The King and O
EmailABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — At the king's Royal Farm in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this afternoon, President Obama and Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz made a few remarks to the cameras.
Asked what his message in Saudi Arabia was, President Obama said, "This is my first visit to Saudi Arabia, but I've had several conversations with His Majesty. And I've been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness. Obviously the United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship, we have a strategic relationship. And as I take this trip and we'll be visiting Cairo tomorrow, I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty's counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East."
Continued the American president: "So I just want to again thank him for his extraordinary generosity and hospitality. And I m confident that working together the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues and mutual interests."
Speaking in Arabic, King Abdullah said, "I thank you, Mr. President, for the kind words and the kind sentiments expressed within them. I am not surprised, given the historic and strategic ties between our two countries, I believe that go back to the time of the meeting between the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the late King Abdul-Aziz."
Continued the king: "I also want to express my best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position."
"Shukran," said the president, using the Arabic word for "thank you."
Their meeting here began when Air Force One touched down at 2:25 PM local time.
King Abdullah greeted President Obama on the red carpet. They shook hands and a band played the national anthems of both countries. Members of both countries' delegations shook hands with the other country's head of state.
They walked inside the airport, sat down on two ornate gold chairs, chatted briefly and drank Arabian coffee. The president does not particularly like coffee, but he drank all of his nonetheless.
– Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller
UPDATE: The gold medallion the king gave to the president is the King Abdul Aziz Collar, considered the highest honor of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, usually presented to heads of state.
The drink the president shared with the king at the airport was cardamom coffee.
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Posted by: Mike | June 3, 2009, 10:23 am 10:23 am
MNM: Let’s suppose all of that is true, highly suspect as it might be. It begs the question: so what if he is a Muslim? Does that make him a terrorist?
Posted by: William J. LePetomaine | June 3, 2009, 10:36 am 10:36 am
Not all Muslims are Terriost right wing nuts, Inspite of What Bush and Cheney brainwashed you with educate yourselves!
Posted by: Angie in PA | June 3, 2009, 10:44 am 10:44 am
OK for all you Broadway musical fans:
Shall we Dance?
Hello Young Lovers?
Getting to Know You
Posted by: tjsillsga | June 3, 2009, 10:49 am 10:49 am
so what if he is a Muslim? Does that make him a terrorist?
~~~
It certainly makes him a liar and a fraud. How much more do you need?
Posted by: Plumber | June 3, 2009, 10:51 am 10:51 am
I know thats right Obama that is the first place me in my kids got to visit befor we leave we have to go to mecca. i commend u Obama u is my role model and my son look up to u “he can almost pass for ya son” he can play u in a movie in ya younger years with will smith..good job BHO
Posted by: seron rose | June 3, 2009, 10:52 am 10:52 am
Jake,
I never took you for a musicals fan!!
Posted by: tjsillsga | June 3, 2009, 11:01 am 11:01 am
Tapper everyones posting on your -The Emergence of President Obama’s Muslim Roots – because it has been linked to Drudge for two days now.
Which means us posters have an open field for this story.
We are happy President Obama and His Majesty Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz are working together. This gives all of us hope.
Posted by: Robert | June 3, 2009, 11:37 am 11:37 am
“We are happy President Obama and His Majesty Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz are working together. This gives all of us hope.”
But when it was Bush, it was all cronie-ism yes? Where are the left talking points about Sauds? I thought this is where most terrorists come from, where they all the oil money goes to terrorists, and that we should strong arm Sauds, stop buying their oil. Its all about the oil funding! Blah blah. Noticably silent I see. Why didn’t O bring all this up if he represents you?
Or now do you subscribe to the solemn of state dignity?
Rather pathetic to observe.
Posted by: KR | June 3, 2009, 11:43 am 11:43 am
The President has good intentions, but meeting with Saudi kings and dictators in Egypt aren’t going to make the extremists feel any better.
We are at war with them, and we shouldn’t sugarcoat it by blaming the previous admin for it and pretending to press the ‘reset’ button.
