Media conservatives: Obama's goal is to be "liked" by allies
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SUMMARY: Conservative media figures have suggested that President Obama's actions during his recent trip to Europe and the Middle East were motivated by a desire to be liked, rather than by U.S. interests.
Numerous conservative media figures have suggested that President Obama's actions during his recent trip to Europe and the Middle East were motivated by a desire to be liked, rather than by a desire to promote the best interests of the U.S. For example, discussing Obama's April 3 speech in Strasbourg, France, on the April 7 edition of CNN Newsroom, Hill columnist and Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus said, "I think he's more concerned with his personal popularity and being personally liked -- which he is now in Europe -- than about the strength of the United States." Other examples include:
- During an April 6 interview with former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto said, "But, you know, when you were mayor, I guess you didn't care whether people liked you or not. You were like a bull in a china shop. But the rap against this president is that he likes to be liked, and it's important globally that the United States, in his view, be liked."
- On the April 6 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, during a discussion of Obama's remarks that day to the Turkish parliament, Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham said: "Well, I hate to go back to the campaign talking points here, but he is an American liberal from Hyde Park who has a little bit too much of this blame America vibe going on. I don't think it does a lot of good. There's one thing to change the face and sort of change the rhetoric and the way he speaks is different, certainly, and people think he's very popular. But where are the dividends? He has to make sure that he's looking out for American interests." Host Bill O'Reilly responded, "Look, these speeches are written. He goes over them line by line. He -- Barack Obama's an academic. He knows what he's saying. Why, Mary Katharine, would he even go there?" Ham answered: "Because he thinks that being liked is the point."
- On the April 7 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity commented, "Do we need to be liked? I mean, is that -- is that the goal, that we want, you know, the socialists and the elites in Europe to like us, and that somehow we're going to apologize for removing an, you know, an evil dictator, Saddam Hussein? That's basically what [Obama is] doing. He's on an apologizing for America tour."
- During the April 7 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Weekly Standard executive editor and Fox News host Fred Barnes said: "Look, this trip was all about selling Obama. He's pretty good at selling himself. You know, he got a lot of adulation in Europe, which is easy when you don't push them. I mean, Bush pushed them to do things that they didn't want to do. And Obama was pretty easy -- oh, OK, they didn't send combat troops, but, you know, he didn't seem to be much bothered by that. And they loved him. You know, particularly when you criticize America in Europe, they love it. The Europeans love it when you say you've -- Americans dissed the Europeans, you know. They love that."
From the April 7 edition of CNN Newsroom:
TONY HARRIS (host): And [Democratic strategist] Peter [Fenn], if you would, let me -- let me jump in -- yeah, let me jump in here, because Cheri, I get the criticism that -- and I've heard a lot of criticism over that first statement from the president. But it seemed to me the president was trying to say that no one has been perfect here on other side of the Atlantic. And what I haven't heard discussed much by critics of the president in this regard is this part of the statement. Let's roll that part of the statement.
OBAMA [video clip]: In Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America.
HARRIS: OK. And you see what I'm getting at here, Cheri. Are there --
FENN: He's very balanced --
HARRIS: -- are any of these countries under -- Peter, hang on for just a second. Are any of these countries, in your opinion, under the illusion now from the president's trip and his willingness to sound this tone, that we are somehow a weak nation now?
JACOBUS: I think it was inappropriate for the president of the United States to go over there with that type of an attitude. He did not have to give a speech like that. He didn't even have to make a sweeping generalization.
You lead by example; you lead by strength. As you know, he asked for help in Afghanistan. Belgium is sending 35 military trainers -- trainers over, and Spain is sending 12. That's all we're getting.
So I think he's more concerned with his personal popularity and being personally liked -- which he is now in Europe -- than about the strength of the United States. They're two very different things.
He even got -- it's gotten so bad that he had to go out there and say, I am not naïve. When the president of the United States feels that it's necessary to proactively claim that he is not naïve, I think -- I think we're in a sticky situation.
