The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: mystery-ak on July 23, 2014, 03:58:14 pm
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http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/213082-rep-king-obama-not-raised-with-an-american-experience (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/213082-rep-king-obama-not-raised-with-an-american-experience)
July 23, 2014, 09:49 am
Obama ‘not raised with an American experience,’ says Rep. Steve King
By Mario Trujillo
Rep. Steve King over the weekend told a crowd in his home state of Iowa that President Obama was not raised with an "American experience."
King (R) said he would not "assert where [Obama] was born," according to a video of the speech at an immigration rally posted on Buzzfeed, but questioned a 2007 picture of Obama listening to the national anthem without his hand over his heart.
"I can tell you, his vision of American is not like our vision of America — that we know," King said. "Now I don't assert where he was born. But I will just tell you that we are all certain that he was not raised with an American experience. So these things that beat in our hearts when we hear the national anthem, and when we say the pledge of allegiance, doesn't beat the same for him."
Obama was born in Hawaii and spent a few years in Indonesia as a child. He released his long-form birth certificate during his first term, as questions swirled on the right about whether he had been born in the United States.
The photo King referenced came from an event in Iowa during Obama's first presidential campaign. Obama, at the time, said he was taught to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance and to sing during the national anthem.
"What was that about?" King asked about the photo. "Was that an act of defiance? I don't think so. Some thought so."
"We grew up in this kind of a cultured environment when we hear our national anthem, we stop, we take our hats off," he continued. "We place our hand over our heart and we gaze at the flag with admiration and appreciation for those who have gone before us and what they have done."
The short clip did not offer the context in which King gave the remarks. The Iowa Republican has been a vocal opponent of comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.
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I said as much years ago, over on TOS.
He's as "un-American" as an American can be, yet still be "an American"... ;)
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0bama did live in Indonesia when he was about 6-10. That's the ages when most of us learn the most about our country, whatever religion our parents expose us to, and community customs.
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Not to be too much of a wet blanket, but what does it mean to be "raised with an American experience"? And why should that matter?
I certainly didn't grow up with a traditional American experience - my parents were FSOs (foreign service officers) and the first place I remember was Nairobi, Kenya (we moved there when I was about 2-1/2 years old. From there we moved to Madras, India (aka Chennai). Then on to Lagos, Nigeria. Then to East Lansing, Michigan. Then it was off to Mexico for another 1-1/2 years. That was the last foreign post I actually lived at. From there we moved to Northern Virginia where I went to high school and then to VT for undergrad.
It wasn't until I was about 10 y.o. that I actually lived in the United States, went to a typical public school, and otherwise had an "American experience". Does that make me ineligible to say anything meaningful about how this country should be run?
The problem isn't with Obuttocks' growin' up time - his "experience" - but rather with the company he fell in with - terrorists like Bill Ayers - and his voluntary adoption of the politics of greed, envy, and hatred.
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Not to be too much of a wet blanket, but what does it mean to be "raised with an American experience"? And why should that matter?
I certainly didn't grow up with a traditional American experience - my parents were FSOs (foreign service officers) and the first place I remember was Nairobi, Kenya (we moved there when I was about 2-1/2 years old. From there we moved to Madras, India (aka Chennai). Then on to Lagos, Nigeria. Then to East Lansing, Michigan. Then it was off to Mexico for another 1-1/2 years. That was the last foreign post I actually lived at. From there we moved to Northern Virginia where I went to high school and then to VT for undergrad.
It wasn't until I was about 10 y.o. that I actually lived in the United States, went to a typical public school, and otherwise had an "American experience". Does that make me ineligible to say anything meaningful about how this country should be run?
The problem isn't with Obuttocks' growin' up time - his "experience" - but rather with the company he fell in with - terrorists like Bill Ayers - and his voluntary adoption of the politics of greed, envy, and hatred.
It also has to do with the teachers and environment you are in. Your early years were probably spent with other FSO children and their parents. People who were definitely American. You didn't go to a local school where they taught you allegiance to Kenya, for example. 0bama went to Indonesian schools. He learned that America was not such a good place. He was in bad company long before he met Bill Ayers.
