| Fred Barbash-Moderator - Last week in France, President Obama said this:
"In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.
But in Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious. Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad.
On both sides of the Atlantic, these attitudes have become all too common. They are not wise. They do not represent the truth. They threaten to widen the divide across the Atlantic and leave us both more isolated. They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America."
Of these words, the following excerpt has become a source of considerable anger among some:
"Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."
For example, in this Arena forum yesterday, contributorBradley Blakeman said: "He came to Europe hat in hand and apologetic."
So a question for you today is this: Do you think the President's words were inappropriate? Was he "apologetic?" Or was he, as others said, simply showing a refreshing element of American humility.
I do have a sense that we have not seen the last of this particular phrase. I fully expect it to show up in Republican campaign ads in elections to come...
What do you think?
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