A heckler briefly interrupted President Barack Obama's speech to the Israeli people Thursday at a university in Jerusalem, which drew boos from the crowd.
"This is part of the lively debate that we talked about. This is good," Obama said, brushing off the interruption and drawing applause.
"You know, I have to say, we actually arranged for that, because it made me feel at home," Obama added. "You know, I wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't have at least one heckler."
There's more analysis of the speech here.
Update: Here is Obama receiving the Presidential Medal of Distinction from Israel's President Peres.
The man has cool.
ReplyDeleteThe man IS cool.
(And his family is right up there in the cool department as well.)
Whereas Sarah, Todd, Bristol, Willow and Piper would start gesticulating and flipping off the room and start a brawl to teach the haters who has god on their side.
DeleteCan you even picture palin doing her spiel in the civilized countries of this world? Blathering on in that screechy, smarmy dumb hick, fake accent to the leaders of the planet. I shudder while tears of mirth fill my eyes. And even now I really don't think she gets it. Oh well, as they say, thats entertainment!
DeletePresident Obama always knows how to react in the best possible way. Cool beyond words.
ReplyDeleteMmm hmmm!
DeleteThe charm offensive. Next time he needs to bring the first lady with him. It is interesting to watch how well received he is in other countries.
DeleteIt must burn Sarah Palin's stinky old wrinkly ass that President Obama was awarded the Israel's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Distinction.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Palin's medal?
Pres. Peres Honors Pres. Obama with the President’s Medal
Deletehttp://theobamadiary.com/2013/03/21/heads-up-pres-peres-honors-pres-obama-with-the-presidents-medal/
Palin thinks they named the "Wailing Wall" after her, since she's so good at it.
DeleteGee, Nettie must have forgotten to give it to her last time she was there pandering. Or was he offended by her costume jewelry gift shop Star of David?
DeleteWGE. She won it "going away". As any quitter should, and what she should do now.
DeleteBibi thought he wanted to see Sarah's tatoo on her ass, but when she dropped trou, he became violently ill. Was it the stench of her rotting hoo ha or the sight of her wrinkly, baggy, bony ass? I vote for "All of the above". I'll bet Yahoo didn't even notice the tatoo that says,
Delete"Hands off! I'm Daddy's Girl. And My Brother's, too. Also."
The Kenyan Muslim Marxist in Israel.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he could put on his Satan hoodie again.
Anonymous10:40 AM
DeleteHehe...racist KKK member said "hoodie"...this is hilarious coming for you....since we all know YOUR "hoodie" is white...with holes for your eyes and peepee stains going down the front! LOL!!
Maybe Todd Palin can put on his Pimp Daddy Hoodie and help his Drugged out wife to walk again. Maybe Bristol and Willow can put on their Unwed Teen Pregnancy Maternity outfits again.
DeleteThat doesn't bother him either, 10:40 AM.
DeleteDon't you have White House watermelon garden pics to mass e-mail?
Bein' a Muslim and all it's amazing how well he gets along with the Jews. Just sayin'.
DeleteThis guy just chaps your ass so bad that you must go through a case of diaper rash cream each week.
:-)
You know, O'Reilly brough this up with Dennis Miller last night (I was just flipping channels and saw the photo from the 'movie.')
DeleteO'reilly thinks it was entirely unintentional, and dear angel Roma said they 'love and respect President Obama.' Of course they do.That's why they did Sarah's show and didn;t edit out her sniping at the Obamas every episode.
10:40,
Deletefuk off chuck_tard jr
Toddy wears his hoodie so he won't catch a cold, and Sarah wears her hooties cuz her stretched out little floppy fried eggs aren't good for her family's book-selling business. They're both about worthless.
DeleteIf Sarah Palin was president and was heckled she would seek revenge by pushing the nuclear button. Nobody heckles Sarah the Moron.
ReplyDeleteIsrael and her neighbors have approached "negotiations" just as the GOP has with the Democrats for the past few years - and OBVIOUSLY, obstructionism is not working!!
