You know, this is one of those dishonest twists on words that makes a mockery of what was actually said. This: Would an Obama Administration really mean an end to "eating as much as we want?" is not at ALL what Obama said.
What he said was that other countries might not always say "ok"- when we take so much food from the rest of the world, or take so much oil- for example, Mexicans getting pissed off about our use of corn. We eat (or use) a lot of the world's food, in terms of dedicated land for crops- and if people are going hungry, and watching food being shipped to the US for US consumers, they might (even reasonably) not think that was "ok". I think it's reasonable for Obama to point that out at a time when more people ARE complaining about US consumption. I remember seeing a movie about Africa, where planes flew in to this poor town, where orphaned children lived in the streets, and it would land, pick up fish (in this case for the EU) and fly off- while the villagers often went hungry. The same thing happens for the benefit of American consumers. Shrimp farms are taking up rice acreage in Asia. Our burgers take up peasant land in S. America- and on and on.
That doesn't mean you can't get as fat as you want to in America. Go ahead- stuff youself with ring dings and burgers, but Obama is right in saying that the rest of the world may not say "Okee dokee piglet Americano." The rest of the world may not be able to do much now, but a little sensitivity now, might save some real ugliness over resource battles lately. Or the US could just continue to be the lard ass leaders of the world. |
