Obama vows support for democracy

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Obama vows support for democracy

Published: 22 Jan 2013 at 00.25
Online news: World

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama declared Monday that a decade of war is ending, the nation's economy is recovering and "America's possibilities are limitless" as he launched into a second term before a flag-waving crowd of hundreds of thousands.

"My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together," Obama said, moments after taking the oath of office for his second term.He vowed the US will support global democracy, acting "on behalf of those who long for freedom".Trumpets blew fanfare and cannons fired as the country watched the president take the oath of office as the world's most powerful elected leader.Obama's address touched on the broad gifts that bring the country together, and pointed to the work ahead, "the realities of our time.""We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit," he said. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future."While he was officially sworn in Sunday, as required by law, the glitter of Inauguration Day - the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House, the night of balls, the ceremonial beginning of a new four-year presidential term - still enlivened staid Washington. The celebration was pushed to Monday because Jan 20 fell on a Sunday this year. That placed the grand ceremony on the US holiday marking the birthday of revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King.Obama, the politician who rose improbably from a history as a community organizer in Chicago and a professor of constitutional law to the pinnacle of power, faces a nation riven by partisan disunity, a still-weak economy and an array of challenges abroad.The president, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia began the day at St. John's Episcopal church, which was built in 1812 and is known as the church of presidents. Obama later had coffee at the White House...

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felixqui
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Discussion 10 : 22 Jan 2013 at 08.1710
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spiceman, re D8,
Your apparent belief that Greece has been a democracy for the past 2,500 years betrays as great an ignorance of history as does your peculiar notion of what defines democracy betray only the most superficial notion of that founding idea from Greece, one of the cornerstones of Western civilisation, setting it apart from the authoritarian Eastern empires typified by the likes of the despotic command driven Christian superstition from whose long dark ages the West is only now recovering.
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svenviking
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Discussion 9 : 22 Jan 2013 at 07.429
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So that is what he will fail to achieve this time?
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spiceman
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Discussion 8 : 22 Jan 2013 at 07.248
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Khun Felixqui #5, the problem is that, by designed, the US is not a Democracy but a Constitutional Representative Republic, governed strictly by the Rules of Law (US Constitution). Please, let me remind you that Greece is the inventor of Democracy and continues to be the world's oldest Democracy, and if what is going on there right now is the end result of a long democratic process, do you want it? Ironically, the US is heading that way too, the more it is deviating from its founding republican ideals and principles established 222 years ago.
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felixqui
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Discussion 7 : 22 Jan 2013 at 07.227
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robins, re D2,
It would indeed be nice to get a US President who could boldly and proudly proclaim his contempt for the trinity of unreason, intolerance and despotism that characterize all three of the Eastern sister monomanias (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) that still contaminate the West, but when fully 46% of Americans literally believe that their god created man within the last 10,000 years, it's an uphill battle.
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spiceman
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Discussion 6 : 22 Jan 2013 at 07.176
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Khun Mitrapaap #4, Obama, his wife, and children, had been going to a "church," whose "pastor" was Jeramiah Wright for 20 years, whose messages were full of hatred of America, the Jews, and etc., like his infamous "God damned America." So, I'm afraid his "church" wasn't the church of Jesus Christ, who was a Jew, Himself, whose message is all about the love of God and the love for fellow men. His election and reelection, however, signified that the US is no longer a Christian-majority country, and the result is speaking for itself.
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felixqui
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Discussion 5 : 22 Jan 2013 at 07.065
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But Ploy (D1), Obama, whatever his faults, does at least believe in democracy, unlike Abhisit who has the usual Thai elitist distrust of such things as treating people as equals in basic rights and in allowing, let alone protecting, such things as truth telling.
How many recent decades of Thai history already prove this to be so?
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mitrapaap
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Discussion 4 : 22 Jan 2013 at 06.444
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D2: there is nothing more annoying than people who can't read. His wife and his daughters went to church. I don't think they are politicians.
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spiceman
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Discussion 3 : 22 Jan 2013 at 05.263
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It feels like "1776" all over again!
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robins
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Discussion 2 : 22 Jan 2013 at 05.122
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There is nothing more disgusting than politicians going to church and putting on a religious act that only a gullible fool would believe. As for being a strong leader, even the people I know who voted for Obama admit he was nothing better than the least objectionable of two bad choices. Now that he's jumped on the anti-gun bandwagon, that might not even be true.
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ploydonut
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Discussion 1 : 22 Jan 2013 at 03.251
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I am remember when Abhisit was compared to be the Obama of Thailand. lol
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Obama vows support for democracy | Bangkok Post: news