ReplyDeleteEach side wants it all THEIR WAY - or there will be hell to pay. The children of Israel and the children of her neighboring states ARE the future - new strategy needs to be employed.
Again, what has been tried in the past IS NOT WORKING, and like President Obama pointed out, the heckler also has a voice! Get the dialogue, any dialogue moving.
With apologies to Whitney Houston - the children ARE the future; teach them well, and let THEM lead the way...
A response by a dignitary:
ReplyDelete"This is part of the lively debate that we talked about. This is good," Obama said, brushing off the interruption and drawing applause.
A response by a has-been-never-was-lazy-rock-thrower:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin mistook some of her own fans for hecklers Monday as a rally that drew thousands.
A massive crowd of at least 20,000 spread across the parking lot of Richmond International Raceway, and scores of people on the outer periphery more than 100 yards from the stage could not hear.
”Louder! Louder!” they began chanting, and the cry spread across the crowd to Palin’s left. Some pointed skyward, urging that the volume be increased.
Palin stopped her remarks briefly and looked toward the commotion.
”I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest,” she said.
Some in the crowd tried to shout toward her what was really being said, but she couldn’t hear them.
The man has been dealing with Koch backed hecklers (congress) since he's been in office. There is no one on the earth who is more chilled about rude assed people than him.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, Obama Diary has the pics and videos!
ReplyDeleteIsraeli President Shimon Peres, President Barack Obama, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the welcoming ceremony at Ben Gurion airport, Tel Aviv, on March 20
President Obama in Israel, Day One
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/03/20/president-obama-in-israel-day-one/
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/03/21/rise-and-shine-463/
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/03/21/heads-up-president-obama-speaks-to-the-israeli-people/
I'm always SO proud of President Obama when he travels overseas and conducts himself with such intelligence, wit, grace and honor. He's such a remarkable representative for this country to have, and the rest of the world recognizes that, even though the US GOP is lost in the wilderness. He's traveled to European countries, Arab countries, Moslem countries, and everywhere he is welcomed and celebrated. He's such a beacon of hope and understanding, of promise and possibility. My heart swells with pride.
ReplyDeleteToo bad he's not given the same amount of respect in his own country that he's given around the world.
DeletePeople in other countries see the same man many of us see and appreciate the challenges he's faced and what he's accomplished. Some Americans, however, only see the color of his skin or the capital D next his name and can't (or won't) see beyond that.
Sarah Palin doesn't need no stinkin' Israel Medal of Distinction.
ReplyDeleteSarah was awarded the Star of David and the Christian cross she wears near her vagina even though she doesn't attend church.
Sarah is too busy going to Nascar in Vegas and car auctions in Arizona.
Nice!! As always, President Obama is a gentleman, and doesn't snark or do eyerollery to a heckler, because he's not a high school mean boy; he's a well brought-up man whose guardians and mom taught him to respect others at all times. He's likeable because he likes people. Hey, Sarah, Michelle Bachmann and Malkin and Hannity and Limbaugh and Fox News, take a lesson from this and learn something.
ReplyDeleteHaha, Sarah's got a Star of David pendant, but she never got an Israeli hero to honor her and award her a medal of distinction.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I remember reading somewhere about Sarah and Todd raising their glasses to a toast, something about May we always be happy and may our enemies know it. Well, Sarah, President Obama has just been blessed and honored by Israel in the eyes of the world today, and maybe God is demonstrating this to you that you should know it.
Your comment x10!
DeleteLady Liberty over President Satan any day
ReplyDeleteAnonymous12:41 PM
DeleteUmmm...excuse me KKK troll...but didn't you say this SAME EXACT shit the other day?
MUST be a dumb ass Palin....can't come up with anything original so you have to keep saying the same thing over and over and over and over...
HI BALDY! LOL!!!
YAWN
Delete12:41 PM If you are referring to Sarah Palin, it is (as Glen Rice knows) "LADY LICK ME". As for Obama as Satan, The People of Israel don't think so. So go back to the Palin Bordello where Satan Sarah and Pimp Daddy Todd live in separate rooms with their Uneducated, Promiscuous, Dysfunctional Family.
