Obama, Europe, and the US.

[Admin_2]

Obama has opened his arms to Europe.

I really like this move/gesture by him, and I especially like that it was done in France, since the attitudes between the two countries have soured and almost become stale.

Just after 9/11, Americans (being Americans) were dumping out french wine and calling french fries freedom fries...

:puke_right:

The French, with their noses in the air, said fook the ignorant Americans...and this relationship was never seriously revisited until Obama's recent speech:

STRASBOURG, France (CNN) -- President Obama on Friday called on Europe and the United States to drop negative attitudes toward each other and said "unprecedented coordination" is needed to confront the global economic crisis.

President Obama delivers remarks at a town hall meeting Friday in Strasbourg, France.

President Obama delivers remarks at a town hall meeting Friday in Strasbourg, France.

Speaking at a packed town hall meeting in Strasbourg on his first overseas trip as president, Obama said, "I'm confident that we can meet any challenge as long as we are together."

It's easier to allow "resentments to fester" than "to forge true partnerships," the president said. "So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years, we've allowed our alliance to drift. I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy. But we also know that there's something more that has crept into our relationship.

"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's showed 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. Video Watch Obama tell crowd he's come to Europe "renew our partnership" »

"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."

Obama's comments came after the G-20 meeting in London, England -- which Obama called "a success" of "nations coming together, working out their differences, and moving boldly forward" -- and on the eve of a NATO summit in Strasbourg marking that organization's 60th anniversary.

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"I've come to Europe this week to renew our partnership -- one in which America listens and learns from our friends and allies, but where our friends and allies bear their share of the burden," he said at the town hall meeting. "Together, we must forge common solutions to our common problems.

"So let me say this as clearly as I can: America is changing. But it cannot be America alone that changes."

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/03/obama.town.hall/index.html

This alone doesn't change much, but at least it is a start.

[Mister Moobs]

Obama has opened his arms to Europe.

I really like this move/gesture by him, and I especially like that it was done in France, since the attitudes between the two countries have soured and almost become stale.

Just after 9/11, Americans (being Americans) were dumping out french wine and calling french fries freedom fries...

:puke_right:

The American people did no such thing. American politicians did a bit of this. The American people on the whole went right on with life.

There is a long history of enmity or misunderstanding between America and France. This was aggravated by their behavior in WWII. The Vichy. Their zealousness in handing over Jews and other "undesirables" to the Germans in World War II. The French Colonialist self destruction in North Africa and elsewhere. The French sucking us into Indochina/Vietnam after Dien Bien Phu and then DeGaulle attempting to be peacemaker in the affair after he'd started the whole thing. The Suez War in '56. Their behavior and complete lack of leadership during the Cold War.

All of these things led to a political freeze between the US and France.

After the Fall of the Soviet Union, the French suddenly wanted to become leaders again.

Where were they against Hitler and Khruschev, etc? Clinging to the pant leg of John Bull and Uncle Sam.

That's why France is a joke. That's why there are strained relations between France and any other power. When times are good, France wants to be in the lead. When the world falls on hard times, France either surrenders or hides.

[beej]

I ******* hate the French but i find their aproach to modern day world afairs to be spot on.