Obama, concern for the UK or US?

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

Listening to Obama, I was struck that his language seemed to be about what is good for the US not what is good for the UK. Certainly the former US treasury secretary interviewed on the Today program was very US centric.

His comment about us going to the back of the queue, (and he did say queue instead of line because he was told to) seemed to be a bit of a threat. Is he out of order?

YokoUhOh, if Obama would have backed Brexit, then Boris would have said he is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but becuase he backed Cameron and the Establishment in their Remain stance, he has tried to discredit Obama's message by implying that he did it because he has got the hump with Britain. Franly, it is ridiculous and insulting to suggest that because Obama doesn't take personal decisions, he speaks for America as the American President and has to take account of the current American Establishment's view and they currently concur with Cameron and the British Establishment's view. Obama doesn't make decisions like that because he has got the hump with Britain.

but they were suggesting it was due to historical reasons rather than raicla reasons in my opinion as Britain had a historical relationship with Kenya and didn't with other African nations for example.

olivia oops, I meant 'dislike'. 'Ancestral dislike'.

I honestlyy cant recall a more unpopular visit by a POTUS. Even Dubbya's 2002 visit here wasn't as controversial and he was greeted with more warmth as I recall and I loathed the man. . It seems the British people dont mind a mentally defective, neo-liberal, war monger. But being told what to do politically by Johnnie foreigner is just not on.

claig well yes, exactly...

Also my guess is that Cameron was a chuffed as a canary to have Obama next to him helping him out. I am sure that there were probably diplomatic pleas from the Establishment to Obama, begging for a bit of help to pull the Remain camps' feet out of the fire and quell the rebellion of the British people over the Establishment's EU position. Obama probably done them a favour, I doubt it was really at the top of his agenda.

'but they were suggesting it was due to historical reasons rather than raicla reasons in my opinion as Britain had a historical relationship with Kenya and didn't with other African nations for example.'

If Obama's background was from an African country that was a French colony, then Boris could not have used the anti British thing against Obama, so it is not racial but historical based on colonial history. I think it was ridiculous and bad manners to suggest it because I think it is obviously wrong, but I don't think it had a racist intent.

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Colonial_Africa_1913_map.svg/2061px-Colonial_Africa_1913_map.svg.png

Claig the pink bits on the map of Africa were all us!

Who knows what Boris's intents are? All he wants now is this year's top toy - to be PM. It was a stupid and racist comment - the sort of dog whistle Lynton Crosby style of politics we have come to associate with the Tories - look what else is going on with Goldsmith and Khan, backed by DC. not so much dog whistle there though as big shouty racism

Yes, but what are the blue bits. We weren't the only country which had colonies.

Frankly, I think Boris insulted an American President and I don't like that. It wasn't racial but he implied that Obama's judgement was clouded by personal animus due to background and I don't think it is right to insult an American president like that, becuse he represents the American people and that is in my opinion an insult against them too.

Boris has form for these type of insults. In my opinion, he insulted Trump as well, and although that is not as serious as insulting a President, it is still serious because Trump represents millions of American Republicans' views. Boris has also insulted the Chines in my opinion and some French politicians etc. He does have a tendency to be arrogant and insult other countries' politicians, which I think is wrong and is bad manners and actually is a discredit to our own country because he represents us.

I'm not normally a conspiracy theorist, but my radar definitely twitched when he said 'back of the queue'. That's just not how an American would express the concept, is it?

Anyway, I'm not sure I'm to bothered to go to the back of the trade treaty queue, given what the US is pressing the EU to accept - basically to allow US corporations to sue European governments should they dare to pass any laws that restricts their trade in any way. Can you imagine if that had been in place before public health organisations tried to reduce smoking?

IMO, Obama is a vested interest; ensuring that the US's interests are prioritised over the EU/UKs. And what's in their interests is not necessarily in ours, so I'll be ignoring his comments while looking askance at him.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/what-is-ttip-and-six-reasons-why-the-answer-should-scare-you-9779688.html bears reading.

Well Claig I agree wth all that !

Boris also insulted Mitt Romney, and I didn't like Mitt Romney, but that is irrelevant. It is not good manners or protocol to insult someone who represents millions of voters in another country, particularly as it is our best ally.

