Today President Obama had his first foreign visit and landed in Ottawa on his impressive air plane. (Our plane isn't as impressive, I have actually flown in it a few times, we use it for troop transport to the middle east). I followed the visit today on the CBC while I hammered out an essay on the Armenian Genocide. It is amazing to see how many people went to parliament hill to catch a glimpse of the President who seems to have a Rock Star popularity here. With a 82% approval rating in Canada, some 3000 people, from all over the country, stood in the cold on parliament hill to see the President arrive. I think Prime Minister Harper only has a 42% approval rating, but I wouldn't be surprised if that has gone up because of how he was endorsed by Obama today. Now I guess it is up to Harper, to see if they will maintain a good relationship. It didn't seem like it today but I think the US has big expectations for us. Between tightening up envinonmental restrictions on our oil sands and extending our mission even longer in Afghanistan we may butt heads with our neighbours in the near future. The one thing I personally took away from todays press confereance was the language used regarding trade. They both talked about loosening up our borders, which worries me. I have done a fair bit of research into NAFTA and trade (with lots more to come), and I feel we are moving in a direction which is establishing a foundation for a North American Union. There is lots more to talk about on this but I will leave it for now.President Obama is a very inspirational, intelligent and seemingly good man. But at the end of the day he is a politician with the most powerful country in the world. The US is a great neighbor and ally but as Canadians, we have to look out for our own interests. That means we cannot get caught up in hype, excitement, or economic problems. We need to really examine policies and the direction our government wants to take us; then we need to make informative decisions on what is best for us.
On a lighter note, it was good to see President Obama stopped to grab a Beaver Tail on his way out of town. It is definitely on the list of one of the things you must do while visiting our capital city.
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Well said.
ReplyDeleteI went to Ottawa and did not get a Beaver Tail. I went to Montreal and did not get poutine. Can we go again?
Sean asked me to comment on his political bloggin, so I am
ReplyDeleteI agree with sean in regards to the cult of personalty that is sweeping both the united states and canada.
Anytime a nation or a group of people fall in love with a almost messianic savior, it is dangerous. I personally wish that people would spend even a half hour reading obama's website which clearly states some of the plans hes made, and I dont think everyone would be so happy about his change
the first policy idea he has passed around, and for which ram emanuel talked about it on the evening news, is mandatory military service for all americans aged 18-24, to serve domestically for national security. This was even on the change.gov website for some time untill it got some bad press and was taken down
Obama wants a national civilian security force that is just as well funded and large as the military,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s
let the man speak for himself
This plan, amongst some of the other policies he wants to implement frankly scares me.
For those who have become part of his cult of personalty, I want you to ask this. If Obama truly wanted to change things and reverse the bad decisions of the last administration why did he not reverse the patriot act, or presidential directive 51 which says the president is above cogress and the senate, which goes against americas traditional checks and balance system
so this means, all the powers that bush had, that most people hated, has now been passed onto Obama, who seems to want to use it to create national civilian security forces.
Obama has also pledged to resume the security and prosperity partnership talks, which effectively seeks to set up a north american union.
and anyone who thinks the SPP is not seeking to set that up, I invite them to visit the judicial watch website, who sued the Canadian government to give up the SPP documents, which I have read in its entirety. And it clearly states the set up of a north american police force, currency, and even stranger things like "cyber cops" for policing the north american internet
I wish canadians would worry about the interests of their country instead of blindly believing in a politician just because he is well spoken and mentions something about change every once in a while, but again if you look at this change, youll realize its just an extension of the bush policy, and in some respects Obama could set up a national civilian security force where bush most likely would have failed, simply because people love him so much,that it somehow justifies it in their mind
thats enough for me
till next time sean
p.s, sorry for my crappy spelling and grammer