In interview with French TV, Obama says Americans love all things French

[tocqueville]

Source: AP

PARIS (AP) — President Barack Obama said Tuesday the American people love all things French and acknowledged his own penchant for Gallic food and wines.

In his first interview with a French television channel, Obama heaped praise on the country in an apparent attempted to stamp out any lingering tensions sparked by France's opposition to the United State's 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"France is one of the most important countries in the world," the president told I-Tele and Canal Plus, days ahead of a trip that will take him to Normandy and Paris for D-Day commemorations. He said French collaboration was crucial to solving the world's problems, from climate change to the global recession.

Obama also spoke enthusiastically about French President Nicolas Sarkozy, with whom he said he had a "wonderful relationship."

Read more: http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-...

---

http://alamaisonblanche.blog.canal-plus.com /

interview here, dubbed into French (I'll look for a subtitled version)

(Asked what about France he himself loved, Obama responded, "Let's see, we have the food, we have Paris, we got the south of France, Provence, the wine."

Obama said he had traveled through France during his college days and that a return trip to the southeastern region of Province was long overdue, though he acknowledged his French was rusty.

"I studied it in high school and I just forgot it," he said, adding "Michelle, I think she speaks a little French.")

[Xipe Totec]

1. Especially French Fries

Greatest invention since sliced heads

[harmonicon]

12. they're Belgian

just giving credit where credit is due.

[xchrom]

2. french kissing. nt

[NightWatcher]

3. we love their fries, bread, kisses, ticklers........

[liberal N proud]

Oui

[alsame]

4. This is so funny. He just keeps poking the right wing with a big stick. n/t

[underpants]

7. Yes he is

I can hear the outrage coming

[tocqueville]

11. see the "muslim" comment below nt

[alsame]

13. Huge stick!! n/t

[tabasco]

5. Count me in!

[mrs_p]

8. yes, yes, yes

and i usually go for men...

[thewiseguy]

6. French babes...

[baldguy]

9. ALL things?

[tocqueville]

10. "USA one of the biggest muslim countries in the world"

"Les Etats-Unis et le monde occidental doivent apprendre à mieux connaître l'islam ; d'ailleurs, si l'on compte le nombre d'Américains musulmans, on voit que les Etats-Unis sont l'un des plus grands pays musulmans de la planète", a-t-il dit.

"Quelle que soit leur confession, ce sont ceux qui construisent et non pas ceux qui détruisent qui laissent derrière eux un héritage durable", a-t-il poursuivi. "Je pense qu'il y a un véritable conflit actuellement entre ceux qui soutiennent que l'islam est irréconciliable avec la vie moderne et ceux qui pensent qu'au contraire l'islam a toujours su évoluer en même temps que le progrès"

"The United States and the western world must get a better knowledge of Islam; besides, if one counts the number of Moslem Americans, the United States is one of the largest Moslem countries of the world" , he said. " Whatever their confession, it is those who build and not those who destroy that leave behind them a sustainable succession" , he continued. " I think that there is a true conflict currently between those who claim that Islam is irreconcilable with modern life and those who think on the contrary that Islam always knew how to evolve at the same time than progress"

http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2009/06/02/obam...

(my translation, see transcript below)

[Igel]

24. That's silly.

By most estimates there are fewer than 10 million.

That puts us at 24th out of 33 (with 32 countries usually being listed as "Muslim"). Between Tunisia and Rep. of Guinea--neither of which are considered "large" Muslim countries.

If you go with more mainstream estimates, not "let's be as high as possible just to be safe" estimates, we're in the upper 20s, near Jordan in number. And less than that important, large Muslim country, Somalia.

Then if you go with more low-ball estimates, you start pushing towards where Lebanon and Albania are on the scale.

Silly, not correct in any factual sense, but I'm sure he'll be quoted widely. Then, when somebody says, "Ah, the Sudan is a large Muslim country with more than 60 million Muslims," somebody will say, "The US president says that the US is also a large Muslim country, so it must have at least that many."

