It's nice having a President that doesn't sound like a dumbass.

[armyowalgreens]

I'm watching Obama's speech to a Cairo audience and it struck me as odd to see a US president that can speak about Islam to a Muslim audience and not sound like a lying sack of shit that doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

Even though there are things that Obama has not done that should have been done. Even though he isn't quite living up to the dream everyone thought he was during the election.

It just feels good having a well spoken, cultured president.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Well Spoken And Cultured, Because. . .

. . .he's natively intelligent and highly educated, instead of the tool we just got rid of, who was neither.

I prefer to think of it as being glad we have a president who actually CARES about being well spoken.
GAC

[SemiCharmedQuark]

5. Nah. CNN reports that Bush read 100 books a year! This dumbass is only on track to read 10!

:silly:

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Comic Books, Maybe

CNN reported that? Really? Talk about being "fished in"! They actually believed that?

Unbelievable!
GAC

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. It was on their political ticker. Here:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/02/obama-keeping-up-with-bushs-reading-pace/

[pnorman]

44. "According to former top Bush aide........."

"According to former top Bush aide Karl Rove, he and the former president engaged in a friendly wager every year to see who could read more books.

In 2006, Bush read 95 books to Roves 110: a Herculean pace of nearly two books a week — in an election year to boot — for the ex-president. But, according to Rove, Bush's reading slowed a bit in the final years of his presidency, finishing a not-too-shabby 51 books in 2007 and at least 40 in 2008.

And if that's not impressive enough, Rove also said Bush found time to read the Bible "from cover to cover" every year.

While Obama may have had to put aside “Netherland” last month in favor of pages of court briefs with a Supreme Court vacancy to fill, it nevertheless appears the president has some summer reading to do."

Judge for yourself how much weight to put on that assertion. Myself, I agree with the other poster that almost all those books were comic books (or coloring books).

pnorman

[Politicalboi]

56. I heard it on Keith's show last night

But it was 180 in 3 years. Supposedly Bush and Rove were seeing who could read the most books. I don't believe Bush read any books, but if it is true, then he read about two books a week. Which means he had plenty of time to do nothing but read. Bush is no reader, same as me, but I'm not a President.

[get the red out]

9. I don't think those comic books helped

Obama's 10 books probably came from the big boy section of the store.

[calico1]

24. I read the same kind of books once that he does...

Look at Jane run. Run Jane run.

See Spot Jump.

I read a lot of those books. Of course I was about 6 at the time.



:silly:

[peacetalksforall]

26. See Dick. See Don. See Dick and Don plotting. See Dick and Don

plotting without George. See Dick and Don explaining the plot to George. See George tell Don and Dick it's not enough.

[BolivarianHero]

27. Didn't Bush spend 11 months a year on vaction?

Hardly a fair comparison.

[lunatica]

38. And of course, we believe everything CNN says

And we also believe Bush can read without moving his lips and using large print. As we also believe he has reading comprehension past the 2nd grade level.

We also believe he built that mighty vocabulary of his by reading 100 books a year.

Do I really need to put the sarcasm smilie here?

[secondwind]

2. amen!!! am loving it! n/t

[saltpoint]

3. Obama has an abiding respect for others. For individuals and for entire

cultures across long histories.

I think people pick that up.

He's wise. If George W. Bush lives to be 250, he will never be wise. Of course he has no chance of living to be 250. A pretzel almost killed him, in fact.

Obama offers a respectful widsom to other cultures and they just pick it up instantly.

[Hannah Bell]

23. i thought the cult of personality died with stalin.

[saltpoint]

25. Vote for anyone else you want, Hannah Bell. You've failed to grasp

what is happening this morning in Cairo.

Don't be such a crybaby. Obama knocked it out of the goddam park with that speech.

[Hannah Bell]

29. i voted for obama, silly. speeches butter no turnips.

[saltpoint]

30. As I say, you failed to grasp what's taking place.

[Hannah Bell]

32. we'll see.

[salguine]

48. For what it's worth, Hannah Bell, I feel ya.

[WI_DEM]

36. You're still in campaign mode Hannah, grow up and accept that Obama won and move beyond the "cult"

thing. It's childish and redundant.

[Hannah Bell]

54. you must have mistaken me for someone else. i voted for obama.

[natrat]

4. sad that the standard is now "ability to form coherent sentences'

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. Forget it. It's not worth it.

[Vickers]

45. Sad that things got so bad under Idiot Cowboy that it even needs to be mentioned.

:eyes:

[malaise]

10. Agreed

The most important part of the speech so far are:

- the lack of the anti-Muslim rhetoric - down with Crusades
- getting out of Iraq
- banning the use of torture and closing Guantanamo
- Israel and Palestine

The mere mention of nukes was naive at best.

He's sure covering all the bases.

[laststeamtrain]

11. You said it! He sounds very good. It's just a speech but it's a good speech. n/t.

[LiberalAndProud]

39. 'just a speech'

Really?

[laststeamtrain]

49. Uh huh.

What?

[LiberalAndProud]

50. I thought it was more than 'just' anything.

If nothing else, the tone of the dialogue has changed.

[cali]

12. what dream everyone thought he was?

Most folks here didn't expect Obama to be some magical super liberal.

[armyowalgreens]

14. I'm not speaking directly about DU.

On my campus and in the surrounding communities, many thought he was going to be perfect.

[Berry Cool]

18. That's natural.

Campuses, along with the rest of their population, tend to have a lot of students on them. Students are usually pretty young and naive and idealistic, and inclined to expect perfection. How many of the other folks on campus and around it really expected perfection from Obama? And if they did, was it really perfection they expected, or just something way better than what they had?

