The US just cant win sometimes

This whole joke is just another example of this..."I gotcha" culture we live in now. People constantly looking to be offensive... what a joke.
 
angrysoba said:
Of course we all know that Obama "mis-spoke" as the irritating politicalese jargon has it. But you can't say that Obama did nothing wrong by "mis-speaking" when "mis-speaking" is, by definition doing something wrong.
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I think you might be equivocating wrong as in incorrect and wrong as in unethical.
 
This shouldn't be a huge deal, but it was an unforced error.

Poland's dissatisfaction with the phrase is not new, and the speechifiers should have known better. It was an 'own goal.'

Relations already had some strains -- such as the decision to scrap missiles in Poland (that, just for extra grins, was announced on the anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact). Polish leaders never liked that. They also probably are looking for some tit for tat -- Obama last year (? Whenever the visit to Poland was) refused to meet Lech Walesa one-on-one because he was too 'political'. Lech Walesa was put forward to accept the award this trip, but he was again shot down. I suspect the Polish government read that as another snub, and were looking for something to show their politicians can hold grudges as well as ours.
 
I still fail to see how this is wrong. They were in Poland. The majority of those that died in them were Polish. That makes them "Polish Death Camps." It doesn't matter who ran the damn things.

The distinction is made because the Nazi's were evil bastards all over the place but those particular manifestations of evil were in Poland.

If Canada invaded the USA and set up death camps that killed Americans they could be correctly called "American Death Camps" even though evil Canucks ran them.
 
Alan said:
I think you might be equivocating wrong as in incorrect and wrong as in unethical.
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No, I'm saying he made a mistake rather than doing something evil.

But if you say someone can't win sometimes it suggests a number of options which will be seized on by your opponents and criticized, often unjustly. I'm just saying that in this case he did actually do something wrong (i.e incorrect, a mistake etc...) so it is not as if the criticism is unjustified.
 
Travis said:
I still fail to see how this is wrong. They were in Poland. The majority of those that died in them were Polish. That makes them "Polish Death Camps." It doesn't matter who ran the damn things.

The distinction is made because the Nazi's were evil bastards all over the place but those particular manifestations of evil were in Poland.

If Canada invaded the USA and set up death camps that killed Americans they could be correctly called "American Death Camps" even though evil Canucks ran them.
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Fortunately President Obama knows that it matters and he will issue a new diplomatic directive to that effect shortly in his effort to further diffuse the current situation and to avoid recurrence.
Fortunately President Komorowski has already stated that the mistake was not intentional as he reiterated how significant the distinction is.

http://www.president.pl/en/news/news/art,308,the-phrase-polish-death-camps-is-simply-untrue.html
 
NoZed Avenger said:
No. He refused to go to a big group meeting because he requested a face-to-face meeting which the Obama people declined. It has been tit for tat the whole time between the two governments.
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Link? When asked about it, Walesa said this:
It's difficult to tell journalists what you'd like to say to the president of a superpower. This time I won't tell him, I won't meet him, it doesn't suit me.
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No mention of what you allege.
 
Bluespaceoddity said:
Fortunately President Obama knows that it matters and he will issue a new diplomatic directive to that effect shortly in his effort to further diffuse the current situation and to avoid recurrence.
Fortunately President Komorowski has already stated that the mistake was not intentional as he reiterated how significant the distinction is.

http://www.president.pl/en/news/news/art,308,the-phrase-polish-death-camps-is-simply-untrue.html
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He shouldn't apologize because it wasn't a mistake.

If they think less of him because of it then fine, let them.
 
Much ado over nothing. There's not a single person in the world who would read Obama's comments as implying that the Poles and not the Nazis were running the concentration camps in Poland.
 
Bluespaceoddity said:
This exact sentence construction has been a big issue for decades so I think those who've expressed outrage are exactly as outraged as they appear to be. It was a major mistake. President Obama basically uttered the one phrase he should have avoided - especially during a ceremony designed to honor a Pole.
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Then I was wrong - the Poles really are that silly.

It was a gaffe that should not generate much conversation. That it has so ruffled a nations feathers is indicative that the nation should collectively have a drink or something.

I am ambivalent about Obama generally, but this was one grossly overblown incident.
 
Travis said:
I still fail to see how this is wrong. They were in Poland. The majority of those that died in them were Polish. That makes them "Polish Death Camps." It doesn't matter who ran the damn things.

The distinction is made because the Nazi's were evil bastards all over the place but those particular manifestations of evil were in Poland.

If Canada invaded the USA and set up death camps that killed Americans they could be correctly called "American Death Camps" even though evil Canucks ran them.
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I would think of them as "Canadian Death Camps", just like I think of "Nazi Deathcamp" or "German Concentration Camps", and not "Jewish Concentration Camps".

I am rather surprised to find that this term is actually being used - far less surprised that it seems to be only a minority of people using it.
 
Checkmite said:
Much ado over nothing. There's not a single person in the world who would read Obama's comments as implying that the Poles and not the Nazis were running the concentration camps in Poland.
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Well, I would.

And then I would realize that he couldn't have possible meant that.

So, debates over whether it was a mistake or not notwithstanding: Apo9logize, accept it, and be done with it.
 
tomwaits said:
Link? When asked about it, Walesa said this:
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The early AP stories gave it as a reason: "Walesa refused to divulge more, but it seemed possible he was offended at not being offered a one-on-one meeting with Obama early on

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-bl...e-reason-why-walesa-wouldnt-mee#ixzz1wTW5nfhR

But on review, it looks like the report was of a "possible" reason, and I had rememebered it as the reason being offered in the news accounts. Apparently the news stories mentioning it all were getting it from the AP report, and the AP report is equivocal at best, and making stuff up at worst, so I'll withdraw that. News stories did repeat the AP story at the time, and that was what I recalled seeing (without the "possible" wording).


But I don't think that detail changes the point that the relations between the 2 powers already had some strains, and it looks like the Polish leaders are using this as a tit for tat kind of thing.
 
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Well, you have to understand, Obama was born in Kenya, which means English is his second language. He's bound to make an occasional mistake. ;)
 
Checkmite said:
Much ado over nothing. There's not a single person in the world who would read Obama's comments as implying that the Poles and not the Nazis were running the concentration camps in Poland.
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I saw dozens of anti Obama posters making this claim on AOL's comment section. I thought maybe I was seeing things.
 
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