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Is this the first time this has happened? Did Bush go to the 12th-19th anniversaries? Did Clinton go to those prior to that?
Obama is sending Secretary of State H. Clinton. That is well within her duties as head of the Department of State which principally charged with handling foreign affairs. This is also called delegating responsibility and doing so reasonable for anyone in an executive position. It happens; we'll live.
Many other commemorations marked the 10th anniversary, including the illumination of a 4km path along the old route of the Wall.
But the main official event was in the lower house of the German parliament where three former world leaders - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, and US President George Bush - remembered the collapse of the Wall
Anybody thinks this is no big deal is sadly mistaken. Anyone growing up during the cold war era and having grown up during the end of it myself I can tell you it's a big deal. I wouldn't expect many of you younger people to understand but the fall of the Berlin wall was a pivotal point in the history of man. When that happened it was like 9/11 coverage on the TV. It was that big of deal.
Bush went to tenth, generally speaking anniversaries at increments of a decade have special meaning:
Eh?
The 10th anniversary was in 1999. Bush wasn't President then - did he go to any of the others while he was President? In any event, anniversaries of such increments are subjective and arbitrary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman
Anybody thinks this is no big deal is sadly mistaken. Anyone growing up during the cold war era and having grown up during the end of it myself I can tell you it's a big deal. I wouldn't expect many of you younger people to understand but the fall of the Berlin wall was a pivotal point in the history of man. When that happened it was like 9/11 coverage on the TV. It was that big of deal.
I grew up in the same era. The event was/is a big deal. But Obama not going is not.
Opps, didn't have my coffee yet. It was former President Bush. In any event he's been invited to this event by the German government. Certainly if he can make time to go to Copenhagen to plug for the Olympic games he can has time to go to Germany. It's matter of priorities and certainly this event should take precedence over the Olympic games.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thecoalman
Opps, didn't have my coffee yet. It was former President Bush. In any event he's been invited to this event by the German government. Certainly if he can make time to go to Copenhagen to plug for the Olympic games he can has time to go to Germany. It's matter of priorities and certainly this event should take precedence over the Olympic games.
Why should something that happened 20 years ago in another country, and was not solely the work of the US, take precedence over an attempt to improve the future of the US?
Gateway Pundit (http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/10/of-course-obama-will-skip-20-year-anniversary-of-fall-of-communism-celebrations/ - broken link) He can fly on Air Force One overseas to Europe to try to land the Olympics but wont go to celebrate one of Americas greatest achievements in ending the Cold War.
Why do you feel it was such a great achievment? Why not let them pick their form of government, and we can pick ours?
if he was going, we'd be hearing about him taking another european "vacation".
if he hadn't gone to the anniversary of d-day, we would have heard about how he was bad for not going. but he went, so we hear that he took a vacation in france.
same with the olympics thing. if he hadn't gone, we'd hear about how he wasn't looking out for the economic well-being of the country. whether or not he went, he would have been blamed for chicago losing the bid.
the hypocrisy here is beyond transparent.
and it's not like his time is just all there for him to shuffle around at will. 20 free hours a few weeks ago can't just be moved to november 9 through magic or something. if they were on the same date, or even in the same week, and he chose one over the other there might be a point in bringing up the olympics thing. but the fact is, he had time for that trip and doesn't have time for this one. he couldn't swap one for the other, for goodness' sake.
of course he won't go, he's still upset that it even happened.
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