We have an active,ongoing assassination program in Iraq and Af-Pak, on this President’s orders.
We will catch future terrrorists on foreign soil, yet have no plan to deal with them.
We now own a 60% stake in a car company on the decline and have to rely on high oil prices in the ME to get our money back.
Where is this all going?
Posted by: J House | June 3, 2009, 11:43 am 11:43 am
KR:”Where are the left talking points about Sauds?”
The clear policy efforts to finally start reigning in our dependence of oil is the long-delayed rebuke to the Sauds that ‘the left’ has been after. The UAE has also taken the majority of the heat recently with their Royal Family Favorite Torture video show.
The Sauds are certainly no favorite of the left (or myself), but remaining on good terms with them AND working to undercut demand for their main product and cash cow is a reasonable strategy.
Posted by: jhw539 | June 3, 2009, 11:53 am 11:53 am
The NYT reported last yr the Bush admin had an ‘active,ongoing covert program’ to ‘disrupt or delay” Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability.
This admin has not been asked whether they have ended that program, or cancelled that Exec. Order.
But, it seems they may have now that the President has given Iran a green light to indigenously produce enriched uranium.
If they follow the NK lead in the future, they can kick out the inspectors and produce as much bomb fuel as they like.
Posted by: J House | June 3, 2009, 11:53 am 11:53 am
It all sounds good but it is the same old bologna.Nothing but a waste of taxpayers money.So much fanfare and no substance. The Muslim world will not bow to the American way of life nor they care to improve relationships with the USA. They are just like vultures watching us dying (into huge debt ) to then eat us.
Posted by: Frank | June 3, 2009, 11:56 am 11:56 am
Oxy: Obama himself brought up that trip during the campaign, in April of 2008:
“So when I speak about having lived in Indonesia for four years, having family that is impoverished in small villages in Africa –knowing the leaders is not important — what I know is the people…I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college”
“What was Obama’s motivation for traveling to such a godforesaken place, when most college aged people travel to Europe?”
Again, back in April, Jake Tapper DID INVESTIGATE this trip. “In 1981 — the year Obama transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University — Obama visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia. After that visit, Obama traveled to Pakistan with a friend from college whose family was from there.”
He had a friend who was from Pakistan and took the opportunity to visit the country (and India). US colleges are so successful at attracting foreign students it is not unusual you may have a friend who can give you the opportunity to make an exotic trip cheap (Obama went to college on loans, he didn’t have the money to do a lazy summer in Europe).
Posted by: jhw539 | June 3, 2009, 12:00 pm 12:00 pm
“but remaining on good terms with them AND working to undercut demand for their main product”
Ah so its ok to rub elbows with the Sauds now that the left have their candidate in office.
BTW, news flash, oil is a mainstay of society. It goes beyond cute little hybrid cars. Those cars need lubricants, greese, oil, petrolium products for batteries. The casing for a battery is made out of petrolium products, plastic, etc. The notion of eliminating oil from society is rediculous. Ok so “reduce” is the word, gotcha. Oil demand will continue to rise, its a constant. Tar for roads, shingles on roofs, paint, paint thinner, (plus a ton more) all has a base material in oil. So if we never import one drop of oil from anywhere, where o where do we get the petrolium material for all these other products? From… our own lands and shores? Oh but thats being cut back and blocked by this Congress and administration, counter productive to the goal of FOREIGN oil. Ok so just reduction, a nice fail safe to excuse any behavior with foreign oil producers. Gotcha. Sillyness.
Posted by: KR | June 3, 2009, 12:04 pm 12:04 pm
Frank – It all sounds good but it is the same old bologna.Nothing but a waste of taxpayers money.So much fanfare and no substance. The Muslim world will not bow to the American way of life nor they care to improve relationships with the USA. They are just like vultures watching us dying (into huge debt ) to then eat us.