From the April 6 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:
CAVUTO: But, you know, when you were mayor, I guess you didn't care whether people liked you or not. You were like a bull in a china shop. But the rap against this president is that he likes to be liked, and it's important globally that the United States, in his view, be liked. And I don't know whether Europe collectively just likes Democrats more.
GIULIANI: Oh, they do. Of course they do.
CAVUTO: But -- but --
GIULIANI: The philosophy is much more similar.
CAVUTO: Right.
GIULIANI: Europe tends to be more of a social democracy. The Democratic Party in the United States reflects more of that social-democratic view. Although --
CAVUTO: So maybe he could parlay that love into something, whereas Republicans could not.
GIULIANI: Well, I -- Europe is one thing; North Korea is a different thing.
CAVUTO: Right.
GIULIANI: North Korea -- you don't want love from North Korea, you want respect. And that's what you want from --
CAVUTO: Can you negotiate with a nut, though, Mayor? If the guy is just a nut, if he's just insane --
GIULIANI: You've got to negotiate from a position of great strength. You cannot negotiate with a nut without preconditions. That was part of that debate going back a long time ago between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. You can't negotiate with a dictator and a tyrant without preconditions. You can negotiate with a reasonable person.
From the April 6 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
JUAN WILLIAMS (Fox News contributor): I think he was identifying -- he's trying to identify with people. That's why he says he has Muslim relatives. He's lived in a Muslim country -- Indonesia. He's trying to say I understand. And he's changing the face of America to the world.
Remember, George Bush said many of the same things about America not being at war with Islam. But coming from Barack Obama, I got to believe -- and I think you do, too -- that the Islamic world is going to hear it differently.
O'REILLY: Maybe. Look.
WILLIAMS: But his outreach has a better chance of succeeding.
O'REILLY: There's no -- there's no question, Mary Katharine, that the Islamic world likes --
HAM: Right.
O'REILLY: Barack Obama better than President Bush.
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
O'REILLY: OK, fine.
HAM: Yes.
O'REILLY: But before it's all over, they may hate Barack Obama.
WILLIAMS: Yeah.
HAM: Right.
O'REILLY: We get hit again, Barack Obama's going to have to wipe out a few countries. OK?
HAM: Well, like --
O'REILLY: So, let's put that right where it should be. But I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Juan. What good does it do to go to Turkey and to say, you know, we had some problems in the 19th century that weren't really good. What does that accomplish?
HAM: Well, I hate to go back to the campaign talking points here, but he is an American liberal from Hyde Park who has a little bit too much of this blame America vibe going on. I don't think it does a lot of good. There's one thing to change the face and sort of change the rhetoric and the way he speaks is different, certainly, and people think he's very popular. But where are the dividends? He has to make sure that he's looking out for American interests. And so far --
O'REILLY: But why do you think he did that?
HAM: -- the only thing --
O'REILLY: Look, these speeches are written. He goes over them line by line. He -- Barack Obama's an academic. He knows what he's saying. Why, Mary Katharine, would he even go there?
HAM: Because he thinks that being liked is the point.
O'REILLY: So -- so --
HAM: And I'm not sure he's working strategically towards --
O'REILLY: -- so to put America in a bad light other, people like you for doing that?
WILLIAMS: No.
HAM: Well, the Europeans do, certainly. That's part of it. And I hate to generalize here, and liberals, God bless them -- they enjoy apologizing for America, because we're powerful --
O'REILLY: Well, there's something to that.
HAM: -- because we're a leader in the world.
From the April 7 edition of Fox News' Hannity:
WILLIAMS: So you think that Barack Obama is seen the same way that George W. Bush is seen in the Arab world?
S.E. CUPP (columnist): No, unfortunately he's not right now --
WILLIAMS: No.
CUPP: -- because he's bending over backwards.
WILLIAMS: Oh, stop. No, no, no.
CUPP: But eventually --
WILLIAMS: I'm just telling you --
CUPP: -- eventually --
WILLIAMS: -- George Bush -- you know, I don't have nothing against President Bush. In fact, I consider him a friend. But I'm going to tell you something. In terms of the way the world perceived America under Bush's administration, we were seen as aggressors, and he made a mess of [inaudible] relationships.
