Obama needs the BBC for “nuanced and thoughtful” message.
Does Obama think poorly of the media in the U.S.? In a BBC interview in which he spoke of his upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia and Egypt before attending ceremonies commemorating D-Day on 6 June, Obama told reporter Justin Webb that
he chose to speak to the BBC now because his team want to reach the parts of the world the BBC reaches – with a message that is nuanced and thoughtful.
Nuanced and thoughtful? Well that might be beyond the reach of the MSM in the U.S., but I wouldn’t think the president nor his staff would want to be pointing that out to the rest of the world. Maybe, the president’s men and women don’t think we Americans pay much attention to European media so he could say whatever he liked and we wouldn’t notice nor feel embarrassed. Personally, I think he was absolutely right – except that the U.S. media probably could reach anywhere the BBC could if they wanted to. I just don’t know about the thoughtful part. Nuanced does not strike me as a MSM trait.
The purpose of the meeting was to make clear that the U.S. will no longer try to impose its values on other countries, but will instead try to “set a good example.” Closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, for instance, is one way to set a good example. I wonder how long it will be before other countries begin closing their “detention centers.”
Obama did grant that our values are not all that bad. In fact, other countries could easily adopt many of them because as the president acknowledged
… the rule of law, democracy and freedoms of speech and religion were “universal values”.
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“The danger, I think, is when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture,” he said.
You can watch and listen to the president make his point to Webb and read what Webb has said, but the full interview has not yet been released. (here)
Undoubtedly, more nuanced and thoughtful insights will be found in the full interview.
Keep on writing, cat! I have to read 2 or 3 of your posts sometimes to catch up, but it a very enjoyable thing to do! Good reading is never a chore or burden. Thanks for posting.
ummm – it’s a very enjoyable ..(I hate typos! )
Thank you Sunshinelvr for the encouraging words. I do appreciate them. cats