Reply #5: Agreed! [View All]

[RZM]

That would be a great thing. I even wonder if some in the Obama team are advocating just this. It wouldn't have any effect on this situation or foreign opinion at all (actually it might lead some to repeat the classic criticism that Americans are always telling the rest of the world how they should be living), but for an American president, it's the right thing to do. Domestically, it could only help him. Free speech is such a core value, shared by so many across the spectrum, that nobody could ever spin it against him (I doubt they'd even try, there's no way it could be done). In fact, it could be spun to his advantage -- next time you heard somebody blathering about how Obama doesn't like America and doesn't share traditional/core values, etc., you could just point to this, where he took a stand when he didn't necessarily have to on a core American principle. Wouldn't change their mind, but it would force them to concede the point.