Mark Steyn: Obama's lazy tribute to Daniel Pearl

[Pepper]

Orange County Register:

Mark Steyn: Obama's lazy tribute to Daniel Pearl

"Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world's imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is."-- Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.


Now Obama's off the prompter, when his silver-tongued rhetoric invariably turns to sludge. But he's talking about a dead man here, a guy murdered in public for all the world to see. Furthermore, the deceased's family is standing all around him. And, even for a busy president, it's the work of moments to come up with a sentence that would be respectful, moving and true. Indeed, for Obama, it's the work of seconds, because he has a taxpayer-funded staff sitting around all day with nothing to do but provide him with that sentence.

Instead, he delivered the one above, which in its clumsiness and insipidness is most revealing. First of all, note the passivity: "The loss of Daniel Pearl." He wasn't "lost." He was kidnapped and beheaded. He was murdered on a snuff video. He was specifically targeted, seized as a trophy, a high-value scalp. And the circumstances of his "loss" merit some vigor in the prose. Yet Obama can muster none.

Even if Americans don't get the message, the rest of the world does. This week's pictures of the leaders of Brazil and Turkey clasping hands with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are also monuments to American passivity.

But what did the "loss" of Daniel Pearl mean? Well, says the president, it was "one of those moments that captured the world's imagination." Really? Evidently it never captured Obama's imagination because, if it had, he could never have uttered anything so fatuous. He seems literally unable to imagine Pearl's fate, and so, cruising on autopilot, he reaches for the all-purpose bromides of therapeutic sedation: "one of those moments" – you know, like Princess Di's wedding, Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, whatever – "that captured the world's imagination."




See also:

Obama: Daniel Pearl's Beheading "Captured the World's Imagination"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8HNG6Z9LbA

Comment from Youtube

Have you seen the full clip? It's worse! Pearls family may stand behind him but BO's own words and phrases damn him repeatedly. Get your head out of the sand! Read this mans speeches, his books, his 'candid' interviews without the TOTUS. Look at his associates- the people he's surrounded him self with and appointed. He is a very bad person. It's that simple. Rationalize all you want. We have a monster in the WH.


See also

Obama would have you believe that Danny Pearl was killed because he was a member of the media. What kind of an IDIOT and FOOL is running this country? Pearl had his head violently sawed off my RADICAL MUSLIM extremists because he was an American and a Jew.

BTW Barack … his violent death did not capture the imagination of the world, IT REPULSED IT! If it captured yours sir, maybe you would like to tell us how, Barack Hussein Obama? They sawed his head off for God’s sake and it had NOTHING, ZERO, NADA to do with the fact that Pearl was a member of the Press.

Why does this President go so far out of his way to deflect from the obvious evil of which looks to destroy America, Americans and any one who does not think as they do … RADICAL ISLAM.
FromUM, PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA SAID WHAT!!!


and

I wouldn't exactly call that a tribute to Daniel Pearl. More of an insult to his memory and to those who survived him and cherish the notion of freedom. I'm pretty sure Steyn thinks so too.

The Blank Pages of the Age

See more MarkSteynOnLine here

[Pepper]

Hat tip to SaveLiberty! for this article originally in the Coffee Shop.

 

 

"Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world's imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is."-- Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

 

Think about it. Using the word "imagination" to describe beheading of Daniel Pearl, a Jew by a Islamofascist?

 

The free press was the last thing on my mind. How about you? What was on your mind?

 

Events that might capture one's imagination:

 

When the World Trade Towers were built and officially opened to the public, they captured the world's imagination, for they embodied the dreams of builders, architects, of free enterprise, and that of the nation.

 

When the Shuttle Columbia lifted off with brave men and women, they captured the world's imagination, for they embodied the dreams of being in the unknown, they were a paean to the work of scientists and engineers, dreaming of touching the face of God.

 

When the Shuttle Challenger soared into the sky, the nation's imagination was certainly captured - for the first 72 seconds. But after that?

 

Events that don't capture one's imagination:

 

What was in the minds of millions who saw the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon, the Pennsylvania flight #93 being brought down by terrorists? We suffered almost 3,000 losses on September 11. Those attacks brought horror, fear, pity, and then later anger.

What was in the minds of millions who saw the Shuttle Columbia burst into flames across the Texas sky?

What was in the minds of millions who saw the Shuttle Challenger explode shortly after take-off?

