Opinion - Angry yet?

Angry yet?

In My Opinion

By Bob Robinson

The following was forwarded to me by a friend… will it sound familiar to you? Probably not… I’ve seen several news bites about this particular event, but no one reported the evident translation problems. My thanks to Charlie and Yahoo News.

It was a news feed by AP: Calderon visit marred by poor translation.

Here is the meat of it:

“WASHINGTON – A halting and grammatically incoherent English translation marred Mexican President Felipe Calderon's arrival ceremony at the White House Wednesday, rendering his remarks difficult to understand.

“In Spanish, Calderon's comments were straightforward and clear as he stood by President Barack Obama on the South Lawn and spoke to the common values and principles that unite the U.S. and Mexico.

“But the English translation that American viewers heard was so bad that the official White House transcript ignored it. Instead the White House used a translation provided by the Mexican Embassy and it was markedly different from the words actually spoken by the translator as Calderon talked.

“For example, here's how Calderon's comments on the tough new immigration law in Arizona were rendered by his translator during the opening ceremony:

"We can do so with a community that will promote a dignified life and an orderly way for both our countries, who are, some of them, still living here in the shadows with such laws as the Arizona law that is placing our people to face discrimination."

“And here's how those same comments appeared in the official transcript issued later Wednesday:

"I know that we share the interest in promoting dignified, legal and orderly living conditions to all migrant workers. Many of them, despite their significant contribution to the economy and to the society of the United States, still live in the shadows and, occasionally, as in Arizona, they even face discrimination."

And politicians wonder why we don’t trust them.

It might also be noted that few in the media (Fox News and Newsmax excepted) happened to point out the hypocrisy of Pres. Calderon regarding our immigration laws versus theirs… illegal aliens go to jail for two years or more in Mexico. Yet many of our elected representatives reportedly gave him a standing ovation when he was done chiding us in our own house.

What was Pres. Obama’s role in this? Some say Calderon was spoon-fed our own president’s talking points. Frankly, I don’t know. I only know that at the time everyone was hammering Arizona for trying to control crime within its borders, most of its critics had not even read the bill!

Rasmussen Reports: 55 percent of voters nationwide approve of Arizona’s new law. In Arizona, the approval rate is 71 percent. 59 percent of Ohio voters approve of it. Two-thirds of voters nationwide don’t believe Mexico wants the illegal immigration problem curbed. A big portion of its struggling economy is dependent on money sent home by illegal aliens working in the United States.

And our public servants applaud this guy? Once again, the current administration and Congress is out of step with the American people.

Health care? The majority of Americans want it repealed. It will raise the cost of insurance, increase the national debt and make it more difficult for many businesses to survive.

The finance bills passed by the Senate and the House – while they need to be negotiated into one bill for the president’s signature – are also sending shock waves through the small business community, especially small community banks that had nothing to do with the meltdown. Neither bill addresses Fannie Mae or Freddy Mac, the true culprits of a problem that had been building for decades.

Washington bureaucrats have taken over much of the auto industry, are gearing up to take over our health care system and now they want to rule our financial sector. Yet those who serve us have done nothing to deal with illegal immigration; they have hammered the one state that has actually done something; our deficit is at an unprecedented high; and our economy is still in a mess.

Oops. Almost forgot. Obama’s been in office a year and a half but he still blames Bush. Believe that? If you do, raise your hands.

I didn’t think so.

Do you remember the last time Obama held an actual press conference where White House reporters could ask him questions? Try last July. So much for his transparent administration.

Obama’s unfavorable rating as of Sunday was at one of its lowest points, a -17, and nearly half of Americans believe that names drawn out of a phone book would do a better job than those currently in Congress. But nobody in Washington seems to care.

Angry yet? I sure am. It’s time to turn this around, folks!

Remember this in November, and again in 2012.

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Bob Robinson is the retired editor of The Daily Advocate, Greenville, Ohio. If you wish to receive his opinion comments by direct email, send your email address to: opinionsbybob@gmail.com. Feel free to express your views on this blog.