In the Arena
Uncategorized

We Like The U.N.

By Joe Klein | @JoeKleinTIME | September 22, 2009 | +

Given the usual slash and trash propaganda emanating from the right–and we can’t forget those black helicopters–it’s interesting to note during this United Nations General Assembly session that the U.N. is actually very popular among Americans, according to the latest polling from Pew.

Related Topics: United Nations, Uncategorized

  • Latest on Swampland

    2012 Election May 25, 2012

    The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

    More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

    From our Partners

    Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

    Barack Obama May 25, 2012

    Audacity of Dope: Tales of a Toking Teenage Obama

    We knew Barack Obama smoked weed in high school because he wrote about it in his books. What we didn’t know, until Buzzfeed posted these choice nuggets (I’m so sorry) from David Maraniss’s new book on the President’s younger years, were the giggle-worthy details of his “Choom Gang” lifestyle, which are right out of a buddy stoner flick. Obama and his friends drove around the lush Hawaii countryside, hot-boxing their VW bus and re-upping with a long-haired pizza-tossing dealer named Ray, whom Obama thanked in his yearbook “for all the good times.”

  • palininatowel

    Joe,

    It is clear you are not keeping up with what the administration has been doing.

    Obama and company are willfully using the techniques of Hitler, Goebbels and Leni Riefenstahl to indoctrinate the populace into the “one world” vision of socialism/communism and the UN.

    Haven’t you heard (from Fox News) that Obama will be setaed just a few feet away from Libyan strongman Moammar Qadaffi on Thursday at the Security Council meeting?

    Do you know what this means to the United States?

    Please tighten your tin-foil lis and understand what is happening here! This is a conspiracy to control the minds of patriotic citizens of the U.S. of A.!!!!

    Get with the program! Watch more Glenn Beck!

  • apollyon07

    I would hope that we like the UN, given that we provide upwards of 20% of their total funding.

  • http://www.simonvinkenoog.nl/beeld/Yogi%20-%20Annelies%20Rigter.jpg yogi

    I still like to think the UN General Assembly session is just another chapter of Fight Club. Obama’s got some reach, I bet he could go a couple rounds.
    .
    What PEW fails to investigate is why does Turkey dislike the UN so much? Anyone know?

  • http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

    Ugh, really, two links get a comment thrown into the netherworld now?
    -
    70-plus percent of doctors favor a public option:
    -
    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/019943.php
    -
    It is true that the right has a large and effective megaphone, but common-sense views often prevail in the general population. Remember the joke about out-of-touch Democrats– “but I don’t know anyone who voted for Reagan!” That’s the whole GOP, except they are, objectively, way less popular than the Democrats ever were.

  • Ivy_B

    Thanks Elvis. Still waiting for a post on that poll. Know it isn’t Joe’s beat, but it’s worth repeating in case he ever shares with his colleagues.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    What many people fail to recognise is that the UN is merely a collective forum of global actors. It is, quite simply, nations. How anyone can oppose the UN or its mandate is incomprehensible to me. However, let us not ignore that the leadership of the UN is often politicised and quiescent amidst true humanitarian catastrophes. Ban Ki Moon is a prime example of the ineptitude and weakness that plagues the UN’s abilities to accomplish meaningful progress in the world.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)
  • apollyon07

    While him sitting next to Qaddafi is not important for practical reasons, I can see why our president sitting next to a terrorist could make some people uncomfortable.

  • kathy

    I’ve seen little hints in the last couple of weeks that there may be an increasing recognition in the media that the right wing fringe is a fringe.

    Not to mention that since there really are no death panels the media has finally begun to concede that the facts are on Obama’s side.

    So this poll is another little reminder that not all of the people in this country are truly crazy.

blog comments powered by Disqus