[No Elephants]

37. There is a difference between a Muslim country and a country with a large number of Muslims.

[tocqueville]

43. 0.6 % but the US is counted has having a "significant" population

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Islam

[ohio2007]

28. supposedly there are 1.5 to 2 billion muslims in the world if they ever became a majority

in the US then I suppose they would be the biggest muslim country in the world but that byte isn't going to fly rationally

[L0oniX]

14. I love their health care system.

[tocqueville]

15. transcript ot the interview here

http://www.enewspf.com/index.php?option=com_content&vie...

Q When I met you on the campaign, you were telling me that you wanted to organize a Muslim summit. Do you still have that in mind?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, this is a start of what I think will be a long-term process. We'll have a speech, we'll have a roundtable discussion. It will give an opportunity I think for people around the world to engage in this discussion. It will be telecast in a wide variety of languages on our White House Web site, whitehouse.gov. And my hope is, is that as a consequence you start seeing discussions not just at the presidential level, but at every level of life. And I hope I can spark some dialogue and debate within the Muslim world, because I think there's a real struggle right now between those who believe that Islam is irreconcilable to modern life and those who believe that actually Islam has always been able to move side by side with progress.

Q During this trip, you're going also to Germany and to France for the D-Day. How can you qualify the nature of the relationship between the French people and the American people, and also between the two Presidents?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I've had a wonderful relationship with President Sarkozy. And we had a wonderful visit when we were there the last time in Strasbourg. And this time I'm sure we'll have very productive bilateral relations.

France is one of the most important countries in the world and helps to set trends in how we deal with everything from climate change to the global recession. And President Sarkozy I think has been very courageous in some of the decisions that he's made: his willingness to stand very firm in the need to deal with Afghanistan, and his encouragement of tough direct diplomacy with Iran. I think those are areas where he's shown excellent leadership. So I think the American people continue to love all things French and --

[muntrv]

16. This American would love to have France's universal health coverage,

35 hour workweek, and 7 weeks of paid vacation per year.

[tocqueville]

17. it's 5 weeks but ok...nt

[WriteDown]

54. When I worked for a German company...

it was 10 weeks. Of course that was for the facility in Germany. Our German overlords only allowed us 2 weeks and you better believe that we had to justify every day taken off.

[dflprincess]

68. He meant the wine, food & fashion

but none of that socialist stuff that might make the people think they're here for any other reason but to serve their corporate masters.

7 weeks vacation boggles the mind - I hardly know what I'd do with so much time off (but I'm sure I'd find someway to use it.)

[mitchum]

18. This American certainly does

[bluedeminredstate]

19. What's not to love?

Well, there is the men-in-speedos thing...

[Autumn Colors]

20. Well, I do love Indochine.... (the band, not the movie)

EDIT: To add a youtube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MCsRkykIio

[onehandle]

21. I have to. It's in my blood. nt

[Name removed]

22. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Deep13]

23. mais bien sur nt

[Tim01]

25. And surplus military rifles.

Never fired and only dropped once.

[ohio2007]

27. now that the big fight is settling, the French are back in the middle east setting up arms deals nt

[tocqueville]

34. and nuclear plants

the Iraqis are very interested. They just bought 20 attack helicopters and ordered a nuclear plant

Thank you Mr Cheney

[ohio2007]

70. Barack and Michelle Obama decline dinner with the Sarkozys ( ? )

The Obamas turn up in Paris this evening, but have declined a dinner invitation from the couple next door: the Sarkozys.

President Obama’s reluctance to spend more than minimum time with the French leader on his visit for the D-Day anniversary has come as an embarrassment to the Elysée Palace.

America’s First Family will not be dining with President Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, even though they are staying at the residence of the US Ambassador, yards from the Elysée apartments where the Sarkozys spend their weekends.

snip

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/arti...

