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November 24, 2009

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robin


Analysis: Chief Boatswain's Mate Harold B. Estes, USN (Ret.) is a real person residing in Honolulu, Hawaii, who does indeed turn 95 years old this December.

He is also the confirmed author of the above letter, or the earliest version of it, at any rate. According to Rick Terwilliger, Estes' longtime friend and publisher of Fore n' Aft Magazine, the original was dictated by Estes (whose eyesight is poor), signed by him, and mailed to the White House, as well as a list of about 50 other handpicked recipients in November 2009.

Thanks, presumably, to one or more of those original addressees, Estes' letter has since been published on scores of blogs and online message boards, and gone "viral" in the form of the email text reproduced above.

'Despicable lies' or misquotes?

While it is Mr. Estes' right as an American to upbraid his President, it bears pointing out that in this case he has done so largely on the basis of misquotes.

Let's take a closer look at Obama's so-called "despicable lies."

Despicable Lie #1: "We're no longer a Christian nation."

Sure enough, Obama said exactly those words in 2006 at Sojourners magazine's "Call to Renewal" conference in Washington, D.C. But that wasn't how the sentence ended.

Here's the full quote, in context:

Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation — at least, not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.
The awkward phrase, "at least, not just," was a verbal flub. As written, the passage was supposed to go:

"Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."

Sources:
• Call to Renewal Keynote Address (as Written). BarackObama.com.
• Call to Renewal Keynote Address (as Delivered). YouTube.com.


Despicable Lie #2: "America is arrogant."

This was apparently paraphrased, out of context, from a speech Obama delivered to European students in Strasbourg, France on April 4, 2009:

It's always harder to forge true partnerships and sturdy alliances than to act alone, or to wait for the action of somebody else. It's more difficult to break down walls of division than to simply allow our differences to build and our resentments to fester. So we must be honest with ourselves. In recent years we've allowed our Alliance to drift. I know that there have been honest disagreements over policy, but we also know that there's something more that has crept into our relationship. 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.

Source:
• Transcript: Remarks by President Obama at Strasbourg Town Hall. TalkingPointsMemo.com.

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