Hannity is such a sleaze ... cutting off the clip right before obama criticized Europe (watch Obama's whole statement here) or read it below)! What's wrong with the Far Right: do they have no shame editing a clip so that they make it appear that Obama said something diametrically opposite to what he actually said?
In contrast, here's EJ Dione's take on Obama's speech (with an implicit reply to Hannity):
There will be much to argue about when President Obama comes home from Europe. But his town meeting in Strasbourg showed he has kept at least one promise from his campaign: that he would restore some of the world’s affection for the United States.
Simply to have an American president in a position to hold a “town meeting” of the sort organized on Friday was remarkable in itself. The response to Obama verged on the ecstatic. John McCain’s campaign was certainly right about one thing: Obama really is the “biggest celebrity in the world.”
One of the most striking passages in his speech at the beginning of the town meeting touched on both American arrogance and European anti-Americanism.
He said:
In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.
But 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 for much of what's bad.
On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us both more isolated. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America.
This was a classic display of a particular Obama rhetorical style: He takes on and embraces the other person’s idea -- in this case, the view of many Europeans that the United States has displayed “arrogance” and had been “dismissive” of Europe -- and then links it to his own idea, in this case the danger of “anti-Americanism.” His audience was clearly more prepared to hear the second point because he had acknowledged the first. A statement of this sort is certain to begin quelling anti-American feeling ..
My colleague Jackson Diehl worries about Obama’s “willingness to embrace the priorities of European governments, Russia and China while playing down -- or setting aside altogether -- principal American concerns.” Although Jackson leaves open the possibility that Obama’s approach could “prove effective over time,” he asks a pointed question: “Is the new president shrewd and pragmatic about using his power at home and abroad -- or too passive, even weak?”
My answer is this trip was about neither passivity nor weakness. Rather, it represented a first step toward rebuilding American influence abroad. Popular acclaim for an American president is by no means the only test of American power. But I do think Obama’s standing makes the country more secure and affords us more room for maneuver in the world.
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