[onager]

32. Yeah, except for Yorktown, hundreds of Napoleonic battles,

...Camarone, Verdun, Bir Hakeim (where a small Free French detachment stopped Rommel), Dien Bien Phu, etc. etc.

I'd expect to see that lame-ass joke posted by the 101st Keyboard Brigade over at FR. And they stole it from "Full Metal Jacket," where it was applied to the South Vietnamese.

Oh, and a good argument can be made that without the French, most/all of Europe would be Islamic today.

[tocqueville]

33. yeah FAMAS, wanna buy any

[Tim01]

44. Wow! Cool rifle.

I've never seen one of those before. What round does it shoot?

It looks very compact and handy.

[tocqueville]

46. here you go

The first French bullpup rifles were developed between 1946 and 1950 at the AME (Atelier Mecanique de Mulhouse) and MAS, testing rounds such as .30 US Carbine, 7.92x33mm Kurz, 7.65x38mm (Made by Cartoucherie de Valence) and some other intermediate calibers. Since France was engaged in the First Indochina War at the time, and was also the second-largest contributor to NATO, the budgets for new types of weapons were reduced and priority was given to the modernisation and production of existing service weapons. Nevertheless, approximately forty different prototypes were developed between 1952 and 1962, most of which were designed for the 7.62x51mm NATO round, however, the round was not found to be suitable for any bullpup designs, and consequently, none were adopted, and the ideas were set aside. MAS then began to manufacture under license the H&K G3 and the H&K 33 in the 1960s and studies were reactivated to produce a weapon using the new .223/5.56mm round.

The FAMAS F1 and G1, the original variants, were designed to use French-made 25-round magazines with the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge. These magazines were incompatible with standard NATO weaponry, but the FAMAS G2 uses the STANAG Magazine as used by most other NATO rifles, such as the M16 and SA80. The FAMAS G2 weighs 3.8 kg (8.38 lb). The G1 and G2 have a large, grip-length triggerguard like a Steyr AUG to allow easy access to the trigger when wearing gloves.
The F1 and G2 models of the FAMAS feature a bipod attached to the upper handguard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAMAS



inspired the standard gun of SG-1

[slackmaster]

50. Bullpups suck

If you shoot left-handed. Hot brass hitting your face and going down your shirt is kind of distracting.

[tocqueville]

51. some facts

The ability to shoot left-handed is often deemed less important than greater accuracy and smaller size. Otherwise, some bullpup designs address this issue by allowing the side of ejection to be switched during disassembly (e.g. the FAMAS, Tavor and Steyr AUG), while others, like the FN F2000, A-91, and the Kel-Tec RFB Rifle, eject forward, providing complete tactical flexibility, even when shooting around corners. Still others, like the FN P90, achieve similar flexibility by ejecting downward. A few bullpup weapons have been designed that do not eject casings at all, such as the Heckler & Koch G11 and the Pancor Jackhammer, though none of these have yet been widely produced.

The issue of firing from the left (or opposite) shoulder has been dealt with in various ways. With the British Army's SA80, the weapon is not manufactured in a left-hand version, and, with its fixed reciprocating cocking handle and right-hand ejection, it is not possible to fire it safely from the left shoulder. Therefore, all personnel are taught to fire from the right shoulder only. The Steyr AUG can be converted to fire from the left shoulder by moving the ejection port cover to the right side of the weapon (the polymer butt housing has an ejection port on each side, one of which is covered), and by replacing a bolt with one configured to eject to the left side. Of course once converted, the weapon cannot be used properly by a right-handed firer. The FAMAS and others are also able to be converted for left-handed use in a similar manner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullpup

[Tim01]

53. It's not our fault you choose to be left handed.

You should try being a team player.































Just kidding.

[Flagg]

36. Fuck you

[slackmaster]

48. I'll give up my MAS 49/56 with grenade launcher when they pry it from my cold, dead hands

Like most French military rifles IT HAS NO SAFETY!!!