[saltpoint]

13. "The ability to think for one's self depends on one's mastery of language."

--a quotation from Joan Didion.

If she is right -- and I believe she is -- Obama's address in Cairo is a gauge of a range of skills and virtues.

Dubya made such a point of not sitting down with "the terrorists." Jimmy Carter called him on this disingenuous cowardice but Dubya was not a big enough man to have the ears to hear.

Obama begins at a level Dubya was incapable of dreaming of. Dubya was an obstinate fool. Obama is a world-changer.

[Berry Cool]

22. It's like Orwell was trying to point out

It's difficult to spend much time thinking about a concept you have no word for. Take away the word for an idea from the people, and they may never conceive of it. And if they have only one word for something, just as a person equipped with only a hammer begins to see every problem as a nail, they tend to categorize everything remotely related to that word with that word.

"Terrorist" is such a word. If that's the only word you have for referring to people from another country (especially in certain parts of the world) who don't think like you do, it's the one you will use--regardless of whether or not they have earned it by their actions.

Poor education does the same thing in reverse: it makes sure the person never gets the full spectrum of vocabulary to begin with. It's what we saw in the lightly just-educated-enough-to-be-part-of-Our-Class-Dear George W. Bush, and it's what we will see (sadly) in many of the homeschooled kids of the American Taliban in the future. The only higher education they'll even be fit for is at Liberty or Regent University. The only vocabulary they will learn is the vocabulary that teaches words like "terrorist" and little else.

[saltpoint]

28. Yes. Those are very persuasive examples. And god knows Dubya

is part of the problem. This morning we saw Obama eclipse him.

Great post -- should probably be its own thread, Berry Cool.

[Psychic Consortium]

15. He doesn't just speak well and give good speeches.

He speaks to the people about real issues that matter,
and he cares about all of us. He is a leader to his core.

He will be one of the best presidents we have ever seen.

[saltpoint]

16. Agree. The Far Right is propagandizing on the hate radio circuit and

President Obama is standing very, very tall on the world stage this morning in Cairo.

The Pukes got nothin'.

[Psychic Consortium]

21. Yes

The GOP insult him by saying he just speaks well and has charisma.
There is so much more to Obama than pretty words.
The man is a genius.

[malaise]

17. He spoke a lot of truth there

Good speech - weaknesses later.

[lunatica]

40. funny that

The GOP is reduced to smearing Obama by trying to trash his good qualities. Kind of like, "She's ugly because she won the Miss America beauty pageant". "He uses big words and thinks in concepts and that's bad". or "He thinks therefore he isn't". Education is bad. A good vocabulary is detrimental. Intelligence is overrated. Humor isn't funny. Tall and handsome is weakness. Ability to speak well is the sign of stupidity.

:crazy:

[KharmaTrain]

19. Not Living Up To The Dream?

I never had dreams about this President, I had hopes. Hopes he'd begin to turn this country around from the road to ruin it had been on over the past 8 years and bring a more pragmatic approach to government and the problems this country faces. On that front, he had achieved. Just cause he didn't do the dance some wanted or didn't make ponies appear to others is more their problem. There's a major difference between campaigning and governing...we had a regime that was in constant 24/7 campaign mode for 8 years...and cause they couldn't govern, New Orleans flooded and this country turned into an economic basketcase.

Yes, I felt very good to hear a President who can walk into this venue and speak to, not at an audience. To even compare him to the manchild sockpuppet who could barely walk and chew gum at the same time shows how dumbed down this country got and how far we've come.

[peace frog]

20. Our former POTUS

didn't just *sound* like a dumbass, he was merely being himself. :evilgrin:

[WillParkinson]

31. Well duh...Of course he can speak about Islam to Muslims...

I mean, haven't you heard? He IS Muslim. (Says the right-wing.)

<I figured someone had to say it..>

[AngryOldDem]

33. It is refreshing, isn't it? n/t

[yourout]

34. It's nice having a President that ISN'T a dumbass.

[WI_DEM]

35. Obama's most important contribution so far has been on the world stage

and I think he has done a great deal towards correcting our image among friends and foes in the world around us. To me that is a great start.

[scheming daemons]

51. If he accomplishes NOTHING else in his Presidency, this alone has made it worthwhile

[LiberalAndProud]

37. His eloquent ability to convey a vision of a better future

is a gift to USa nd to the world.

I will add a prayer to our President's desire to find a new beginning. Amen.

[Captain Hilts]

41. Yes, it really is! nt

[ananda]

42. As bad and problematic as Obama's presidency is..

.. Obama is lightyears better than Bush.

We had no choice but to elect him... but
we DID get a rightwing Friedmanesque
free trade/free marketer... and that is
all we could get this time around. No
one else was allowed through the primary
process.

[spanone]

43. it's nice having a president who ISN'T a dumbass

[bdamomma]

47. and no shoes will be thrown at him either!!

[Toasterlad]

46. Yes, I'll Give Him That ...The Man Can Speak.

[lpbk2713]

52. There were dozens of sites ...

... that existed solely to illustrate what a dumb SOB Shit-for-Brains was and they gave daily examples of

how he would proudly show his ignorance by mutilating the art of public discourse. One of my favorites ...

Link: http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushism-harm.htm

What a dipshit. The world will never forget this idiot because of his utter stupidity.

[Ganja Ninja]

53. Nice to have a President that doesn't just stand and deliver warmed over cold war rhetoric ...

and isn't fixated on 9/11 and the war on terror.

[armyowalgreens]

55. Yeah I'm glad we didn't hear about the "axis of evil" or any of that bullshit.