—————————–The man just got there, how do you know what will happen? Clairvoyant? Since when does the Muslim world need to bow the American way of life? That was what was wrong with the previous admin! Their culture and countries have survived many more years than we have been a country, how arrogant to think the need to “bow to the American way of life!” I am glad that you seem to have spoken with all of them and can make statements such as “nor they care to improve relationships with the USA” Do you think folks calling them vultures helps? You are in a new age, DIPLOMACY is no longer a bad word! Working with people instead of telling them they are with us or against us, is not the way anymore! The mindset you have is the one that got us into the mess of losing our standing in the world! Wake up!
Posted by: Try the truth | June 3, 2009, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
By the way, he’s not over there to lower the price of oil. There is a near catastrophic glut of supply, dearth of demand, yet the price increases anyway.
And the lefties all want the price of gas high anyway so that we’ll all be driving toy cars.
Posted by: 1percenter | June 3, 2009, 12:31 pm 12:31 pm
The fate of our near-term economic future is reliant on the price of oil,whether we like it or not.For the past 40 yrs, the US economy has boomed with low carbon-based energy prices, and sunk when they went ‘high’.
There is no ‘US’ oil, only ‘world’
oil, in terms of the price of oil.
If we do not increase supply and rising demand continues (and tax it more), the entire world will pay more for energy.
That can’t be helpful.
Posted by: J House | June 3, 2009, 12:45 pm 12:45 pm
“I guess you missed the part where the Bush’s and the House of Saud go back a long way, business wise….”
This has nothing to do with the hypocrisy noted. The left described any relationship with the Sauds as being with a dictator, whos country was the origin of the 911 bombers, whos oil funds terrorism, even some went as far as we attacked the wrong country in Iraq, that we should have attacked Saudi Arabia. They sought to demonize the Sauds precisely because of the Bush and Saud relationship… guess cause Bush was so evil, any friend of his had to be an enemy.
But this trip is now “hope”, seeking the “wisdom” of the King. And the left is silent.
And your response is ‘Bush / Saud business relationship’ ?
Posted by: KR | June 3, 2009, 2:11 pm 2:11 pm
Current Owner of World’s Largest Oil Inventory meets Current Owner of World’s Largest Auto Inventory
…makes me, kinda, all gooshy…
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | June 3, 2009, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
Oxy | Jun 3, 2009 11:50:51 AM—Oxy, many students choose not to travel to Europe and opt for travel to more distant places that offer more distinct experiences. i traveled to Africa and visited countries (in the 1980s) that have terrorist ties now. am i a terrorist? if you can substantiate that the president visited Pakistan over 20 years ago, before the age of extremism does that make him a terrorist? i’m sure to you it does. just trying to spin another conspiracy theory that portrays the president as a terrorist. you should be ashamed.
Posted by: Paul Wall | June 3, 2009, 2:45 pm 2:45 pm
FDR made it clear to Stalin and Churchill.. Saudi Arabia is ours.. back off!
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | June 3, 2009, 2:57 pm 2:57 pm
It doesn’t even matter which President of the U.S. goes to the kingdom.. it’s always like a big family reunion..
..oil is like blood.. the flow of such bringing life and kinship..
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | June 3, 2009, 3:33 pm 3:33 pm
Sorry, TJ, I am a moderate, not a “righty” as you put it.
And the stories of a sinister connection between the House of Saud and the Bush family do not impress me as any more grounded in reality than the stories that some tout as “proving” Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fake or that he is a Muslim Manchurian candidate. Sorry.
I stand by my original statement– every time Bush interacted with the Saudi king, he was excoriated and ridiculed for it. When Obama does the same thing, he is hailed as a miracle worker. It’s getting tiresome.
Posted by: moderate | June 3, 2009, 9:43 pm 9:43 pm
Obama is either in self denial or an habitual liar.
His speech of Islam accomplishments is a sham.
The advances he mentioned in his speech were made by other countries not by Islam.
This is the change we voted for. We got what we voted for Obama and his Mafias
Posted by: SJ | June 4, 2009, 1:08 pm 1:08 pm