« Israel Says Ready to Bomb Iran ~ Gates Wans Hold Off | Main | Hussein Obama and Chavez Secret Handshake? »
April 18, 2009
Ortega and Fellow Traveler Obama at the Fifth Summit of the Americas
Obama Endures Ortega Diatribe
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago
President Obama endured a 50-minute diatribe from socialist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega that lashed out at a century of what he called terroristic U.S. aggression in Central America and included a rambling denunciation of the U.S.-imposed isolation of Cuba's Communist government.
Obama sat mostly unmoved during the speech but at times jotted notes. The speech was part of the opening ceremonies at the fifth Summit of the Americas here.
Later, at a photo opportunity with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Obama held his tongue when asked what he thought about Ortega's speech.
"It was 50 minutes long. That's what I thought."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ignored two questions about Ortega's speech, instead offering lengthy praise of a cultural performance of dance and song opening the summit.
"I thought the cultural performance was fascinating," Clinton said. Asked again about the Ortega speech, Clinton said: "To have those first class Caribbean entertainers on all on one stage and to see how much was done in such a small amount of space, I was overwhelmed."
A senior administration official declined to criticize Ortega, saying the president wanted to focus on the future.
"His expectation is that these debates of the past can remain that, debates of the past and that the leaders can take advantage of this opportunity to focus on what they can do in the future to advance the interests of all the people of the hemisphere."
Ortega, meanwhile, droned on about the offenses of the past, dredging up U.S. support of the Somoza regime and the "illegal" war against the Sandinista regime he once led by U.S.-backed Contra rebels in the 1980s. Ortega was a member of the revolutionary junta that drove Anastasio Somoza from power in 1979 and was elected president in 1985. He was defeated in 1990 by Violeta Chamorro and ran unsuccessfully twice for the presidency before winning in 2006.
Ortega denounced the U.S.-backed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro's new Communist government in Cuba in 1961, a history of US racism and what he called suffocating U.S. economic policies in the region.
In his 17-minute address to the summit, Obama departed from his prepared remarks to mildly rebuke Ortega. Actually, the president misspoke on the sequence of events in Cuba. The invasion of CIA-trained rebels at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba occurred in April 1961. Obama was born August 4, 1961. Wild Thing's comment....... Obama is a freaking idiot, he has to have a VERY low IQ to make the kind of mistakes he does with his 57 States remark he made during the campaign, the BOMB that was dropped at Pearl Harbor and now this BS whine about don't blame me I was a baby then. Hussein could care less if our country is slandered, and bashed, he does it himself. He ONLY cares if he thinks he is being blamed for something. As usual..it’s all about Obama..our ‘Narcissist In Chief’ "President Obama endured a 50-minute diatribe " Endures? Hell, he was probably using all of his willpower to keep himself from clapping and jumping up and shouting “Amen!”. "Obama sat mostly unmoved during the speech but at times jotted notes.” Obama was probably passing love notes to his friend Hugo. Posted by Wild Thing at April 18, 2009 03:28 PM
Again he is giving away the store. The man is a scumbag. So if memory serves me correctly, August '61, wasn't there another deficrat in the White House ? So he's apologising for another white president. According to Obama we are a bunch of Sorry Sons of bitches. Posted by: Mark at April 18, 2009 07:30 PM
This piece of scum is dissing Israel (our only true ally) and kissing the asses of dictators and terrorist supporting Muslim "kings" around the world. WTF? Posted by: Bob A at April 18, 2009 08:17 PM
"To move forward, we cannot let ourselves be prisoners of past disagreements. I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old. Too often, an opportunity to build a fresh partnership of the Americas has been undermined by stale debates. We've all heard these arguments before."
In an opening speech to the 34-nation gathering on Friday, the US president promised a new agenda for the Americas, as well as a new style."We have at times been disengaged and at times we sought to dictate our terms," Obama said to loud applause. "But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations."
"We have at times been disengaged and at times we sought to dictate our terms ... But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations."...Obama
Comments
