An unverified audio recording of Osama bin Laden has emerged on Islamist websites. The tape may provide proof that the shaggy figurehead is still alive. The audio message set to video, replete with 9-11 imagery, serves no other discernible purpose.
"To the American people, this is my message to you: a reminder of the reasons behind 9/11 and the wars and the repercussions that followed and the way to resolve it."
In broad strokes the familiar message here is that the US needs to get out of the Middle East. Bin Laden once again pointed to the US support of Israel as the main cause of it's problems in the Middle East, and more specifically at Secretary of Defense Robert Gates continuing on with President Obama, which indicated that Obama was really a puppet of Republican agenda, and specifically Bush policy in the Middle East. One supposes this might have been funny if bin Laden had better timing.
The other notable statement from the tape: President Barack Obama is "a vulnerable man who will not be able to stop the war, as he promised, but instead he will drag it to the maximum possible extent." Regardless who said it -- whether the voice on the tape is Osama bin Laden or an al Qaeda supporter -- the statement is true.
The full transcript was not available when this post was filed, so it's hard to discern the true import of the statement, but recent events here in the States have served to make the president look vulnerable for sure. Maureen Dowd was not the only person to hear in Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie" outburst, the subtler underpinnings of a race war. My colleagues and I heard it. In fact, Megan Carpentier was sufficiently bothered by a lynching comparison I made regarding Wilson's bragging rights post-address, that she sent a late-night email pointing out the same unspoken word Dowd cited: "boy." You lie, boy. That subtlety grew to larger proportions in my mind. The fear is that it will grow in the darker, angrier parts of the popular imagination as well.
Folks, we are a hop skip and a jump away from real trouble here. The specter of violence is clear enough. Osama bin Laden, if that was him (doesn't matter if it was just a garden-variety US-hater), pointed out that the president is vulnerable. What did he mean? Al Qaeda is a literal-minded group. The chances are reasonably good that the tea parties and the birthers and the Joe Wilson comment are somewhere at the root of the purported bin Laden comment.
Can Obama push meaningful change in this country without the radicalism of the Right threatening him with nonstop noise, cultural idiocy, and inciviility? One of the many great things about the United States is the ability of everyone and anyone to speak his or her mind. That includes the likes of Joe Wilson and Glenn Beck and David Duke and Orval Faubus, but with freedom comes great responsibility, and that seems to be sorely lacking right now in the public reaction to our first African American president.
And this is a problem that imperils not just President Obama, but the validity of a cultural truism: the right to free assembly, freedom of speech, and all the rest. If the dog-whistle racsim of Obama opposition in this country continues to escalate, these latest alleged words from the bin Laden camp may be oft quoted regarding our "vulnerable" president.
First published by Air America.
Follow Beau Friedlander on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BeauFriedlander
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In fact, they LOVE Beck in Utah.
Why? They LIKE that Beck is attacking President Obama, because Beck will support his mormon brother-Mi
One thing you need to understand about Beck is this......
There is a Mormon "prophecy" that states that the Constituti
Beck is setting the stage for Mitt in 2012....wh
The mormon church will deny this "prophecy"
Take off your shirt for a calendar, and you get excommunic
Odd.
The irresponsi
For those of us that saw the election of Barack Obama as a symbol of healing in this country, I suppose we should have known that the healing process involves getting the poison out and that it isn't always pretty. We can hope we survive the cure. We need to back up the president and our beliefs now more than ever. The opposition has proven themselves incompeten
No I know you will scream that this is different, but if you look deep within yourself you will find that it is the same...wit
I was not a Bush supporter, I was not a clinton supporter I was not a Regan supporter and I am not an obama supporter. This gives me credibilit
You state; radicalism of the Right threatenin
The incivility was started long ago and needs to quit, the radical nature is a mirror image of yourself and as for Glenn Beck, whether you like him or not he provides proof of his claims where your only retort is to attempt to link those on the right with Osama Bin Laden???
This article is simply the pot (left) calling the kettle (right) black.
Remember facts are bipartisia
There is no comparison to be made. Sure the left has its wingnuts, too, but the leaders in the Democratic Party do not embrace their nuttery and bring it forth into the main stream. I recall a town hall several years back when someone called out to the Dem Congressma
When the GOP leaders embrace the right's wingnuts they are playing with fire. One that once ignited may spread into a wildfire over which they have no control.
Sure people are upset, sure they're scared about the economy. But birthers, Palin's death panels, death camps, and all the other nonsense being peddled by Beck and the GOP leaders, is just that, nonsense in their effort to be a majority party in 2010. God forbid!
Remember back in 2004 a host of Dem legislator
So let’s try to keep the record straight. The right leaned the lessons of the last eight years and are now applying them....
Forgetting the likes of LardoLush Rimbald, Glenda Retch, Ha-Ninny, Louse Daubs for the moment - the truth is, John King, Campbell Brown and Larry King are also enablers. John King always asks thje negative "is Obama doing too much", "is he being bi-partisa
Whether by copying or because of corporate policy, even the lesser lights at the Conservati
Jamchinadi
I'm pretty worn out on all this "fair and balanced" BS - How about someone doing a Walter Cronkite and just telling the truth ...you know..."an
As Joe Friday used to say, "just the facts, ma'am, just the facts.
And if they don't have the guts or the knowledge to call someone out who is telling a lie, then they need to turn in their journalism union card.
Remember back in 2004 a host of Dem legislator
So let’s try to keep the record straight. The right leaned the lessons of the last eight years and are now applying them....
Claiming the two sides are as bad as each other is like claiming Saddam Hussein was as bad as Hitler. Doubtless, both have been bad but there is no equivelanc
Treetracke
#2-his little meme is the kid Adam what's his name from CA who went to the darkside and is sitting in a well-endow
#3 - that boogyman under your bed is a misplaced sweater, so stop freaking out.
NOW, about that domestic terrorist problem with @glennbeck and limpone - IGNORE DA FOOLS.