From Washington to Kabul, the consensus is clear -- the two leaders have no choice but to use their White House meeting to move beyond a recent war of words between their governments and try to restore trust and mend frayed relations.

Seems like Obama will spend much of his time as President with trying to restore the trust he destroyed.

You continue to maintain your obtuseness.  it does not matter the results, just the intentions! (Well as long as you are a democrat).

But what are his intentions?

Who sets out to insult the Brits and then all other important allies? How does anybody except America's enemies profit from that?

His intentions are to debase the US so that no one will hate us.  And those who look up to the US?  They must be insulted so they stop such silly endeavors.

I respect the US partly because evil people hate the US.

The left doesn't believe people like you exist, Leauki.

I think if you are not hated by people who stone women for being raped you are doing something wrong.

Myself, I often judge people by the enemies they made and make.

Very Insightful.

As Shimon Peres said in Russia this week, about European countries (" Yet when many of them fought, they asked for America's help"), the America people really like is not the America that Obama is working on creating.

The America people really like is the America that will fight, not talk to, people like Hitler and Ahmadinejad.

The America people really like is the America one can call to liberate France.

The America people really like is the America which does differentiate between friend and foe.

Whatever people say, when it comes down to it, the America people like is the America that kills.

Not the Europe of today.  They think in a 2 pronged fashion. 1 - out of sight and out of mind.  and 2 - talking will always solve problems.

And slink back into obscurity once the job is done.

No, they like an America that does not remind them of the real world.

There is a difference between what people like and what they say they like.

And they aren't even lying. They really do want to like the things they say they like and they do not want to like the things they really do like.

Look at my favourite example. Many many people in the west honestly believe that Israelis are evil and that the Arabs are the poor victims of the Jews and that peace would be possible if only the Israelis changed their behaviour. They do believe that. They don't want to believe otherwise.

But they do believe otherwise.

They don't want to admit it and they don't want to believe it but if pressed hard the truth will come out.

No liberal would pretend to be a Jew in Egypt and test his thesis whether Arabs are really so friendly. (Ironically, Jews or Israelis who do travel to Arab countries do not usually feel a need to hide their nationality!)

Or maybe you remember the example a few months ago on Utemia's blog when some German guy went on and on about how the West-German regime is just as bad as the East-German regime and how socialism had so many advantages. All-in-all he said many things that if he had said them about the East-German regime in 1980s East-Germany would have meant trouble for him.

But it turned out he totally and completely trusted the current German regime not to punish him for opposing it.

If he had believed what he said (rather than just wanting to believe it), he wouldn't have spoken up.

And if he had been right, he couldn't have spoken up. He would have been in prison already for earlier criticism of the regime.

This is not even hypocrisy because they really want to believe what they say they believe.

They just don't believe it.

It becomes hypocrisy when they don't want to believe it.

For example, the liberal who supports socialism but does not decide to work for the good of all in his free time (especially when he is unemployed) is a hypocrite.

And the liberal who wants a healthcare system that provides for all for free but does not become a doctor or nurse and works for less than market value is a hypocrite.

But the liberal who really wants to believe what he says he believes but can't. He is not a hypocrite. He is completely honest and yet the hardest to convince.

Take out the word liberal and you have a profound general statement of people.  Or more precisely idiots.  Idiots are people who want, but do not think.  And that is what you are describing.

I was appalled when I saw Obama speaking with Karzai today. Not that they were trying to kiss and make up, but that Obama was apparently making excuses for the enemy, the Taliban. He was making a feeble attempt to create two Taliban's, the bad one and the misguided one. I don't need a enemy sympathizer as a commander in chief. Now I would accept Taliban members that lay down their arms, and renounce their affiliations. What doesn't the president understand about people that want to kill Americans? The sharks smell blood in the water, and Obama's self mutilation of the US is the source of that blood.

I know Karzai has to suck up to America (or more precisely Obama) for now.  But Obama is giving a lesson in The Ugly American 101.  That is why countries hate us (not love us),.

And liberals don't even notice that Obama is doing exactly what they pretended Bush was doing.

However, Bush and Karzai always seemed like equals. Only with Obama did Karzai become the leader of the lesser country.

The same happened with the European allies.

Under Bush, the US, Spain, and Britain were equals. During late 2001 and the years of 2002 and 2003 it was usually Tony Blair and not George Bush who gave the ultimatums to the Taliban and Saddam.

It was the British Prime Minister who spoke for both the United Kingdom and the US. George Bush even allowed to the US to be the second fiddle in order to boost an ally who could be trusted to act in the interest of the alliance.