CUPP: But what he's doing right now is not winning him any favor in that -- in that part of the world.
WILLIAMS: All right. Why do you say that?
CUPP: It's not working.
HANNITY: Let me -- let me bring Jason in here. Do we need to be liked? I mean, is that -- is that the goal, that we want, you know, the socialists and the elites in Europe to like us, and that somehow we're going to apologize for removing an, you know, an evil dictator, Saddam Hussein? That's basically what he's doing. He's on an apologizing for America tour.
JASON SEHORN (former NFL player): I've wondered how many times we're going to have to hear people say, "But the other countries will now look at us differently."
How concerned are we really with other country's perception of us? Shouldn't we be more concerned with the perception of our own country from within? Should we be more concerned with how we look at ourselves, how we perceive how life is here in America, instead of what we think other people perceive of us in other countries, especially Europe, of all places?
CUPP: Right.
SEHORN: And on top of that, I think it's quite obvious that the true Muslim world knows we're friends to them. We've done -- we've helped them out of many wars, many instances. The extremists may not believe that, and they never will. So there's no sense in talking to them.
From the April 7 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier:
BARNES: I'm not holding my breath that they're going to come around on those things. They just don't want to do them. Look, I want to comment on what President Obama said in Iraq --
BAIER: In Iraq.
BARNES: -- in praising the soldiers. Now that is -- remember, what he said was, his phrase was they had -- they brought about an extraordinary achievement. I mean, this is by far the closest thing he's ever said to actually saying we were successful in Iraq and succeeded. It was a victory.
Obviously he wasn't going to give President Bush any credit, but he did give the soldiers "extraordinary achievement." Well, indeed, he's right. Maybe someday he will get around to calling it a success as well.
Look, this trip was all about selling Obama. He's pretty good at selling himself. You know, he got a lot of adulation in Europe, which is easy when you don't push them. I mean, Bush pushed them to do things that they didn't want to do. And Obama was pretty easy -- oh, OK, they didn't send combat troops, but, you know, he didn't seem to be much bothered by that.
And they loved him. You know, particularly when you criticize America in Europe, they love it. The Europeans love it when you say you've -- Americans dissed the Europeans, you know. They love that.
The other thing that was -- where he may have helped, in Turkey, by making sure Turkey stays in the United -- in, rather, NATO. He may have helped in Iraq, you know, telling President -- Prime Minister Maliki, look, you've got to really cool this friction that's going on and violence between the Sunnis and Shia that has picked up a little bit. And that may be successful.
In Iraq, though, you know, Obama likes to sell himself to constituencies, and the military is a very important constituency that Bill Clinton lost, George Bush had, and Obama's going after it.
Obama said what needed to be said. These people on far right are complaining because they have nothing better to do.
This early into his presidency, pretty much all they've got right now is to complain about what he says.
Exactly what's wrong with being liked by your allies...?
NO! YOU LIBERAL WUSSY! WE MUST BRING THEM UNDER OUR BOOT HEELS! WE ARE BETTER THAN THEM! HALF OF THEM DON'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH! SOME OF THEM AREN'T EVEN CHRISTIAN! WE MUST BRING OUR ALLIES TO HEEL, AND KEEP THE LEASH SHORT AND THE CHOKER TIGHT! AND IF THEY DON'T LIKE IT? TOUGH! WE CAN BOMB THEM BACK TO MIDDLE AGES!
[/conservative nonsensical babbling]
:)
And what is exactly wrong with being " liked " by foreign governments ? It does mean less money and DOD contractors.
"Media conservatives: Obama's goal is to be 'liked' by allies"
Yep . . . 'cause if there's one thing the US needs, it's a president the rest of the world HATES.
.
Yes.
Like abu ghraib. There was no excuse for it in first, second, third or nth world, for that.
Like Club Gitmo.
Like secret renditions where people were tortured, beyond our laws.
The 25% will say it was all Obama's fault.
Well... actually they're claiming that HE'S being manipulate by THEM. Becuase... you know... he's trying to do things that MAKE SENSE... and THEY are trying to do things that MAKE SENSE... So... I guess that means that we'll soon all be speaking european or something.
