HE’S THE ONE…

So, Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Price. The BBC coverage here is interesting insofar as even the BBC is forced to fess up that of the thousands of those who have contacted the BBC, 75% have expressed “surprise”. (Though “world leaders” welcome it) I’ll say. My small point is that the BBC makes reference to this award being surprising after his “less than a year in power” period. Erm, bit more than that. The final date for nominations for the Nobel Prize was a mere TWO WEEKS after Obama ascended to high office which means it took just 14 days to carry out “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples”. Hope the BBC make that point clearly since it is pertinent to the quality of the decision. I also enjoy the way the BBC reports the Taliban perspective so ensuring that those of us who think him not worthy are cast into the same rhetorical camp as Islamist killers.

B-BBC READER POST OF THE DAY!

Tip of the hat to DB for this rather excellent contribution!

“If you fancy a laugh, have a re-read of Matt Frei’s November diary, a Republican-bashing hope-filled brown-nosing paean to America’s then recently elected president. Extract:

Earlier this week he announced a plan to get 2.5 million Americans back to work. Then he vowed to have his new director of the congressional budget office go through the existing budgets with a scalpel or an axe, depending on what is needed, to cut out any waste. Previous presidents-in-waiting have also made such claims. But such is Mr Obama’s steely-eyed determination and unsmiling sense of purpose that you actually believe him.

No Matt – YOU believed him, like the partisan star-struck hack you are. So, how’s it all working out for your boy, the uber-cool super-intelligent bringer of hope and change? Approval ratings plummeting. Unemployment far worse than expected. Vast amounts of pork barrel spending hurried through unchecked. Deficit projections now up to nine TRILLION dollars. Well over half of senior policymaking positions still unfilled. And total chaos over health care reform, not least because President Clever and his mega-bright administration were wrong-footed by none other than Sarah Palin. That last one must really hurt, Matt.

CASH FOR CLUNKERS

Obama’s “cash for clunkers” scheme has just finished and the BBC ran this item on it this morning, suggesting that it has been a hugely popular success. The meme is that the stimulus is working. In a four and a half minute item, the BBC kindly provided 30 seconds to the view that this has been far from economically effective and may cause more harm than good. The bias is clear – cash for clunkers is just swell and Obama is on the right path.

Everything in the garden is lovely.

Apologies if someone has already posted or commented on this outpouring of Obamalove from Matt Frei. It’s a month old now but still astonishing.

Turning one corner of the White House lawn into a vegetable allotment was an inspired move. And like just about everything else the First Family has turned its attention to, it seemed to come naturally.


The Obamas do not look awkward doing normal things.

Considering the combination of limelight and expectations weighing on the White House, this is quite an achievement.

George W Bush smirked too much, displaying the unbearable lightness of his being at inappropriate times. His father was accused of not knowing what a supermarket checkout scanner was.

I love that “was accused of”. Was it too much trouble for the BBC (aim: to be the world’s most trusted provider of international news) to check out this rumour on Snopes and establish whether the accusation was – what was that word again? – oh, yes, true?

As a candidate, Barack Obama showed that he can harness the power of the Internet and reach out to millions of eager foot-soldiers while keeping the decisions that matter confined to a tiny kitchen cabinet.

Apart from a few slip-ups, he has maintained that mixture of outer charm and inner discipline, of outreach and exclusivity


But what I do remember is that they hit the right note and touched the right nerve at the right time.

On the economy, he was sober without being too pessimistic. On bankers’ bonuses, he shared our outrage without inciting the masses to put heads on stakes. On life in the White House, he combined humility, pride and fun at being the boss with bemusement at life in the armoured bubble.

He told Europe that America had been too arrogant and then chastised Europeans for being prone to a knee-jerk anti-Americanism.

On swine flu, he said there was reason to be concerned but no cause for alarm.

Fear the flu. But flu is not to be feared. When you understand this koan, said the Master, then you will have enlightenment.

He is both bold and measured. It is called nuance – and America and the world have been yearning for it.

America and the World: Yearning for Nuance Since November 3rd 2004.

The marriage of reassuring language and bold policy has been his true victory in the first 100 days.

And there I was thinking his true victory was something to do with General Motors.

OBAMAFICATION

Did you listen to this discussion on Today this morning concerning the issue of when global powers should intervene abroad with military force? Obama addressed this issue in his speech in Cairo and then this is compared to a speech given by Tony Blair in Chicago in 1999. In essence, the BBC approves of the “pragmatism” that pervades Obama’s triangulating and dhimmifed speech and it’s one more opportrunuty to attack UK support for the Iraq war. The BBC narrative is that military intervention is NEVER a good idea – unless it would be against Israel, of course. Both contributors are drooling Obama worshippers and thus we have an item which seamlessly avoids any criticism of Obama. It’s all about “reaching out” to Islam and so Obama and the BBC have a shared agenda in this regard.

JUSTIN HEARTS OBAMA

Anyone catch Justin’s love-in concerning Obama’s 100th glorious days? Truly nauseating stuff. Like the way Justin misleads on the polls as well. He seemed to miss the recent one that suggests that US confidence that it can win the war on terror has hit a low since Obama came to power or the fact that the US economy has slumped disastrously since Obama ascended to on-high. Just too in love to see the blemishes, I guess. (P.S Didn’t Churchill, whom Obama quotes to Justin’s delight , also believe that you had to utterly destroy your enemy to achieve peace?)

0 OUT OF 10

I spotted this earlier, as I know others have, but this is the first chance I had to blog it. Have YOU seen the “report card” that the BBC thoughtfully commissioned on Obama’s first 100 days from Prof Iwan Morgan? It’s riddled from start to finish with extreme left-wing bias and no effort has beenĀ  made by the BBC to allow any commentator critical of The One to have their say on this report card. In truth, is it not fair to say that Morgan is simply expressing “the narrative” and is given carte blanche to reinforce this?

OBAMA – THE FIRST GLORIOUS 100 DAYS.

Anyone catch the tributes BBC TV was paying to the first 100 days of the era of Obama the 1stĀ  this morning? Gushing, one-sided and the only watch-out note struck was that perhaps he had not gone far enough yet to “roll back the years of the Bush Presidency”. It’s not news, it’s propaganda.