Obama Slammed as 'Perverse' by London Mayor over 'Brexit'
Source: NBC News
LONDON President Barack Obama faced a furious backlash on his visit to the U.K. Friday, accused of hypocrisy by lawmakers including the mayor of London after intervening in Britain's national referendum on the European Union.
The president was accused of an "incoherent" and "perverse" intervention in the country's acrimonious debate after urging British voters to remain in the political bloc.
Mayor Boris Johnson, who is also the leader of the anti-EU campaign, also speculated that "part-Kenyan" Obama was expressing an "ancestral dislike of the British empire."
Britons will vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the EU or leave. The so-called Brexit debate has divided the country (PDF) and its political establishment.
Read more: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/obama-pens-op-ed-calling-britain-stay-european-union-n560171
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)and Donald Trump were separated at birth.
rpannier
(24,330 posts)But his hair certainly was
BlueMTexpat
(15,369 posts)WAS born in New York. Hmmm! Love your hair suggestion!
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)PaulaFarrell
(1,236 posts)840high
(17,196 posts)rpannier
(24,330 posts)sadly it's the crappy piece
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)If only those darned voters would stop disagreeing all the time...
EarlG
(21,949 posts)rpannier
(24,330 posts)Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)IDemo
(16,926 posts)Arkana
(24,347 posts)Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)His bumbling affable persona is nothing like Trump's and a lot of people like him.
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)calls you perverse all you can do is laugh it off and point the piece of shit to a mirror.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boris-johnson-loves-life-city-901430
Turborama
(22,109 posts)Iggo
(47,558 posts)agracie
(950 posts)Adrahil
(13,340 posts)T_i_B
(14,738 posts)Is that Boris clearly doesn't understand the whole "United States" concept.
Anyway, I shall be leafleting for "Stronger In" this weekend as leaving the EU is a monumentally bad idea.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)..."America is so exceptional!" (Chris Matthews of MSNBC)
We're not. We're just like every other country of the GD world. How pompous of us to think we are any better than anyone else. I guess that's a capitalist trait, to think you're better than everyone else. We have looked down our noses at other nations for so long and never stopped to think about what we were doing. And when 9/11 came along we wondered why they hated us so.
Clearly, PO should not have stuck US's nose in Britain's personal business. We don't like it when other nations stick their nose in our business, so why do we think we have a right to do it to any one else? I think we need to put a sock in it.
I can understand how Britain feels about this. My great grandpa used to say "If someone looks down their nose at you, don't look up to them."
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)There is a bit of a moral imperative here,
tabasco
(22,974 posts)when an American president wades into their domestic issues.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)It has global consequences.
However, Mr. Johnson's suggestion that Americans would not tolerate such a union shows a remarkable ignorance of the American political system and its history.
Americans settled this argument during the term of the president that is your avatar.
former9thward
(32,025 posts)The Civil War was a war within one nation. The U.S. would never agree with a EU arrangement with any other countries. Do we have one in North America? No., Democrats, Republicans and Indies would all oppose it. Look how much hatred there is for mild (compared to EU arrangements) trade agreements like NAFTA.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)This U.S. is an "EU arrangement" among states, and it works because it is not a half-assed union like the EU.
TexasMommaWithAHat
(3,212 posts)We might have trade agreements with them, but that's it.
Furthermore, while we have poor states in the U.S., there's not the huge difference like the countries in the EU - with very wealthy countries and very poor countries.
It's not the same.
former9thward
(32,025 posts)there is no point.
tabasco
(22,974 posts)Is ratification/nullification of a treaty with a foreign power a domestic issue?
I would say "yes."
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)arrangement with Canada and Mexico. Trade arrangements yes, sharing of sovereignty, no. My limited understanding is that the "ever closer union" is causing unease in the UK, particularly when it comes to the pressure financial taxes.
The cession of sovereignty really is the Brexit issue, and Americans should stay out of this. Even if it does have global consequences, I doubt that US intervention could possibly improve the outcome.
I have no opinion on the Brexit issue and I don't think I have a right to one.
The US has a moral duty and an ethical right to intervene when human rights are being violated, but this is not such a case.
I find this whole thing hilarious, personally, because despite what Johnson is now saying, he endorsed Barack Obama for the presidency in 2008. So he wanted to tell the Americans how to deal with their affairs then.
I doubt very much that Johnson is a bigot - aside from his endorsement of Obama, he backed legalization of illegal immigrants. He's not easy to categorize. He was for a living wage, etc.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)We even gave it a catchy name.
T_i_B
(14,738 posts)If Britain leaves the EU it will have bad effects for the whole of Europe, and beyond.
goldent
(1,582 posts)That might be true, but kind of ironic considering that the vote is largely to keep the EU out of the UK's domestic affairs.
T_i_B
(14,738 posts)...any free trade deal we do cut with the EU after leaving will involve having to accept EU single market rules, without any say in how those rules are made. Much like Norway and Switzerland.
In effect, we lose more soverignity by leaving then we do by remaining in the EU!
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)We all know you have your hidden agenda for this. And it's not the public good.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Britain is not America, the comparison is ridiculous.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)But he said the outcome of the vote "is a matter of deep interest to the United States."
