Smeagol
DP Veteran
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- Jun 14, 2012
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We Americans, myself included, are bombarded with news and information on a wide variety of topics that its just easier to listen to a commentator or news anchor give us his/her take on whatever news item there my be and maybe a sound bite. I think this is probably true of people world-wide as well. On more than one occasion I have defended American news organizations to people in other countries who were convinced they were experts on the American news media, especially television news, based on things they saw online but without access to the actual broadcasts they condemned.
Recently Russian President Vladamir Putin wrote an op-ed, directed at the American people that appeared in an American newspaper. There was much media coverage and controversy surrounding a statement he reportedly made where he publicly disagreed with President Obama's statement on American Exceptionalism in his recent address to the nation on a possible military strike. American exceptionalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This is interesting all by itself considering President Obama invoked a key conservative value in making the case for an attack on Syria. Based on my possible incorrect observations, many (which is not to say all) conservatives like to oppose the President on everything even if if means changing their position in order to disagree with him. Now Putin disagrees with him and some conservatives are finding themselves defending the President's stance. From what I've seen so far however those who are defending him are being careful to exclude any mention of the name "President Obama" in their defense and are simply crafting their arguments as disagreeing with Vladimir Putin. :lamo
Anywho, I wanted to see what all the fuss was really about and decided to read the op-ed myself and was surprised to see the American Exceptionalism jab was basically a minor footnote on an otherwise thought provoking piece. Not saying I agree with everything in it 100% including a lot of talk suggesting America's foreign policy should be subjected to international law and UN Security Council resolutions, Putin did make some good points and I can see how if you're not an American someone could feel they have no voice in significant global matters. Nevertheless, if I'd not read the op-ed based on how its been covered I would have been left with a inaccurate view of what Putin actually was saying.
Recently Russian President Vladamir Putin wrote an op-ed, directed at the American people that appeared in an American newspaper. There was much media coverage and controversy surrounding a statement he reportedly made where he publicly disagreed with President Obama's statement on American Exceptionalism in his recent address to the nation on a possible military strike. American exceptionalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This is interesting all by itself considering President Obama invoked a key conservative value in making the case for an attack on Syria. Based on my possible incorrect observations, many (which is not to say all) conservatives like to oppose the President on everything even if if means changing their position in order to disagree with him. Now Putin disagrees with him and some conservatives are finding themselves defending the President's stance. From what I've seen so far however those who are defending him are being careful to exclude any mention of the name "President Obama" in their defense and are simply crafting their arguments as disagreeing with Vladimir Putin. :lamo
Anywho, I wanted to see what all the fuss was really about and decided to read the op-ed myself and was surprised to see the American Exceptionalism jab was basically a minor footnote on an otherwise thought provoking piece. Not saying I agree with everything in it 100% including a lot of talk suggesting America's foreign policy should be subjected to international law and UN Security Council resolutions, Putin did make some good points and I can see how if you're not an American someone could feel they have no voice in significant global matters. Nevertheless, if I'd not read the op-ed based on how its been covered I would have been left with a inaccurate view of what Putin actually was saying.