DeleteWoah, 12:41pm needs to take a Big Gulp, of reality! Diabetes, for Everyone!
DeleteHuzzah, Freedoms, America, Fuck Yeah!
ReplyDeleteThe Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, who was in attendance, has a few takeaways from conversations with audience members:
I spoke to several members of the audience, who confirmed my impression that Israelis just wanted to know that he liked them. It's hard to understand this from the U.S., but the idea really did take hold here that Obama genuinely hated Israel. So this whole trip is a bit of a revelation for ordinary Israelis.
On the other hand, I've run into people who were surprised President Obama took it too strong to Bibi (one conservative-leaning Israeli I just ran into suggested that Obama was interfering in Israeli politics as payback for Netanyahu's alleged meddling in the American election). Obama pleaded with his audience to challenge their leaders on the question of peace and compromise. I guess the whole Bibi-Barack love festival has an expiration date.
Awww, Bibi takes offense at Obama's "strong message". Well, if Bibi is offended he can just tell America that he doesn't want our $6 billion a year, we could actually use that money, ya know, taking care of our own needy populace. It'l never happen because the US Holocaust Guilt is still way to strong because we didn't do anything to intervene until it was too late.
DeleteWonder how the Israeli people got the idea the President Obama does not them. I follow politics and read a lot and have never heard him utter a single word that would indicate that he does not like the Israelis.
DeleteOh, I know why they would think they were dislike by the president.
The republicans, teabaggers and most of all what passes for media in this country.
Bradley Burston in Haaretz:
ReplyDeleteNot for nothing did Barack Obama cite Martin Luther King's address on the eve of his assassination. The image of the Promised Land as a place Moses will not be able to reach, but one which his work will allow his people to eventually enter, clearly resonates with a president beginning already to see the end of his time in office.
This is not the same country after this speech.
Four years from now, when he hands back the White House, Barack Obama should consider a change of direction, even a change of venue.
Let him run here. It's about time we knew again what a real leader was like.
Our President is conversant in theology and politics. He can discuss and argue Dietrich Boenhoffer and Paul Tillich; no slouch.
DeleteWe have the most educated, brilliant, and compassionate president ever. I have witnessed his compassion to young children who adore him, compromised and powerless women to whom he was kind, veterans on their sickbeds: yet he still laughs and smiles with them all.
We are fortunate, indeed, and I am grateful for his leadership.
Now let's look at some reactions from the Israeli press:
ReplyDeleteDavid Horovitz in the Times of Israel:
It was a deft, brilliantly conceived speech. He told Israelis how moral they are, how admirably creative they are, how smart with those 10 Nobel prizes, how democratic, how prosperous, and how mighty — the most powerful country in the region. He told them that the world’s strongest nation stood unshakably with them. “So long as there is a United States of America, Atem Lo Levad” — you are not alone.
And having built them up, convinced them of their near-invincibility, he showed them a theoretical future that he insisted could be realized if they would only trust in their strength sufficiently to take risks for peace. A future in which the security threats will recede. The prosperity will increase. The moral stain of occupation will disappear. All it takes is that determined, constant push for peace. How could they refuse him?
[...]
Emotionally, Obama’s speech was profoundly affecting, and will likely have moved many Israelis, shifting their opinion of him, winning them over. Shifting them politically? That’s something quite different.
"You exemplify democracy," says Pres. Peres, awarding Obama the Medal of Distinction.
ReplyDeletepic.twitter.com/4BmLjaot1k
"It was a very clever speech” says the Guardian’s Middle East editor Ian Black.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"First, peace is necessary... because no wall is high enough, and no Iron Dome is strong enough, to stop every enemy from inflicting harm."
So far, Obama has talked up Israel's history. Now he is addressing the frustrations Israelis feel with the peace process and is beginning to outline his position. From the prepared text:
ReplyDeleteI also know that not everyone in this hall will agree with what I have to say about peace. I recognize that there are those who are not simply skeptical about peace, but question its underlying premise, and that’s a part of democracy and the discourse between our two countries. But it is important to be open and honest with one another. Politically, given the strong bipartisan support for Israel in America, the easiest thing for me to do would be to put this issue aside, and express unconditional support for whatever Israel decides to do. But I want you to know that I speak to you as a friend who is deeply concerned and committed to your future, and I ask you to consider three points.
