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Title: Cambodia's first lady dissed Obama with 'sampeah' usually reserved for servants
Source:
Investors.com
URL Source: http://news.investors.com/ibd-edito ... an-substance.htm#ixzz2CsnmLciF
Published: Nov 22, 2012
Author: Investors.com
Post Date: 2012-11-22 13:07:43 by jwpegler
Keywords: None
Views: 5138
Comments: 13
So amid all the colorful and flirty photos from President Obama's first tour of Southeast Asia, what did he actually accomplish? As usual, he served himself politically in what was largely a Potemkin mission abroad. It was obvious enough from the rubelike gaffes that the president hasn't been particularly interested or attentive to the affairs of Thailand, Burma or Cambodia as he made his first trip since his re-election. It was pretty much all style over substance. In his tour of Burma, billed as an historic first visit since Burma's 2007 move to democracy, it was clear he was in way over his head, even on small things. Obama repeatedly referred to the country's Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi as Aung Yan Suu Kyi, an astonishing error given her global fame. He also bungled the norms of Burmese polite address, calling Thein Sein, the nation's leader "President Sein," an error comparable to addressing Cambodia's Pol Pot as Mr. Pot. But he also undermined his supposed democracy mission, first by telling the Burmese leaders that he too wished he could govern without opposition, calling into question whether he himself believed in the representative government he was advocating. It didn't help that he ignored the real heroes who helped push Burma toward a more open system — President and Mrs. Bush, as well as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell, seeming to take credit for it himself. That emptiness of purpose left showy photo-ops in all three countries, with the president flirting around with Thailand's photogenic Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and visiting the Buddha statues, effectively trivializing Thailand as a tourist trap instead of a major trading partner and the U.S.'s oldest ally in Asia. Neither trade nor military matters were addressed substantively. Obama's lecture to Thailand about its democracy needing "improvement" was a fairly strong signal that he had no intention of restoring free-trade talks with the Thais, who lost their access to that a few years ago after a military coup that has since restored democracy. The other cornerstone of the U.S.-Thai relationship — the military — wasn't advanced either, given Obama's efforts to cut the U.S. Navy to 1918 levels even as he talks of a "strategic pivot" to Asia. No substance, no influence. Nothing underlined this quite like the lack of crowds greeting Obama in all three nations. When a leader's visit is cause for hope and a catalyst for change — think Pope John Paul II's 1978 Poland visit — crowds turn out. Obama, supposedly representing the greatest nation on earth, couldn't draw so much as an Occupy-sized crowd. Nor did he draw respect. On his trip to Cambodia, a country he claimed didn't deserve a visit due to its strongman government, first lady Bun Rany greeted Obama with a traditional "sampeah" pressed-hands greeting reserved for servants, a little dig that was probably lost on him but not to Asians. So what is really Obama's tour about? Apparently a get-out-of-town photo-op all about himself as a means of avoiding pressing problems back home. The Asians deserve better — and so do the Americans.
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#1. To: jwpegler (#0)
Bun Rany, Cambodia's first lady, gives President Obama a "sampeah" greeting at a tilt usually reserved for servants Read More At IBD: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/112012-634213-obama- southeast-asian-trip-more-style-than-substance.htm#ixzz2CyeDef1l
If you ... don't use exclamation points --- you should't be typeing ! Commas - semicolons - question marks are for girlie boys !
Oh, big deal. If they didn't insist on having such weirdo names maybe it'd be easier to say them right. It probably doesn't help that they all look the same. And talk funny.
. But almost half the country is looking for a Messiah to lead them, and god's don't make mistakes. Whooops... oh well.... not counting the one who created the flood.
Almost every country in the Middle East is awash in oil, and we have to side with the one that has nothing but joos. Goddamn, that was good thinkin'. Esso posted on 2012-01-13 7:37:56 ET
According to the reference material, that wasn't a mistake.
I have a better one. When Clinton was President, he studied hard to learn a few Spanish lines for his first visit to Brasil. And he repeated those lines in his speech in Brasil. Seriously, it's true story. Of course, the corrupt leftist media never reported anything about how fucking dumb Clinton and his handlers were.
And those simpletons re-elected him President a couple of weeks ago.
And the corrupt leftist media never reported anything about how fucking dumb Obama and his handlers are.
Seriously, it's true story. Source?
I think it's a non-issue. Politicians go off to these countries and do a song and dance like goddamn puppets. Why do we care how they dance? Waste of time. Everyone makes these simple mistakes, anyway. It doesn't mean a thing. Would some internet blog entry about how you spell a simple country like Brazil wrong mean anything? Would it mean you're stupid? Don't waste your time on this shit.
. Poor baby, as there appears to be no Reagan in your immediate future, maybe the Philipines is the place for you.
Almost every country in the Middle East is awash in oil, and we have to side with the one that has nothing but joos. Goddamn, that was good thinkin'. Esso posted on 2012-01-13 7:37:56 ET
It's a simple mistake that Clinton's entire foreign team were staffed with brain dead idiots? I know think. My long held view is that people should have to take a basic competency test to vote, run for office, or be appointed to political office. The county would be in much better shape today if that were so.
You have two careless mistakes in your post criticizing others for careless mistakes.
. If the government wasn't a source of plundered spoils it wouldn't matter who voted and only well-intentioned people would run. As bastiat said 150 years ago.
.
#2. To: jwpegler (#0)
Obama repeatedly referred to the country's Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader Aung San Suu Kyi as Aung Yan Suu Kyi
Say hi to your mom for me.
#3. To: Biff Tannen (#2)
Oh, big deal. If they didn't insist on having such weirdo names maybe it'd be easier to say them right.
#4. To: mininggold (#3)
god's don't make mistakes. Whooops... oh well.... not counting the one who created the flood
#5. To: Biff Tannen (#2)
(Edited)
Oh, big deal.
"we must as a species go into a period of shrinkage that we have not experienced since the Dark Ages and the Black Plague" -- lucysmom
#6. To: mininggold (#3)
But almost half the country is looking for a Messiah to lead them
"we must as a species go into a period of shrinkage that we have not experienced since the Dark Ages and the Black Plague" -- lucysmom
#7. To: jwpegler (#5)
the corrupt leftist media never reported anything about how fucking dumb Clinton and his handlers were.
#8. To: jwpegler (#5)
When Clinton was President, he studied hard to learn a few Spanish lines for his first visit to Brasil. And he repeated those lines in his speech in Brasil.
#9. To: jwpegler (#5)
Say hi to your mom for me.
#10. To: jwpegler (#6)
And those simpletons re-elected him President a couple of weeks ago.
#11. To: Biff Tannen (#9)
(Edited)
Everyone makes these simple mistakes, anyway. It doesn't mean a thing.
"we must as a species go into a period of shrinkage that we have not experienced since the Dark Ages and the Black Plague" -- lucysmom
#12. To: jwpegler (#11)
Say hi to your mom for me.
#13. To: jwpegler (#11)
Say hi to your mom for me.
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