Much as it (greatly) pains me, I agree with Claig's last few posts. Boris said something stupid but not intended to be racist. And Obama has to speak from his position not personally.

Through his mother, Obama is descended from early New England Puritans who perpetuated genocide on the natives. And went on to fight against the British in 1770s. Which is about as relevant as the dad who abandoned him before he was 3yo. Really, it's all there in his heritage. People seem to forget he's mixed not just black.

Where - of course Obama prioritises the US over the UK/EU. What he says about whether we should stay or leave won't influence me in the slightest . He wasn't threatening though, he was just saying it as it is - we'll be at the back of the queue ( or line even).

There's insulting and there's insulting racism - Boris does both. Can anyone seriously see him as PM?

And actually, for a comment to be racist , it doesn't have to be intentional - perception is an integral part of it. And anyway, someone aspiring to the highest office in the UK should be able to work all that out, shouldn't they?

I think we might as well stay in.

After another summer of migration , and this year's shaping up to be worse than last, who knows how long the whole EU will stay standing.

Bourdic, I agree with you. He is an upper class arrogant Etonian and the way he insults lots of foreigners is a disgrace and an embarrassment for us frankly. I thought he let us down in the Olympics in China and some of the flippant things he said at the time were cringe-making. I think he represents some of our arrogant public school types and is a bit of a liability for the country and will probably get us into all sorts of embarrassing incidents due to his faux pas if he becomes Prime Minister.

But I think he may become one given all the other non-entities and stooges who compete for the role.

Obamas dad was Kenyan , how is Boris being racist? Ridiculous. Same as Khan constantly playing the ' I'm Muslim card' yet dare to mention he's Muslim and your a racist. Tiresome .

www.nbcnews.com/news/world/obama-germany-25-000-protest-ttip-trade-deal-hannover-n560956

This is what we should have been doing, on the streets in our thousands expressing our anger.

TTIP is such a terrible deal for us and Obama is trying to manipulate us in to staying and being part of it in order to leave the USA his legacy whilst shitting on the EU from a great height.

TTIP is a Trojan Horse which will damage democracy, poison our food supply, sell off our NHS and have huge negative impact on worker's rights and on the environment. Why on earth would anyone push us into being part of this? If he had any fondness for us at all (I thought our relationship was 'special'' ) he wouldnt do this.

AnnaForbes, most politicians are constrained by corporate interests. As Trump says "they are bought and paid for". When one comes along who is not "bought and aid for" and who goes against the corporate agenda, such as opposing TTIP, TPP and NAFTA, then all hell is let loose against them by the corporate media as is happening now in America.

Absolutely Claig. Monsanto spend millions and millions each year lobbying. It must work, Obama signed the Monsanto Protection Act. Rotten to the core.

Monsanto also lobbied hard for the Patent Act of 2015 which makes it difficult for inventors, universities and small businesses to patent their inventions.

Then there is the Right to Farm Bills allowing agricultural giants to circumvent environmental laws.

I despise Monsanto? But look, the EU Commission seems to love them. Darn, its that lobbying again. Works every time.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/22/european-commission-glyphosate-weedkiller-leaked-proposal

As for the 'queue' reference - yep sounds to me like Dave told him to say that. No American would use the word 'queue' without prior thought - they'd say 'line'.

Of course he gave it prior thought but he likely didn't have to be told by someone to do it. Most well-educated and well-traveled Americans know that British people use "queue."

Obama can kiss my lily white arse.

Perhaps this comment was not intended to be racist, but I can tell you that in the US, when a white person says this about an African American, it is definitely perceived as racist.

Yes, Monsanto. Arrrgh.

To be fair to the EU, they held out on lots of GM food tye issues to some extent for a great amount of time, but in the end, they are just puppet politicians and they cant't go against the corporates forever. Of course, our lot of puppets will cave in straightaway, they will be worse than the EU, but we have to hope that one day we will get honourable people in politics who will buck the trend. What we really need is PR voting as the first step in holding the arrogant public schoolboy MPs to account so that we can get a real popular politics instead of one stitched up in the backrooms by a bunch of Oxbridge graduates promoted by the system because they nod through anything they are told.