"The tens of thousands of Americans who rest in Europe's cemeteries are a silent testament to just how intertwined our prosperity and security truly are," Obama wrote.
European coordination on intelligence sharing, counterterrorism and economic growth "will be far more effective" if Britain stays in the EU, he wrote, adding: "The European Union doesn't moderate British influence it magnifies it. A strong Europe is not a threat to Britain's global leadership; it enhances Britain's global leadership."
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)To the point. Britain tried a similiar thing back in the Eighties,boy that cost them dearly financially. And the same will happen again. Only thing Britain has left is a floundering Banking System. BTW,when Cameron opened his pie hole,the market started to sink like a rock. Their Currency is losing ground daily as a result of all this isolationism talk and threats.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)might put his little tantrum in context.
T_i_B
(14,738 posts)Boris, like Michael Gove is one of their own, and gets an easy ride from the UK press.
And the less said about another "leave" supporter in charge of press regulation (whose used to be my MP) the better http://www.democraticunderground.com/10889660
muriel_volestrangler
(101,321 posts)John McDonnell joined fellow Labour MPs Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna in questioning Johnsons judgment in referring to the presidents ancestry in an article for the Sun newspaper.
...
Umunna tweeted: These Tory mayoral types are beyond the pale. He said the Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith had played on his opponent Sadiq Khans Muslim heritage, repeatedly attacking Khan for having shared a platform with a man who has been accused of extremist views.
Churchills grandson Nicholas Soames, a Conservative MP backing the remain campaign, called Johnsons article appalling and said it was inconceivable that the wartime leader would not have welcomed Obamas views.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/22/boris-johnson-barack-obama-kenyan-eu-referendum
MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)https://twitter.com/David_Cameron/status/723558127220723712
pampango
(24,692 posts)The unions and Labour are opposing Brexit but the right likes the idea of getting out from under the labor rights standards that go with EU membership.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3551518/ISIS-Putin-Trump-Brexit-suits-agenda-says-Tony-Blair-s-former-spin-doctor-Alastair-Campbell.html
GusFring
(756 posts)Isn't Cameron a conservative there?
pampango
(24,692 posts)Britain's trade unions are close to joining the push to keep the country in the European Union, bringing grass-roots muscle to a fight that has so far been dominated by big business and bankers, the head of the country's largest union group said. ... The TUC, which represents most unions, remains a political force with close ties to the opposition Labour Party which is broadly supportive of EU membership.
Unions will fight to stay in, emphasizing jobs and workers' rights, Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, told Reuters in an interview. "What we need to do is start putting rights and jobs center stage in the campaign debate," O'Grady said. "The bulk of the rights at work that matter to us originated in Europe."
The EU-mandated protections for workers would be at risk if Britain votes to leave the EU. Many lawmakers in Cameron's Conservative Party resent them as an embodiment of EU over-reach into the affairs of member states.
For the TUC, by contrast, they are sacrosanct. "A Brexit would have massive implications for jobs, rights, and the very fabric of the UK," O'Grady said, referring to a possible British exit. "If you take that floor away, workers will be worse off. It's a hell of a gamble for those, who want to leave Europe, to depend on particularly the government we have now to protect the rights on which so many people's working lives depend."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-angela-eagle-labour-party-eu-referendum-brexit-a6902136.html
Jeremy Corby is, of course, the left-wing Labour party leader.
Analysis of polling suggests that young voters tend to support remaining in the EU, whereas those older tend to support leaving, but there is no gender split in attitudes. YouGov have also found that euroscepticism correlates with people of lower income and support for the Conservatives. Scotland, Wales and many English urban areas with large student populations are more europhile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum,_2016#Opinion_polling
The UK Conservative Party seems to be split (like our republican party) between the 'establishment' and their right-wing (tea party-ish) base. Their base seems to look at "Brexit" to control immigration, much as our RW base looks to Trump's huuuuuuge wall to do the same.
Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)They didn't elect him.
This is a huge and complicated issue in Britain, and an attempt at American intervention probably helps neither side.
They are a sovereign nation and it would be best for us to remember that and stand off. While this particular politician is probably more loud-mouthed than most, in private I would imagine that many irascible comments are being made.
forest444
(5,902 posts)Last edited Sun Apr 24, 2016, 12:55 PM - Edit history (1)
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)Have to admit I'm clueless as to the "her" but guess he had an affair?
forest444
(5,902 posts)flamingdem
(39,313 posts)I remember now, so the presence of Kermit implies Ms. Piggy, oh no!
forest444
(5,902 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)MowCowWhoHow III
(2,103 posts)The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union has a narrow lead over the rival "In" campaign, according to a poll published by opinion poll firm ICM on Tuesday.
Forty-six percent of voters were in favour of a so-called Brexit against 44 percent who believe Britain should remain in the 28-member bloc, not counting undecided voters, ICM said.
The online survey, conducted between April 22 and 24, took place during a visit to Britain by U.S. President Barack Obama when he called on the country to back its EU membership at a referendum due to take place on June 23.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-poll-idUKKCN0XN1W9