Login Friday, July 03, 2009

 

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Obama in Cairo 

I tend to trust people with poise, and certainly President Barack Obama is one poised rock star. So when I watched him speak at Cairo University earlier this week, I found myself trying to figure out his motives and not prejudging him out of hand (persisting as he did in referring to the “Holy Koran” as if it were the moral equivalent of the Holy Bible and generally sucking up to the enemy). I tried to listen as he would have hoped to be listened to by his audience in Egypt. This is what I came up with: A.) 60% of all Arabic and Muslim peoples are under the age of 25. He pointedly said he was speaking to young people. If the Arabic youth should choose to follow Osama instead of Obama, this world, face it, doesn’t have a prayer. We are headed towards Armageddon. So our president was donning the humble cloak in order to be heard. People love him. So he’s using every available weapon in his arsenal – poise and proper grammar his speech-giving weapons of choice. As it says in the Bible, “this was not done in a corner.” The president knew rather well what he was doing and the effects he was likely to have caused. He doesn’t seem all that eager to win points; he’ll forego the occasional battle to win the war (err, or the “man-made disasters” and “overseas-contingency operations.”)

 

B.) He delves deep to get to the heart of the matter. In spite of his economic “trickle-up” theories to end the recession (spend ‘n’ print money, spend ‘n’ print money), I like his flexibility on Afghanistan and Pakistan and the decision to keep Robert Gates and David Patreaus. He’s aware that we’re walking a tightrope there – tip-toeing through the poppy fields. He’s sticking by his very effective drone airplanes in spite of the bad press the Taliban gets to throw at us.

 

From Wikipedia:

“… In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy to London (about pirates) , Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring ‘concerning the grounds of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury,’ the ambassador replied:

 

‘It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged

the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to

plunder and enslave; and that every Muslim who was slain in this warfare

was sure to go to paradise.' "

 

--  Barbara Waterston, June 6, '09 twitter.com/barbarawaterst                 

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Miss Barbara, ma'am

(Southern-speak for too-friendly-to-

address-by-last-name, but unintroduced-

thus-cannot-address-by-first-name),

 

Thank you for a very pleasant Sunday

afternoon. I stumbled across your

magazine, and laughed till I cried

 while reading your Manners articles. 

 My favorite was "It's the Rudeness,

 Stupid!" 

 

You see, when I answer the telephone

and hear a chipper, "May I speak with David,

please?" I usually give a withering,

 "Mr. Denny is at work! This is Mrs. Denny.

 May I help you?!"  Stress on the

Mr.,/ stress on the Mrs.

 Anyone who sounds that young

and perky cannot possibly

 know us well enough to address us by

our first names. 

 

Anyway, as for my stumbling across you, I

have a youngish friend who is expecting

a baby soon. And whle talking with her

about her plans for home birth, I dug out

my old childbirth cache and

was rereading, with great pleasure,

Caterine Milinaire's Birth. 

 

The women who shared their birth stories

in there had become so very familiar to me

over the years  (I have 5 children),

so in an idle moment, I decided

to Google around and see who was still

in the public view.  Some were and

 some were not, but when I came across

 your photograph, chin lifted in challenge, 

hat tilted at "spy angle," on the page

 for the Cambridge Who's Who,

I just could not put that face together with

the curly-headed, casual young mom

in sneakers, sitting in a shopping cart

in the parking lot of a bank! 

But as I read on, it obviously was you,

indeed. Seeing that your little Jamie,

who was pushing

 the cart, is now the handsome James

on this very website was a delight. 

 

I'm sure you're rolling your eyes and gasping,

"Who in the world is this crazy woman?!"

and all I can say is, I am

 someone who once felt she really knew

you, if only through the printed page

and a couple of photographs. 

 

 In many ways you and I are polar opposites,

but, lady, I love your views on manners,

morals and modern times! 

 Thanks again for a happy read.

 

Dorothy Denny, May 18, 2009

 

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