Richard Gere: Obama Will Be 'One of Our Great Presidents'
Actor and activist Richard Gere told CNSNews.com on Capitol Hill that President Barack Obama has done an "extraordinary job" in office and will probably go down as one of America's "great presidents."
Gere was on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about religious freedom and human rights in Asia. After his testimony, CNSNews.com asked Gere, "Has President Obama, in your mind, been tough enough on China regarding human rights?"
Gere said, “No, no, he [Obama] has a ways to go. I think he’s finding his way of how forceful to be. I know what his own private feelings are – those are clear."
“I think he’s also finding out with the Chinese you have to be very frontal," said Gere. "You have to be very clear. You have to be unconfused and you must be very strong. I think he’s getting there but he could be stronger, yes.”
CNSNews.com also asked Gere, "Are you supportive of his job performance overall?"
Gere said, “Overall, I think he’s done an extraordinary job. I think he’s going to go down probably as one of our great presidents."
“He’s been able to juggle – let’s think of all of the problems that he’s had in his presidency," said the actor. "You know, natural disasters, or international issues, domestic. He has found a way to change and flow to learn from every situation.”
Gere continued, “He obviously puts himself out there personally constantly. He’s a good listener. He engages on a personal level almost every day. We’re coming out of this terrible economic crisis. We’re turning the corner on terrorist situations. I think his engagement with the Chinese is starting to flower now – the strength within him is starting to emerge. I think he’s doing a terrific job.”
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Comments
He's already ahead of Jimmy
Submitted by danbo on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 7:45am.
He's already ahead of Jimmy Carter. But that's the worse.
"You lie!" Rep. Joe Wilson R-(SC)
Richard Gere...
Submitted by adamsmith on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 7:56am.
I want what he's smoking. I'll take a qp to start off........
He's a Thespian! (h/t to old SNL)
Submitted by Mazzi on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 8:09am.
"Gere was on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about religious freedom and human rights in Asia."
Don't we have experts (paid from the taxpayers pockets) to testify on these matters? Why the heck do we need a Hollywood actor giving us his opinion? This guy has spend the majority of his life pretending to be someone he isn't, which basically brands him as a fraud and a fake. He's a college dropout (on a GYMNASTICS!!! scholarship) - why would anyone listen to him?
Giving the devil his due,
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 9:16am.
Giving the devil his due, I think Gere has spent a lot of time educating himself about and working on behalf of those issues; so yeah, he can speak about that. That said, his opinion about Barack Obama is worth no more than mine. And I always say that my opinion is free, and worth every penny.
Oh - I can speak about it
Submitted by Mazzi on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 10:14am.
Oh - I can speak about it too. And so can a myriad of other people, including scholars and priests. But what, in particular makes Gere more qualified than me, or a scholar or a priest, or you? Why is HIS opinion dragged out in front of the public eye? He may have some familiarity, but he is not an expert. If he were simply reporting the facts and statistics of the situation it might be a valid point, but he is using the forum as an opportunity to show off his dramatic acting skills.
Hollywood has no place in Washington, unless they are there as the rest of us - simple citizens. Not some privileged class.
I never understood
Submitted by Boudin on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 8:19am.
Why anyone thought this guy could act? His movies are boring and he in particular is why. He is obviously not very bright either.
But that why the media uses him. Name recognition, and ideology. Whether or not it makes sense, is just not important.
all you need
Submitted by ripper58 on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 8:34am.
is a pair of glasses and be a has been actor who follows the (hello) Dali lama around and you opinions will matter too! Next up Ed Asner on the national debt!!!
Unfortunately that is not
Submitted by Mazzi on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 10:15am.
Unfortunately that is not really a joke.
Richard Gere
Submitted by well99 on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 8:55am.
Your Gerbils are looking for you.
he will definitely be in the history books.
Submitted by c5then on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 9:03am.
Probably lumped in with Carter, Wilson and maybe Harding. Although, you can certainly make the case that he could be paired with Lincoln as the two presidents who almost presided over the destruction of the country. But the jury is still out on that. There are almost two years for Obama to outdo Lincoln and actually destroy the country.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
Sounds about right
Submitted by locomotivebreath1901 on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 9:03am.
One of the worst actors in hollyweird stating Obama 'will be' a great president.
~nuff said.
More soft bigotry of low expectations.
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 9:17am.
Obama can't be rated just as a "good" or "effective" president. He has to be described as "great."
It's called grade inflation
Submitted by CO2Maker on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 12:37pm.
All the kids get gold stars, because no one is not worthy of a gold star.
