Refresh   Tag(s): Diplomacy; Foreign Diplomacy; Obama Middle East Policy; President Barack Obama
Add to My Group

January 30, 2009 at 12:15:27     Permalink Obama's First TV Interview As President-Al Arabiya TV Exclusive) Diary Entry by Gene Cappa (about the author)

SAVE AS FAVORITE VIEW FAVORITES

View Ratings | Rate It

Obama's first TV interview with Dubai based Al Arabiya TV indicating a return to the fine art of diplomacy.

::::::::

Obama's first TV interview with Dubai based Al Arabiya TV indicating a return to the fine art of diplomacy.

Barack Obama struck a note of foreign policy confidence Monday night, telling an Arabic news station that al Qaeda leaders and Osama bin Laden "seem nervous" now that they don't have George W. Bush as a recruiting tool.

In his first formal interview since taking office, the president spoke with the Dubai-based station Al Arabiya on topics pertinent to the Arab and Muslim worlds, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRGKOHryyGI Much of the interview was spent defining the new approach that the United States would implement in that region: respectfulness over divisiveness, listening over dictating, engagement over militarism. But the president drew the line when it came to terrorist organizations.

"Their ideas are bankrupt," he told host Hisham Melhem, when asked to respond to recent audio clips from al Qaeda leadership calling him various epithets. "There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them."

Pressed later in the interview to comment on Bush's use of the term 'War On Terror,' and the implications that the phrase held, Obama once again distanced himself from his White House predecessor.

 

Take action -- click here to contact your local newspaper or congress people:
Support A Strong Diplomatic Surge

Click here to see the most recent messages sent to congressional reps and local newspapers

A United States Marine Corps Viet Nam Era Veteran trying to do what I can and expecting Congress, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch, to do what they can to keep the nation strong and free by remaining true to the Constitution first of (more...)
 

 

---

 

 

 

Tell a Friend:

Copyright © 2002-2010, OpEdNews Powered by Populum