There was this ad I remember from a political science class in college:
I like the photoshop work but I don’t like the message. “The US doesn’t talk to dictators or terrorists! If we do, it makes us weaker! Obama will be the first President to talk with a dictator!”
Oh really?
Franklin Roosevelt meeting with Joseph Stalin
Harry S Truman meeting with Stalin
Eisenhower with Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco
Eisenhower with South Vietnamese President Diem
Kennedy with Soviet Premier Khrushchev
Richard Nixon with Mao Zedong
Richard Nixon with the President of Zaire, Mobutu
Vice President Ford and President Nixon with Romanian leader Nicolae Ceauşescu
Jimmy Carter with the Shah of Iran
Reagan with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Reagan with Indonesian leader Suharto
George H. W. Bush with Mobutu
Then-Vice President Bush with Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega
President Clinton meeting with Nobel Prize winning terrorist Yasser Arafat.
George W. Bush with Saudi King Abdullah
So what was the point of that ad again? "Let's ignore history to make a political point!" I have pictures of EVERY President from Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush with a non democrat. As leader of the free world, the President does have to meet with other world leaders. This does not mean we are surrendering anything to anybody. Yes, in a perfect world we wouldn't talk to dictators, strong-men, or mass murders. But this isn't a perfect world.
And just so you don't think I'm excluding him:
Obama with Mubarak
Obama with Hugo Chavez
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