All the students get A's. B's are >gasp< not good, and C's are stigmatizing and discriminatory. Failing a student is the equivalent to ruining their chances of getting a good job, and thus is a violation of their property rights.
O'Bama is the greatest president, and a close second is Bill Clinton and JFK. The Bushes sucked, Ford was a dunce, and Nixon was evil. Reagan was a cowboy dunce. Jimmy Carter's administration was the hallowed preparation to his uber-successful career as a former president, global nanny, and hallway monitor.
Knowwhuti'msayin', Vern?
Richard Gere = Clueless
Submitted by AngryInOhio on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 10:38am.
Richard Gere = Clueless
Flashback: Now That Obama's Pres, Richard Gere Silent on Tibet
Submitted by Gary Hall on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 11:57am.
Earlier this year, on Jan. 28, 2011, Joseph Lindsey, offered this telling view of Richard Gere's on-again, off-again love for activism (depending on who is POTUS):
Just a guess - but I'm betting that during the Clinton era - you know that era where Clinton went to Rwanda and promised Africa and the world, "Never Again;" Never again would the US and the world bodies stand by while an horrific civil conflict/genocide like Rwanda just take place with the world simply sitting on it's hands. LOL. At that very moment, a conflict which dwarfed the Rwandan horror, had already erupted just next door in the DR Congo - actually a continuation of the Rwandan conflict. By the time Bill Clinton had left office, the conflict would already go down in history as the deadliest single conflict since the end of WW II. . reports at the time were suggesting that somewhere between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 million had already died by late 2000.
What I believe the Richard Gere's and the national MSM actually heard President Clinton say that day on his visit to Rwanda was:
Needless to say - they honored that view - and to this day, I've still not heard a hint from the MSM that they are inclined to every question Bill Clinton on the DR Congo, nor numerous other horrors of the late 1990's - the most deadly decade on earth since WW II.
A little refresher: Return to the Congo. An excerpt:
Genocide (120,000 people) in the Eastern Congo in Feb. 1997 by the Tutsi army - the rivers ran red, clogged with bodies.
I'm guessing Gere never said a word, if he did at all, until Bush became president.
(;~/ gary
He will be a great President, and Richard Gere will be
Submitted by TheHistorian on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 1:05pm.
a great actor. Yep, that is the way it is. Thank you for your tremendous insight.
Richard, shut up and act. There is NOTHING that makes you knowledgeable about history, economics, or anything else. The only thing that made Obama President is that he is a novelty as a black President. And that he lies so glibly when he says that he is for tax cuts and business and getting the country back to work. Otherwise, he is Dennis Kuchinich, and not even you dumb liberals want HIM as President.
Dennis Prager
'Actor and
Submitted by killa37 on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 2:22pm.
'Actor and activist'........................that is a hell of a heavyweight resume, and it should carry a TON of 'gravitas' with it,so that anything he says needs to be taken as the WORD!!!! I know the I have personally upgraded by own opinion of Boy O'Barry, due to Gere's precient remarks!!!!
Don't lump Harding in with Wilson, Carter
Submitted by TheHistorian on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 3:03pm.
Harding actually got us out of the Wilson panic (depression) in 1920 by cutting taxes and Federal spending. Look it up.
Dennis Prager
Doofus Alert
Submitted by sergeant stogie on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 3:19pm.
Actor and activist..Translation: The only reason I have access to anyone holding a microphone and a camera is because my job is to pretend that I am something I am not. That would be smart. Gere is another great reason to boycott anything to do with hollywood.
Your gotta believe him, his gerbil told him.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Sat, 06/04/2011 - 10:48pm.
Question: Why'd the gerbil cross the road?
Answer: It was stuck in Gere. Ouch!
If Gere is right then we are
Submitted by MightyMouth on Sun, 06/05/2011 - 6:18pm.
If Gere is right then we are REALLY screwed!
Well of course he will be one
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Mon, 06/06/2011 - 1:39am.
Well of course he will be one of our great Presidents. Not because he does anything "great", but because the left-wing media is very good at "showbiz" and making heroes out of average people. Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton...all made out to be the "greatest of the greats". Yeah, because liberals are writing the scripts and those men were liberal thinkers.
Of course conservative figures like your Reagan's, Bush's, Buckley's, Eisenhower's, John Adams, etc are never reported to be as great as they actually were. Nope.
Bottom Line: Obama can flub-up horrendously over the next few months but the media will still insist on him being one of the greatest president's ever. Besides, it is the politically correct thing to do. Can't have the first half-Kenyan Presidents be a major flub-up can we? Might even have to give him his own holiday, you know, like MLK.