Hitchens on Obama's Israel Policy: 'Not Impressive' August 3, 2010

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2010/05/21/Barack_Obama_No_He_Cant

Author Christopher Hitchens criticizes the Obama administration's response to the continued construction of Israeli settlements in Arab neighborhoods. "The last time there was an impressive American policy it was a Republican administration, and it was undone by the hero of every liberal in this room," he quips.

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A year and a half after Barack Obama's historic election, can we still believe in hope and change?

In this lively session from the 2010 Sydney Writers Festival, three heavyweight America-watchers examine the unfolding legacy of the Obama administration.

Why has the "President for Peace" pulled out of Iraq only to increase troops in Afghanistan? Banks have been bailed out, but what about the people? Has Obama failed to live up to the lofty promises of his campaign? Or, were the expectations of a nation keen for renewal simply too much, maybe impossible, to fulfill? The panel includes journalist Anne Davies and writers Don Watson and Christopher Hitchens. The moderator is Geoffrey Garrett from the United States Studies Centre. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Christopher Hitchens was born in Portsmouth, England and worked in Britain as book reviewer for the Times, and chief foreign correspondent for the Daily Express. After emigrating to the United States in 1981, he wrote the "Minority Report" column for The Nation. Since 1992, he has been columnist and contributing editor at Vanity Fair and, at different times, Washington editor and columnist for Harper's magazine, American columnist and correspondent for the Spectator, the New Statesman, the Times Literary Supplement, Sunday Today, and the Sunday Correspondent. Hitchens writes regularly for the Atlantic Monthly and Slate, and is the author of God is Not Great, Letters to a Young Contrarian and Why Orwell Matters.