Obama Offends Brazil
Remember how Obama was going to charm the world with his wonderful charisma and win back allies alienated by Bush's evil crazy cowboy ways? And how the rest of the world was going to love him because ... well, I was never sure exactly why the rest of the world was going to love him. Well, here's what happens when you put an amateur in the most responsible job in the nation:
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/how_to_lose_friends_and_influe.html
Rosslyn Smith, in "How to lose friends and influence people, part II," in The American Thinker, describes how Obama has managed to offend yet another American ally -- this one, a fairly major Power that most American don't think of as such, because Brazil doesn't generally host terrorists or threaten to blow up other countries for bizarre theological reasons. But make no mistake about it: with a population of almost 200 million people, an advanced agricultural and industrial economy, and the ability to construct nuclear weapons whenever she feels like joining the club, Brazil is a regional Great Power, and an important American ally.
As Smith puts it:
Brazil is an emerging economic power whose respected (and left-leaning) leader, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been seen as a possible intermediary between the Obama administration and several other Latin American nations. Thus the meeting of Brazilian President Silva with President Obama was seen as being very important on several fronts.
Yes, I'd call that a pretty important meeting, especially with the world in an economic crisis that is just one Smoot-Hawley tariff away from a global depression, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela granting bomber and naval bases to the Russians. Unfortunately, according to CNS News
the trip was pushed forward from Tuesday because of the St. Patrick's Day holiday -- making Latin America once again look like an afterthought. Then, the White House announcement misspelled his name as "Luis Ignacio" and put "Lula" -- a nickname that decades ago became a legal part of the Brazilian leader's name -- in quotes.
Oops.
Um, Obama, don't schedule a foreign trip for a holiday in advance and then suddenly discover that you've done it. There are these things called "calendars" -- wonderful booklets which actually let you know ahead of time which dates correspond to which holidays. It's amazing! I'm sure that the White House staff would pick you up one if you asked them for it.
Also, if you happen to schedule a foreign trip to an important ally in advance and then you discover that it's the same day as some minor holidary (sorry, Irish friends, but St. Patrick's Day isn't exactly Christmas or Easter), maybe you should just deal with the thought of having a working holiday. You can swing on the White House gate later. It'll still be there.
Or, as Smith puts it:
My first reaction was that I wasn't aware the name was to be spelled O'Bama. My second reaction was to once again be appalled at the attitude of the White House towards foreign heads of state. Once a celebration of Irish pride, St. Patrick's day has increasingly become an excuse for perpetual adolescents to over indulge in beer drinking. To use it as the reason to rearrange the schedule of a foreign leader boggles the mind.
Couldn't Obama have gone to the meeting, but worn a green tie or something? I doubt that the Brazilians are that fashion-conscious that it would have offended them. Unlike rescheduling, which rather implies that the President of Brazil has nothing better to do either. Yes, America is the most important country in the world and yes, Obama can get the President of Brazil to reschedule for that reason, but it's unwise when dealing with a weaker ally to rub their face in their own relative unimportance. That's the kind of behavior that gets them thinking about the possible benefits of offering the Russians naval bases.
People complained about Bush and his "bring it on" speech. Well, at least Bush was challenging (and implicitly humiliating) our enemies. Obama seems to have it in for our friends.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/03/how_to_lose_friends_and_influe.html
Rosslyn Smith, in "How to lose friends and influence people, part II," in The American Thinker, describes how Obama has managed to offend yet another American ally -- this one, a fairly major Power that most American don't think of as such, because Brazil doesn't generally host terrorists or threaten to blow up other countries for bizarre theological reasons. But make no mistake about it: with a population of almost 200 million people, an advanced agricultural and industrial economy, and the ability to construct nuclear weapons whenever she feels like joining the club, Brazil is a regional Great Power, and an important American ally.
As Smith puts it:
Brazil is an emerging economic power whose respected (and left-leaning) leader, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been seen as a possible intermediary between the Obama administration and several other Latin American nations. Thus the meeting of Brazilian President Silva with President Obama was seen as being very important on several fronts.
Yes, I'd call that a pretty important meeting, especially with the world in an economic crisis that is just one Smoot-Hawley tariff away from a global depression, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela granting bomber and naval bases to the Russians. Unfortunately, according to CNS News
the trip was pushed forward from Tuesday because of the St. Patrick's Day holiday -- making Latin America once again look like an afterthought. Then, the White House announcement misspelled his name as "Luis Ignacio" and put "Lula" -- a nickname that decades ago became a legal part of the Brazilian leader's name -- in quotes.
Oops.
Um, Obama, don't schedule a foreign trip for a holiday in advance and then suddenly discover that you've done it. There are these things called "calendars" -- wonderful booklets which actually let you know ahead of time which dates correspond to which holidays. It's amazing! I'm sure that the White House staff would pick you up one if you asked them for it.
Also, if you happen to schedule a foreign trip to an important ally in advance and then you discover that it's the same day as some minor holidary (sorry, Irish friends, but St. Patrick's Day isn't exactly Christmas or Easter), maybe you should just deal with the thought of having a working holiday. You can swing on the White House gate later. It'll still be there.
Or, as Smith puts it:
My first reaction was that I wasn't aware the name was to be spelled O'Bama. My second reaction was to once again be appalled at the attitude of the White House towards foreign heads of state. Once a celebration of Irish pride, St. Patrick's day has increasingly become an excuse for perpetual adolescents to over indulge in beer drinking. To use it as the reason to rearrange the schedule of a foreign leader boggles the mind.
Couldn't Obama have gone to the meeting, but worn a green tie or something? I doubt that the Brazilians are that fashion-conscious that it would have offended them. Unlike rescheduling, which rather implies that the President of Brazil has nothing better to do either. Yes, America is the most important country in the world and yes, Obama can get the President of Brazil to reschedule for that reason, but it's unwise when dealing with a weaker ally to rub their face in their own relative unimportance. That's the kind of behavior that gets them thinking about the possible benefits of offering the Russians naval bases.
People complained about Bush and his "bring it on" speech. Well, at least Bush was challenging (and implicitly humiliating) our enemies. Obama seems to have it in for our friends.