was cautiously optimistic that his inexperience and left-wing voting record would be overtaken by a realistic and moderate approach once in office. As if I were not concerned enough about his arrogant and counterintuitive domestic agenda, however, I am now just as concerned about his foreign policy.
Obama seems stuck in campaign mode, panding blantantly to his current audience. While we cannot criticize someone for playing to his strengths, I find it incredibly insulting for our chief executive to all but apologize for his predecessor and his country, on foreign soil no less, thereby insulting the only constituents that really matter, the American people.
April 6th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Agree with both of the previous comments. Obama seems so caught up with winning a world popularity contest that he is bashing his own country. I did not vote for him, however after he was elected I rooted for his success because, after all he is my president. After seeing what he has done and listening to him call the American people arrogant, I fail to view him as a loyal American president. He makes me feel uncomfortable. If he keeps world popularity as his #1 priority he will put America in danger.
As for the Europeans, I dont understand how they could ever feel this way about the U.S. Were we so arrogant when we freed them from Hitler in WWII? I think they should take a rainy day, dust off some old history books that they clearly never read through and re-think how they feel about our presence in the world.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I agree with the 3 previous comments. We owe Europe nothing. We saved them in 2 World Wars, but don’t forget the 3rd World War: we kept most of them on the free side of The Iron Curtain and then saved the rest of them. They will soon be in range of Iranian nukes. Looks like Israel will save them in the 4th World War and hopefully with the help of the US.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:27 am
Cuckoo!
April 14th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
You do attract the oddest readership PD.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I think President Obama is saying all the right things.
I think a lot of you get tripped up over the arrogance comment and don’t hear or see anything else. he said: In Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual, but can also be insidious. Instead of recognising the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what is bad.â€
If we don’t want another world war then we need to get along with other countries and have allies. I think he’s doing a fabulous job.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Amy,
Wake up, we haven’t had a world war in 60 years because of nuclear weapons, i.e., Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) not because of what we say to one another.
August 30th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Some of these posts reflect the ignorance and arrogance that Obama was talking about. We need to be smart and we need to be good partners with those who wish Western Civilization to continue. Mutually Assured Destruction is singularly ineffective against terrorists. They commit murder-suicide all the time. What we need is for civilized people to cooperate against extremists. That is what Obama is trying to foster. Do you think we are safer if the Europeans think we are all stupid and unreasonable? No, we need to rekindle a friendship based on mutual trust, inclusing trust in judgement. Do you think renaming French fries as Freedom Fries helped our friendship? No, it did not.
October 9th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Give him a chance, hes trying to create peace between nations. Is that really such a horrible thing?
And lets be honest here, most Americans are ignorant and arrogant. That is why we have the problems we have today. I love my country and I embrace being American, so isn’t it about time we quit bashing our president and be positive. No ones perfect and if you are so sure that you can do a better job, YOU try and do it. Until then put your ideas to good use and help our country rather than complain about it on here.
October 23rd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
It’s interesting that the nay-sayers here never tried to deny the veracity of what Obama actually said. Instead we just hear arrogance and derision directed towards Europeans, exactly what Obama was talking about!
In any event, to the person who believes Europe should bow to America for saving them from two world wars, let me just point out the obvious: HE WAS SPEAKING IN GERMANY! lol Oh, yeah… and if you dust off your OWN history book, you’d know that without the help of the French, the American Revolution could not have succeeded. So perhaps a little mutual respect is in order after all.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
So far I have been dumbfounded that President Obama is still in the position. To those that agree with this apology, let’s go ahead and remind the families of the 100,000 plus soldiers that are buried in Europe that their family members died for nothing. If we need to apologize then should we not go over and bring our soldiers home? I was stationed in Germany for four years and loved it, but with Germany’s past I doubt that we need to apologize for anything. And let’s explain to France if Germany or any other country tries to invade them AGAIN, that there is no need to call on America for support because they already have enough of our soldiers at rest in their country all ready.
December 29th, 2009 at 1:02 am
I was in Europe during some anti-American demonstrations, what they thought was our entry into Iraq was for oil. Well how much free oil did we get? None. If fact we spent trillions of dollars over there building up the country after the dictator over there ripped it apart keeping himself in power and seeking more power by invading his neighboring country. Then seeking more weapons of mass destruction to do it all again. Was it arrogant of us to form collations to try to save all the Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait from a dangerous and powerful dictator? Maybe on some level it was about oil, because Saddam was using the black gold to fund his war machine, third largest military in the world, and to exterminate certain Iraqi citizens on mass scales of certain groups, but it sure wasn’t to take the oil for ourselves. Did anyone do that? Oh let’s look at the scandals involving oil for food program and who was behind that rip off. Is this what he is apologizing for?
During this demonstration I wore my countries colors and argued with some of the locals. After all how many fewer deaths would there have been if a European country or two would have stepped up sooner to stop Hitler once his ambitions became known, of which he wrote about. Most, except England, sat back and waited because he didn’t invade them. And who supported these countries at war even before we went to war; US. Russia and others owed the US money from WWII up until President Reagan forgave the Debt. Was this arrogant? I guess it was a bit dismissive though.
Because he doesn’t agree with or comprehend the policy of his predecessor does not give him the right to go to foreign soil while our troops are still on the line and apologize for decisions he didn’t have to make. Those decisions are above his pay grade.
The same European Liberal mentality that existed before WWII is back and this is allowing dictators hell bent on their own power the foothold to stretch from. And this is what we are apologizing for? Or are we simply being derisive when we say to Europe get off you duff and work with us?
After all Diplomacy, Diplomacy, Diplomacy and more Diplomacy is the European way. Sometimes the dog has to have some bite or it just continues to get the bone.
January 13th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
In no way, shape or form did Obama “apologize” to Europe. He just admitted the truth: we have been arrogant and dismisive of European for decades. I would like to read in what part of his speech he “apologized”. None.
February 20th, 2010 at 12:04 am
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