President Obama's first call to a foreign leader was to Palestinian President Abbas

[mox 298]

So Obama's inauguration indirectly is responsible for the cease fire but let's not use the word "credit".

You want to give credit to an inanimate noun? Okay. The inauguration gets credit for the ceasefire. Good job inauguration, we knew you could do it.

Why does credit matter? What I think matters is that people stop dying.

It builds an aura of competence and public approval which in turn leads to greater political power.

Not the way you're using it. Without saying it, you implied that Obama was going to get credit for something Bush did. That's not building public approval, that's just divisive politics as usual.

You really believe mere presence of Obama in the White House on the first day has paid a dividend of saving lives in Gaza. . .but it's not giving "credit"?

Did you even read my post? Better yet, do you even watch the news or read newspapers? You know, they have them online now, you should check one out. You'll probably run across a story or two that talks about this whole ceasefire thing. Or you can just twist my words to score points with the wingnuts, that's cool too.

If you want to willfully mis-read what I've written and try to shoe-horn it into a zinger, knock yourself out. I can play that game all day. But in the end you're being disingenuous. You know exactly what I mean.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I don't think its any coincidence that all this took place during the transition. Likely the thinking was that people's attention would be diverted and there wouldn't be as much pressure from the US Government to end the conflict.

[alienlovechild 75]

You want to give credit to an inanimate noun? Okay. The inauguration gets credit for the ceasefire. Good job inauguration, we knew you could do it.

Ok, let's eliminate the word "inauguration" now. So now we have "Obama gets credit for the ceasefire". I remember somebody claiming that would happen. Oh yeah, that was me.

Why does credit matter? What I think matters is that people stop dying.

It builds an aura of competence and public approval which in turn leads to greater political power.

Not the way you're using it. Without saying it, you implied that Obama was going to get credit for something Bush did. That's not building public approval, that's just divisive politics as usual.

I explained my statement which you denied then quickly embraced within the same thread but I won't claim credit for setting you straight. By contrast, now you insist I asserted Bush is somehow responsible for the ceasefire. I didn't say that- you did, in jest. You need to build up your knowledge of American realpolitik beyond cliches like "divisive politics". Most politics are divisive that's redundant anyway. A president does build political capital to get things done.

You really believe mere presence of Obama in the White House on the first day has paid a dividend of saving lives in Gaza. . .but it's not giving "credit"?

Did you even read my post? Better yet, do you even watch the news or read newspapers? You know, they have them online now, you should check one out. You'll probably run across a story or two that talks about this whole ceasefire thing. Or you can just twist my words to score points with the wingnuts, that's cool too.

If you want to willfully mis-read what I've written and try to shoe-horn it into a zinger, knock yourself out. I can play that game all day. But in the end you're being disingenuous. You know exactly what I mean.

I read and disected your post and gave rationales for my answers. You; on the other hand, want me to look for sources proving Obama should get credit or something for the ceasefire? That's your assertion- you back it up. Lumping me in with your bogeymen "wingnuts" (why have all guys latched onto that phrase now?) doesn't prove jack.

[mox 298]

Fine alien, you caught me. When I said "why does it matter who gets the credit?" and then I turned around and said "the current ceasefire was due in large part because neither side wants to be Obama's first problem on day 1," what I was really saying was that "Obama gets credit for the ceasefire," and therefore contradicted myself. Clearly I was lying when I said credit doesn't matter, and you, always the quick wit, caught me up in record time. I see that now. I don't know what I was thinking when I tried to sneak such baldfaced contradictions past your vastly superior intellect.

[alienlovechild 75]

Fine alien, you caught me. When I said "why does it matter who gets the credit?" and then I turned around and said "the current ceasefire was due in large part because neither side wants to be Obama's first problem on day 1," what I was really saying was that "Obama gets credit for the ceasefire," and therefore contradicted myself. Clearly I was lying when I said credit doesn't matter, and you, always the quick wit, caught me up in record time. I see that now. I don't know what I was thinking when I tried to sneak such baldfaced contradictions past your vastly superior intellect.

Impressive. Not that you agree with me on this one but it's a rarity that anyone can admit they might wrong on a single issue.

I'll be sure and return the favor by being wrong and owning up when it's clear I talked myself into an indefensible position.

[mox 298]

Uh-huh. It's really too bad we can't have a conversation or even an argument without you twisting words and meanings. You must believe your own positions have so little merit that it's important for you to misrepresent and argue past your opponent instead of engaging the actual topic head on. I guess if it's important for you to believe in hypocrisy where none exists, more power to you.

[mawilson 2,133]

President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office today as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a

That's cool - Abbas is paid for by our tax dollars.

[Peikko 1,575]

Alien gets the humerous post of the minute award for trying desperately to score points against mox (from presumably the 'unseen' audience) and creating a riot of obfuscation, confusion and stupidity. I love it, thanks guys

Edited January 22, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[AlHayatZween 2]

Israel pulled out of Gaza yesterday... no?

i don't think either president should get credit for that... the US was noticeably absent in the cease-fire brokerings...