(More likely it means that the conservative will spend at least the next generation in the wilderness, where they belong.)
OMG...
O'REILLY: "We get hit again, Barack Obama's going to have to wipe out a few countries. OK?"
Yep. Next time, God forbid, Let's pick "a few" more countries with vast oil reserves, concoct a few WMD fairytales, and BOMB, BABY BOMB!!! Wipe 'em off the map!!
</sarc>
What an idiot.
O'Reilly appears to be getting weak. Only a few countries?
The Bill O'Reilly of just a few years ago would have said a lot of countries.
The young Bill would not have spoken so brashly for fear that it might attract the attention of the draft board.
losing ups probably hurt him
The right-wing has collectively gone psycho. They're drifting further and further from reality by the hour.
O'REILLY: "We get hit again, Barack Obama's going to have to wipe out a few countries. OK?"
Yeah, but the way Bush was going, it was becoming increasing likely that we'd actually be hit by one of our ALLIES. At least with OBAMA our enemies are limited to... well... our ENEMIES!
"CAVUTO: ...And I don't know whether Europe collectively just likes Democrats more.
GIULIANI: Oh, they do. Of course they do
So do most Americans.
GIULIANI: .."Of course they do."
Of course because the democrats as crazy as they can be look like the models of sanity when compared to the last storekeeps.
LOL. Who likely doesn't know what Chamberain did to earn the label.
Awesome. I love it. Every now and then Mathews manages to actually play Hardball. Not often, but this time it was priceless.
Why are you attacking the messenger? LOL I am imitating that Lulu nut.
It was a pleasure watching the President and not being embarrassed to be an American. What a disaster the Bush years were.
Attention all right-wingers, corporate whores, and all other people that do not use their brain...
The Machiavellian way of thinking that a leader is better off feared than loved is an old adage that has no place in our society today!
More so that we live in a Democratic Republic... where a leader is not all powerful, nor should he/she be!
This kind of crack pot thinking is why Bush was so hated or despised by many of us here in America and by more than 90% of the world!
Obama is looking to be 'liked' by our allies? What pratell is wrong with that concept? Anyone? Anyone with a legitimate reason? Anyone?
Bueller?
I have to agree. However, this also has a lot to do with uncovering all the robbery that took place on Wall Street as well. They are scared stiff that Obama is going to open up that can of worms and oh my goodness! For instance, all the while Obama was overseas, I did not hear one reporter mention anything about how we Americans are scared because Obama hasn't clarified his plans for the banks. They saw the CEO of GM get fired by the Administration without a lot of fanfare and what they are worried about now is that Obama is going to start firing non productive folks and shutting down some of these financial institutions that they are continuously stealing from, and that would be the end of their cash cow. See, with kind of behavior the Republican'ts are displaying, they have no desire, except for a few, to run against Obama in 2012, and take the chance that they would be, again, working for him for another four years. Heck no!
dont forget the trained mine detecting monkeys
Clearly, the "Haters" didn't take Obama seriously during the campaign nor when he won the nomination nor when he won the election. Had they been paying attention, they would know that he was "liked" then. Now as President of the United States of America, he's respected as well as liked. See Republican'ts what being "liked" will get you? Maybe you should try being "liked". Maybe not on the scale of Obama, but something smaller, perhaps the family pet. Feed the gold fish, take Fido out for a walk, small stuff. Then maybe when you grow up, you too, could be "liked".
Is this the only thing that 500 Rove Rangers in a room could come up with to fax to their mouthpieces? You're slipping, Herr Karl.
Dark Lord of the Sith! get it right!
since when is engaging in dipolmacy and not strong arming not in the US interests?
Since Halliburton and other defense contractors no longer own the White House . . .
Our President is so obviously different from the former embarrassment that some of the right-wing nuts can't cope. Bush was not only a cringe-inducing moron, but a dangerous one, incapable of getting anyone's respect, let alone affection. Obama's enemies can't abide that he can formulate a coherent sentence. Barack Obama is not perfect, but MY GOD, what a relief.
And that they can't comprehend one.