Venezuela Update: Ohmigod, Obama Shook Chavez's Hand! He Took His Book!

UPDATE: A senior Obama administration official told CNN late Saturday that Chavez had asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to consider the return of US and Venezuelan ambassadors to their posts in Caracas and Washington. The official endorsed the initiative, "This is a positive development that will help advance U.S. interests. And, the State Department will now work to further this shared goal."

Have just emerged from academic conference limbo to see this video of President Barack Obama accepting both a handshake and a book from Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas.

No doubt, we will now have lots of media frothing about Obama's appeasement of Latin America dictators through displays of courtesy, rather than, say, slapping Chavez across the face with a white glove and ripping the book to shreds. Already Newt Gingrich, who apparently was once a Republican Congressman, has made the magic link between smiling at Chavez, bowing to Saudi King Abdullah, and giving a loving kiss to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv1NjuMwzQ8[/youtube]

Behind this flapping, there is one of the major foreign policy stories of this Administration. In sharp contrast to the macho posture taken by George W. Bush and his advisors --- which failed to overthrow Chavez and alienated many in Latin America as new governments emerged from Bolivia to Ecuador --- Obama's White House has decided to exert influence through discussion and partnership. Even before this handshake, a new Washington had accepted referenda in Bolivia and Venezuela that bolstered the Morales and Chavez Governments.

And, of course, there are the gradual steps being taken by Obama to ease the US isolation of Cuba, as well as his Friday declaration that “the United States seeks a new beginning” with Havana. Indeed, this may be Chavez's inadvertent contribution to American "engagement": by grabbing the media hot lights with his book presentation, he has taken criticism away from Washington's tip-toeing but still significant approach to a relationship with the former #1 Latin American Bad Guys.

President-is-a-Muslim Coverup: CNN Replaces "Obama Bow" with White House Dog

Related Post: Obama ‘Bowing Down’ to Saudi King? But Conservapedia Fails To Deliver.

Enduring America can exclusively reveal that CNN, well-known propaganda arm of the Obama Administration, bumped the very important story of Obama's bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia for in-depth coverage of the White House arrival of Bo, the Portuguese water dog.



David Corn of The Nation had Twittered this week that he was going to be discussing the controversy. So how did Kurtz open Reliable Sources on Sunday?

I never thought I'd be leading off this program with a dog story. All right. It's not just any dog. It's the new Obama family dog. But it's also about White House media manipulation.

Media manipulation? Quite right, Howard. For several minutes, guests Chrystia Freeland of the Financial Times, Tara Wall of The Washington Times, and David Corn pondered how "all the CNN people...were saying, 'Oh, look at the dog. It's so cute.'"

Post-dog story, Kurtz did put up Obama's statement, "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation." He even played the criticism of Fox's Sean Hannity, "We're an arrogant country and we're not a Christian nation and we bow before the Saudi king."

But did CNN show the bow? It did not.

Instead, Kurtz let Freeland --- who is quite clearly not an American and quite clearly works for a left-wing British newspaper --- bury the incident, "[Obama's comments] were picked up by some of the more shrill right-wing critics of the president, but what I thought was really interesting about those remarks...was how smoothly that went over in the U.S."

Now some readers may think we're making too much of a fuss of this obvious conspiracy between the mainstream media and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to keep the real news from us. But please consider....

What was the closing world-shattering story, even more important than Bo the White House Dog, that Kurtz and Reliable Sources pondered?

The father of Bristol Palin's baby speaks out on the television circuit, but do we really need to feast on the uncomfortable details of a teenage breakup?

Latest Video: Do We Care about the Obama Bow?

On Wednesday night, ABC's Nightline programme asked, "We ask you, was it a bow and do you care?"

Yes and yes! And a big wag of the finger at the radicals of The Huffington Post, who tried to distract us, "Other conservatives didn't make a peep about the proximity of the Bush family and King Abdullah for the past eight years but now, seemingly, are filled with outrage over a symbolic gesture of respect."

Let's get back to the real story. Here's the very dramatic exchange at Thursday's White House press briefing --- how long can irrelevancies about "the economy" hold back the impeachment of the President?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxcJVoTNCAk[/youtube]

Obama Bows Down to Saudi King! The Controversy Continues....

Latest Post: Video Alert - Obama Does Not Bow to Saudi King

This blog entry should be considered a very important update on a very important event. In no way should it be seen as a shameless reminder that we have the video of the Obama bow/non-bow to Abdullah.

Full credit to my colleague Ali Yenidunya, who broke the story last Thursday of President Obama's bow of greeting to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and wrote ominously, "One thing we do know is that a younger Muslim always shows utmost respect to an older Muslim in public and is expected to kiss the latter’s hands. Hmm, we should think more about it."

Ali did get the Internet, or at least the right-thinking portion of it, moving.

His challenge, "It is time for Conservapedia to take some action," has been met. Our favourite on-line encyclopedia has updated its entry for Barack Hussein Obama, "Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official."

The Weekly Standard initially fretted, "There’s [a] fawning you’ll never, ever know anything about and that is President Obama’s grovel before Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of the House of Saud," but a few days later, everyone was a-flutter about it (perhaps because The Weekly Standard kept banging on). Heck, even Camille Paglia wrote about it, and apparently she was a really important writer once upon a time.

But now the dramatic revelation: none of this happened. A White House aide says, ""It wasn't a bow. [President Obama] grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah."

Obama 'Bowing Down' to Saudi King? But Conservapedia Fails To Deliver.

Latest Post: Video Alert - Obama Does Not Bow to Saudi King

Related Post: Obama Bows Down to Saudi King! The Controversy Continues

During Thursday’s meeting of the most developed economies in London, President Obama bowed before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. While some, on blogs and radio discussions, were making fun of the President by suggesting that he was about to clean the floor, others added that it was unacceptable for Americans who are proud of their revolutionary past to see their President bowing down in front of a dictator.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMOIK07xGiQ[/youtube]

Might President Obama have kissed King Abdullah’s hands? Why not? The only visual source, unfortunately, does not give a clear point of view. However, one thing we do know is that a younger Muslim always shows utmost respect to an older Muslim in public and is expected to kiss the latter’s hands. Hmm, we should think more about it…

And now, it is time for Conservapedia to take some action. As we have been keeping a curious eye on Conservapedia it was, to be honest with you, upsetting not to see this included as additional ‘proof’ of Obama’s ‘Muslim’ faith! Now, they have a new point to argue for…

LATEST UPDATE: Obama Bows Down to Saudi King! The Controversy Continues:

Ali did get the Internet, or at least the right-thinking portion of it, moving.

His challenge, “It is time for Conservapedia to take some action,” has been met. Our favourite on-line encyclopedia has updated its entry for Barack Hussein Obama, “Never before in the history of the U.S. has a president displayed such shocking deference to a foreign official.”