"If Obama can stand up to Scotland, why can't he stand up to the Republicans?"

[mr blur]

If only the president would forget the cool and reasoned debate for a moment, and take a tip from Barney Frank

<snip>

Part of the reason for the American euphoria that greeted Obama's election last November was the prospect that he could, in home makeover show parlance, "emphasise a new aspect of the space". Yes, yes, great stores of ignorance and xenophobia do exist in America – but look at our recently re-opened All Dreams Are Possible room and our bay window looking out on to the Land of Free! Finally, when the rest of the world thought of America, their image would be based less on My Name is Earl and more on The West Wing.

Until some US citizens began defending their right to bear arms yards from the president with at least as much fervour as they are defending their right to pay $800 for an ambulance ride, that is. Meanwhile, Obama's skill at cool and reasoned debate, which once made the world fall in love with him, is now beginning to make the world a little exasperated with him – if it means trying to compromise with people who are not interested in compromise. It was hard not to sigh and wish that he would take tips from Representative Barney Frank, who last week shouted down a woman who was waving a poster of Obama with a Hitler moustache, complaining that talking to her was "like trying to argue with a dining room table".

And then, at the end of last week, suddenly the Obama administration was bandying around strong words such as "objection" and "a mistake", and these words were getting reported all over the world. Unfortunately he was talking about the release of the Lockerbie bomber Megrahi, as opposed to the Republicans who are encouraging the very people most likely to suffer from the current healthcare setup to fight for the status quo, purely for their own political benefit. Despite these self-same Republicans' lack of power, they still seem to hold a disproportionate amount of sway over the news. And this proves another long-cherished theory of mine: Fox News – officially more powerful than Libya and, um, Scotland. Combined.

<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/26/american-obama-republicans-hadley-freeman

[sasquatch]

1. I wish he would stand up to the Repiglican bastards and remind them that they suck and lost because-

of it.

[ima_sinnic]

2. it is embarrassing that the rest of the world is starting to see Obama as weak

and wishy washy in responding to republicans. Is this part of his "chess game," or a serious flaw?

[Xenotime]

3. This is unfortunately true.

He is letting the reight wing extremists trample over him.

[EFerrari]

4. Or worse. He objected to that release while we harbor Posada Carriles

who really is responsible for downing a plane unlike the individual Scotland released.

[zbdent]

5. let's replace the elephant with the new symbol of the GOP ...