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Following are excerpts from a TV debate on US President Obama, one year after he entered office, with Kamal Chatilla, leader of the Lebanese "People's Popular Congress," and Muhammad Said Al-Bourini, former Democratic candidate for Washington State Governor. The debate aired on Al-Jazeera TV on January 26, 2010.
Kamal Chatilla, leader of the Lebanese "People's Popular Congress": Even if [Obama's] skin is black, we must never forget that his teeth are white. His teeth are white, not black. He is black, and his teeth are white. I don't know what his blood is. It is multi-colored, like the US itself.
But the greatest deception, in my view, is by the US administration, which came [to power] after the image of the US worldwide had become foul. It had problems with Russia, China, and Europe, and huge problems with the Third World, and especially with the Arab world.
But domestically, the US received an economic shock, as we mentioned. The US is on the brink of a social revolution, a class revolution, as a result of the terrible poverty spreading within it, the economic crisis, and the bankruptcies. It is [also] on the brink of a racial revolution of the blacks.
So they brought Obama in in order to topple the social revolution, the class revolution, within the US, and to alleviate the racial tension, being black himself. He dealt with the first problem through the issue of health insurance, and as for the second problem – being black himself, he cannot be racist, at least vis-à-vis the US itself.
This is the deception they carried out, in order to thwart dangerous subversive efforts that the US faced and will continue to face.
TV host: In a nutshell, a year after Obama came to power – is he still different from his predecessor, George Bush, whom we demonized?
Kamal Chatilla: He is no different from him, and he cannot be different. You can compare him to a driver who is experienced, but who drives according to the US traffic laws. The oil cartel, the great industrial powers, the large corporations, and the lobbies – especially the Zionist lobby – are the [real] decision-makers in the US.
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Muhammad Said Al-Bourini, former Democratic candidate for Washington State Governor: How can we expect President Obama to be more Palestinian than the Palestinians, to be more Arab than the Arabs, and to be more Muslim than the Muslims themselves? Brother, I could remind you of things done by the Arab leaders – not all of them, but those who surround Palestine. Along comes Obama and achieves things on the international front.
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Let me remind you of President Hosni Mubarak. In my opinion, nothing good will come of President Hosni Mubarak. In my letter to President Obama before his trip to Cairo, and from which he quoted extensively, I told him that this man [Mubarak] attacks Hamas, and that he is doing all these things because he is convinced that Hamas is part of the Islamic movement, which stands in the way of his bequeathing the rule to his son, Gamal. I told him that [Mubarak] is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The Egyptian people must use doctors to set up a committee to investigate this.
This man, with all his opinions against Hizbullah, Iran, and Hamas, is running the country from Sharm Al-Sheik. It is as if Obama were running the US from Miami Beach.
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When Obama came [to power], they burdened him with terrible problems – economic issues, health issues, and so on. He brought Zionist Jews into his administration, and in my opinion, [this was because] he wanted to monitor them closely, because he knew that they had tried to topple him from the outset.
He wanted there to be division among US Jewry, so that they would join him and J-Street, and confront the Zionist pressure exerted by AIPAC. But he did not succeed.
Guys, give him a chance. Give him some breathing space. If he makes it to a second presidential term, he will be able to work miracles, but during the first term in power, there are huge difficulties that do not enable... The tragedies in America cannot be resolved by Obama pressing a button – like the Arabs do, and everything is resolved.
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No American president – whether Obama or ten Obamas – can do anything, as long as the Zionists control the media, and as long as Congress follows Zionism. This is inconceivable. We need to change this, even a little. It can be done, guys.
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TV host: Mr. Al-Bourini, you have heard what has been said about [skin] color. Don't you think that the primary reason for Obama's arrival on the scene – a year into his presidency – was to improve the image of America, as Mr. Chatilla said? This was, first and foremost, a color trick. They brought this man [to power] at a time when the reputation of the US in the Arab and Islamic world was at its lowest point. Along comes this man and drugs us into a stupor, and makes a fool of us in Istanbul and in Cairo with his sweet-talk.
On the one hand, he sweet-talks them, and on the other hand, he deceives them like a fox. What have we gained from this, other than being drugged into a stupor? He has made fools of us, and has made us forget about America's crimes against us – in Iraq, in Palestine, in Lebanon, and all these places.
And you come along, singing his praises, and saying "Allah willing." Is there such a thing as "Allah willing" in politics?
Muhammad Said Al-Bourini: You have Obama the person, and you have Obama the politicians. As a person, Obama is a good man, down to the core of his being, but you can't send him a man to blow up a plane over Detroit. This man they sent is totally ignorant, and knows nothing about Islam. This makes us regress dozens of years.