[tocqueville]

52. this will be in service soon or already is

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F élin



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRF2


here used in afghanistan

The PAPOP (PolyArme POlyProjectiles, "multi-projectile multi-weapon") is a French project to construct a computorised multi-usage infantry weapon for the FÉLIN system, capable of hitting hidden or protected targets. It combines a 35 mm grenade launcher with a 5.56 NATO assault rifle, both in a bullpup configuration, complete with targeting aids.

[mitchum]

62. Horseshit

[Zhade]

69. You are such an ignorant fucking douchebag.

NT!

[anonymous171]

26. I like France because we have a common revolutionary heritage.

I actually sort of prefer their revolution. I love it when the lower classes fight back against the rich.

[ohio2007]

29. How much vacation time they accumulate a year?

I understand their industries have a lot of built in slack time but getting a foot in the door to join full time can be a major hurdle

[tocqueville]

39. there is no problem with productivity

according with international surveys, France is in the top. Lack of sufficient vacations have counter-productive effects because physically and mentally exhausted people will produce less. That's "overproductive" systems through maximal exploitation of the working force are not sustainable in the long run.

[PassingFair]

40. Don't forget the Enlightenment!

[proteus_lives]

58. The first part was great but....

I think we can do without the part that comes next. "The Terror"

"Shiver"

[Frank Booth]

30. Pâté's gross.

[uppityperson]

31. Do you like meatloaf?

There are many kinds of pate, ranging from catfood like to meatloaf type.

[tocqueville]

41. meatloaf is excellent nt

[uppityperson]

59. First time I had pate it was foi gras. Visiting inlaws, they introduced me to many different types

typically, it is meatloaf. Foi gras is only 1 type, and not the typical for most people to eat regularly.

[Flagg]

35. When they're not too busy calling them cowards or dirty, he forgot to add

[No Elephants]

38. Ah, zat Obama, He make zee joke, yes?

I love when right wing heads explode.

FFMA (Freedom fries, my ass)

[Dappleganger]

42. I love my French exchange students!

Corentin, Amalia, Thomas and Michel--these kids are like my own, we IM still every week and they are the sweetest people you'll ever meet. Each of them lived with us for an entire summer in an exchange program and were incredibly polite, funny, helpful, curious, intelligent and blew away every stereotype you could imagine. One of them, Corentin, has returned to stay with us twice and once his parents and brother came for a visit as well. Those are experiences which have deeply enriched our family's life and we will never forget.

[crim son]

45. Such a relief not to have an idiot in Office.

I like Versailles!

[slackmaster]

47. The kisses, fries, and toast are some of my favorite things

[JayMusgrove]

49. Thanks for my first laugh of the morning!!! n/t

[Darth_Kitten]

55. Well, I guess chocolate, fine wines, and cheese will be popular now.....

because Obama says so!

[JonQ]

56. They have some good things, some bad

to say we "love all things french" is ridiculous. He's talking about the opinions of 300 million people regarding the actions, culture and beliefs of a nation of 65 million people. To make such a blanket statement means he is guaranteed to be wrong.

[No Elephants]

67. You are technically correct, but I don't think anyone took the comment that literally. And the

French certainly know what America's far right wing thinks of them after the ridiculous Freedom Fries incident. (One of the more embarrassing times to be an American, IMO.)

[cat9000]

57. yeah i love French women

[DebbieCDC]

60. This American agrees with the President

[bikebloke]

61. I had a couple brief flings with French chicks

No regrets, except the circumstances of travelling. Here today; no tomorrow.

[undeterred]

63. John Kerry

[and-justice-for-all]

64. French Health Care!! I'm Lovin' it...nt

[CBHagman]

65. Movies! Movies!

The directors, the actors, the use of French locations...

[pinniped]

66. You save money by buying only 3 tires for your Citroen.

.