What was in the minds of the millions of sane people who read about the execution of Daniel Pearl, or saw the execution of Daniel Pearl?

 

Freedom of the press was the last thing on their mind. You can bank on it.

[Pepper]

President Obama is incapable of protecting our country. He is either engaged in full stupidity or he is in full complicity. There is no in between.

[SrWoodchuck]

Pepper! Awesome post, so many places to go. Mark Steyn a favorite, too.

 

When I heard Obama's comments, I had to stop work & look up, Normally I can't stand to see or hear him speak, but when he said those words, I saw Daniel Pearl's family gathered around him & the look on their faces was an indictment of Obama's shallow heart.

 

One of the comments I read, while looking at the various places you linked, compared Obama to the Platte river. [it runs through Denver, too.] "Obama is like the Platte river...a mile wide, and an inch deep."

 

I think he has Muslim sympathies & has oriented his chosen czars to foment that as our American position. It's not taking effect, in the hearts of most Americans. I can only hope that this leads to further erosion of his Jewish support. That would be a fitting eulogy for Daniel Pearl & a greater comfort to his family & most Americans.

[Argyle58]

"Obviously, the loss of Daniel Pearl was one of those moments that captured the world's imagination because it reminded us of how valuable a free press is."-- Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

 

Think about it. Using the word "imagination" to describe beheading of Daniel Pearl, a Jew by a Islamofascist?

 

The free press was the last thing on my mind. How about you? What was on your mind?

 

Events that might capture one's imagination:

 

When the World Trade Towers were built and officially opened to the public, they captured the world's imagination, for they embodied the dreams of builders, architects, of free enterprise, and that of the nation.

 

When the Shuttle Columbia lifted off with brave men and women, they captured the world's imagination, for they embodied the dreams of being in the unknown, they were a paean to the work of scientists and engineers, dreaming of touching the face of God.

 

When the Shuttle Challenger soared into the sky, the nation's imagination was certainly captured - for the first 72 seconds. But after that?

 

Events that don't capture one's imagination:

 

What was in the minds of millions who saw the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon, the Pennsylvania flight #93 being brought down by terrorists? We suffered almost 3,000 losses on September 11. Those attacks brought horror, fear, pity, and then later anger.

What was in the minds of millions who saw the Shuttle Columbia burst into flames across the Texas sky?

What was in the minds of millions who saw the Shuttle Challenger explode shortly after take-off?

What was in the minds of the millions of sane people who read about the execution of Daniel Pearl, or saw the execution of Daniel Pearl?

 

Freedom of the press was the last thing on their mind. You can bank on it.

 

Pepper.....good posts.

 

Of course Freedom of the press wasn't what he had in mind, since he refused, as he has been refusing since last July, to answer questions from the press at this function.

 

One would have thought that he would have some prepared remarks for this occasion since he knew that he wouldn't have his beloved teleprompter. These impromtu remarks accentuate the total lack of passion, and compassion, in this man.

 

I think, though, that the press if finally on the verge of revolt. At least those reporters in the field, if not the anchors. They have been circumvented, denuded, belittled and insulted publicly, but most importantly, denied access to the Zero for almost a year now. Grumblings have begun.

[Pepper]

Thank you, SrWoodChuck! Good analogy of the Platte River and Obama.

 

That would be a fitting eulogy as well.

 

 

What you wrote rings true:

 

"When I heard Obama's comments, I had to stop work & look up, Normally I can't stand to see or hear him speak, but when he said those words, I saw Daniel Pearl's family gathered around him & the look on their faces was an indictment of Obama's shallow heart."--SrWoodChuck.

[Pepper]

 

Of course Freedom of the press wasn't what he had in mind, since he refused, as he has been refusing since last July, to answer questions from the press at this function.

 

One would have thought that he would have some prepared remarks for this occasion since he knew that he wouldn't have his beloved teleprompter. These impromtu remarks accentuate the total lack of passion, and compassion, in this man.

 

I think, though, that the press if finally on the verge of revolt. At least those reporters in the field, if not the anchors. They have been circumvented, denuded, belittled and insulted publicly, but most importantly, denied access to the Zero for almost a year now. Grumblings have begun.

 

 

Argyle58!

 

It's going to take more than some grumblings from the press. But we need to take them where we can find them. It starts with a chip, chip, chipping away to erode this "shallow-hearted" Emperor without Clothes, using SrWoodChuck's adjective.