Have the RWNJs in the Tea Party started yammering yet that President Obama was BOWING to Peres as he received his medal?
ReplyDeleteThey would never complain about almighty Israel.
DeleteI think you're right KaJo! They'll twist that visual as a sign of weakness, bowing to the leader of a foreign country.
DeleteIn just a few short unscripted moments, he reacted to an interruption with grace and humor, charmed a heckler, and wrapped an entire audience securely around his little finger....and all without a teleprompter!!!
ReplyDeleteLOVE that this man represents my country!
he is all class.
ReplyDeleteObama References Israeli Comedy Show – Watch Their Obama Sketch
ReplyDeletehttp://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-references-israeli-comedy-show-watch-their-obama?ref=fpb
Yes, KaJo, I was wondering when they'd start that too.
ReplyDeleteBibi gives Obama a medal so that America will keep sending Israel $6 billion per year of our hard earned American tax dollars. It's well beyond time to let Israel stand on her own as a country and as a Government NOT a Nanny State operating on US funding. It's pretty hard to respect Israel as a country knowing that they take our money and don't really even need it.
ReplyDeleteFACT: Obama Is Visiting Israel Sooner Than Every Republican President
ReplyDeleteI’ve been inundated with right wing outrage that Obama finally made it to Israel. You’d think from this attitude that going to Israel is a given, something all other presidents have done – certainly Republicans — and President Obama is “leading from behind”. Shivers. But if you assume that, you are making the mistake of presuming logic behind right wing criticism.
In fact, former Republican presidents George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Dwight Eisenhower never went to Israel. George W. Bush only went in the last year of his second term. In other words, Obama beat Bush timing wise, as this is the first year of his second term (I realize math is not a Republican forte, but this one is pretty simple). Bush was the first Republican president to go since Nixon in 1974, and since Nixon was re-elected in 1972, you can do the math.
Republicans also claim that Obama has slighted Israel, when in fact Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement that President Obama showed Israel unprecedented support, “Once again it’s been proven to all the doubters, President Obama is an ally and friend of Israel. The Obama administration gives backing to Israel’s security in a wide, all-encompassing and unprecedented manner.”
http://www.politicususa.com/fact-george-h-w-bush-ronald-reagan-israel.html
The American thought : Israelis good, Palestinians bad.
ReplyDeleteActually, most Americans have very mixed feelings about it (that includes Jewish Americans) or they don't know or feel anything about it at all. Only the nuts in the far reaches on either side have strong feelings one way or another.
DeleteThis man is exactly where he needs to be. The whole speech shows he "thinks" before he speaks and he's connecting directly to the people of Isarael. The way he treated this heckler shows he can disagree without being disagreeable and uses it to his advantage.
ReplyDeleteWhatever "it" is, this man's got it.
Has Obama Turned a Generation of Voters Into Lifelong Democrats?
ReplyDeleteThe prospects for a new liberal age
...the fact that young Obama supporters have affirmed their allegiance in two consecutive presidential elections may herald a generation of Democratic-leaning voters that will skew the composition of the electorate far into the future. “The consistency of young people’s support for Obama in 2008 and 2012 suggests a pattern similar to the 1980s,” she told me. “They are going to be more Democratic than they would have otherwise been, because the character of the first votes cast produces or reinforces a Democratic leaning.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/a-democratic-age/309258/
Of course Hannity ran with this first, without Obama's response of course, and labeled it: "Failed Diplomacy".
ReplyDeleteOn Martin Bashir yesterday, the bottom ticker read that POTUS had received the Medal of "Distraction". It was there until about 40 minutes into the hour when they finally fixed it to "Medal of Distinction".
ReplyDeleteMan I wondered what was up.
Notice how Obama does a great job overseas. Remember Romney's disastrous foreign tour last summer? Thank God he lost. He put his foot in his mouth on day one. Italy would not let him in. Etc.