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0bama did live in Indonesia when he was about 6-10. That's the ages when most of us learn the most about our country, whatever religion our parents expose us to, and community customs.
And the age when we learn to throw a baseball. :smokin:
Obama can't recreate being an American by his rhetoric. He is steeped in anti-Americanism, and my guess is, he will hate America even more after he leaves office than he did when he came into office.
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I'm not sure what the objective is, of rehashing things about Obama. Maybe this stuff still sells in Iowa.
Get focused. Set priorities. That is November 2014 elections, and Obama is not running then.
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It also has to do with the teachers and environment you are in. Your early years were probably spent with other FSO children and their parents. People who were definitely American. You didn't go to a local school where they taught you allegiance to Kenya, for example. 0bama went to Indonesian schools. He learned that America was not such a good place. He was in bad company long before he met Bill Ayers.
The schools I went to were a mixture of British and American, and there were definitely a significant number of locals, as well as plenty of non-Americans, at all of the schools. The last school I went to overseas was Greengates Academy in Mexico City. That was, and still is, a British school (the American school was a drug-infested hell-hole when we were in Mexico).
And the fact of the matter is, despite the fact that we were always unambiguously American, there were a lot of things I didn't get overseas, as I found out when we returned to the States and I started high school in NOVA. My formative experiences were definitely not "all-American".
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The schools I went to were a mixture of British and American, and there were definitely a significant number of locals, as well as plenty of non-Americans, at all of the schools. The last school I went to overseas was Greengates Academy in Mexico City. That was, and still is, a British school (the American school was a drug-infested hell-hole when we were in Mexico).
And the fact of the matter is, despite the fact that we were always unambiguously American, there were a lot of things I didn't get overseas, as I found out when we returned to the States and I started high school in NOVA. My formative experiences were definitely not "all-American".
Having several family members who are FSO's, I think the experience of living overseas representing your country (even for the liberals), is a more positive American experience than Barry Soetoro ever had.
While what you experienced may not be called "all-American," my guess is that it wasn't at all anti-American.
Barry grew up thinking only evil of the United States of America. You were a witness to the fact that it wasn't so.
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I have said the same thing since 2008. It does not matter where Obama was born, he is simply not American.
He doesn't think American.
He doesn't act American.
And is damn sure doesn't govern American.
He has a huge chip on his shoulder about America, Britain, and Israel.
It does not matter to me who or what Obama is. He may be what the progs call, 'an international citizen', or a Muslim, or whatever. It has nothing to do with him being partially Black. It is more about him as a person. I don't know what he is. I don't care what he is.
He is simply not an American by any definition.
It is good to know other people are finally catching on.
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I said as much years ago, over on TOS.
He's as "un-American" as an American can be, yet still be "an American"... ;)
We all did, Fishrrman....we all did.
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Having several family members who are FSO's, I think the experience of living overseas representing your country (even for the liberals), is a more positive American experience than Barry Soetoro ever had.
While what you experienced may not be called "all-American," my guess is that it wasn't at all anti-American.
Barry grew up thinking only evil of the United States of America. You were a witness to the fact that it wasn't so.
fair enough.
Where were your FSOs stationed?
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fair enough.
Where were your FSOs stationed?
Argentina, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, and soon Russia.
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Argentina, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, and soon Russia.
Cool!
My old man was in the economics section, focusing on oil issues, so we ended up in places with oil. In fact, in early 1979 he was offered the choice of two new posts: Mexico City or Tehran. Thank God he chose Mexico because two weeks after he was officially assigned to Mexico City the embassy in Tehran was taken. My Mom was an FSO before they got married, and then again after they divorced; she was technical and was assigned to places like Uruguay (which is one of the greatest countries in South America, IMHO).
One of my old man's last posts was as an assistant to the ambassador in El Salvador. The ambassador was a bit of a flake and one Christmas tried to convince my old man to dress up like Santa and land in the Embassy compound sitting on some contraption dangling from the bottom of a helicopter. Mind you, this was back when the FMLN were still going hot and heavy, so he would have been an all-too-inviting target for every guerrilla with a gun for miles around.