Bob McCarty Writes

In keeping with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ practice of publishing only select tidbits of information about newsworthy events involving President Barack Obama, I decided to dissect six excerpts from the transcript of the president’s first sit-down media interview — with Al Arabiya TV’s Hisham Melhem, I might add.  Those snippets appear below, followed by my comments in red italics:

• President Obama said: “Now, Israel is a strong ally of the United States. They will not stop being a strong ally of the United States. And I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount.  But I also believe that there are Israelis who recognize that it is important to achieve peace. They will be willing to make sacrifices if the time is appropriate and if there is serious partnership on the other side.”  Why on earth did he have to add the “sacrifices” disclaimer?  Haven’t Israelis suffered enough as a result of the terrorists in Gaza?  I think so.

• President Obama said: “I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.”  Countries?  I thought Obama had lived in only one predominantly-Muslim country (i.e., Indonesia). The plural version of the word, country, implies that the 44th president has lived in more than one Muslim country.  Please do tell us more, Messiah.

• President Obama said: “But ultimately, people are going to judge me not by my words but by my actions and my administration’s actions.”  Count on it!

• President Obama said: “We’re going to follow through on our commitment for me to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capitol.”  He’s going to Detroit?

• President Obama said: “We are going to follow through on many of my commitments to do a more effective job of reaching out, listening, as well as speaking to the Muslim world.”  He’s going to follow through on “many” of his commitments, but not all of them?

• President Obama said: “But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship.”  Here’s to hoping the people in the Muslim world don’t, once again, bite the hand that feeds them.

To see the full transcript of President Barack Obama’s interview with Al Arabiya TV, click here.

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