He even punches like a girl!
The king of do absolutely nothing and receive all kinds of great things, did it again. I missed this story from the President’s Asian trip, but a friend gave me a heads up today. Apparently, when the President was in South Korea, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak handed him a dobok (Taekwon-do outfit) and presented him with a blackbelt. This is an honor that takes the average student at least a year and a half. It took me around two years for my first degree of blackbelt and ten years to achieve my current rank of fourth degree blackbelt.
The original Taekwon-do started by General Choi splintered into two main groups: the World Tae Kwon Do Federation(WTF) and the International Tawkwon-do Federation (ITF). I belong to the ITF, which is the traditional group and follows down from General Choi. It has a focus on the art of Taekwon-do. The WTF is the sports version of Tae Kwon Do and is the type you see when watching the Olympics. It follows after students that left General Choi. I do not think highly of it and as people can see from watching it in the Olympics, it really is a joke. Most of the time, WTF sparring is a couple of fighters bouncing around trying to get their one coveted point while ITF’s sparring is set up with a technician having the ability to score a variety of points and is meant to be beautiful, not to hurt anyone. Hurting people is for the street when we are attacked. My reason for explaining this difference is that Obama received his blakcbelt from the WTF, so it is not surprising to me. It makes sense too since the acronym is WTF – ha! I would love to hear what Chuck Norris has to say about this.
So yet again, the One, receives something for doing absolutely nothing. Today he accepts his unmerited Nobel Peace Prize. The reason we are not allowed to see his school records is that we might find out that he got into Harvard because of pulled strings. In both the Illinois State Senate and the federal Congress, Barack Obama voted present most of the time and never presented any memorable pieces of legislation. His biggest reward received with absolutely no merit, experience or the ability to do it well, is the Presidency of the United States. People are beginning to realize this as his approval number drops to 47%.
Freedom's Wings 
Tae Kwon Do has long been regarded as the McDonald’s of karate. This is just one more example of what a lowgrade martial art it can be at times.
By who – you? Taekwon-Do is the improvement of Karate. Karate doesn’t even know how to kick. And the belt was awarded by WTF Taekwon-Do which I will give you, stinks.
barry is a useless, lying monkey. I can not wait until he is hung by the neck until dead as a traitor to the American people.
It is unfortunate that an article that had such promise to focus on a man’s ability to win accolades for doing nothing degenerated quickly into a juvenile “my martial art is better than yours” tirade.
First, Chuck Norris holds rank in Tang Soo Do, not Taekwondo.
Second, the World Taekwondo Federation is a sports governing body and has no part in the certificaition of poom/dan ranks or in developing curriculum/technique. The Kukkiwon in Seoul is responsible for the art of Taekwondo. The WTF’s role is purely in the sport aspect. True practitioners of Kukkiwon-style Taekwondo are just as well versed in hand techniques and a “total” martial art development as their ITF counterparts are. The Kukkiwon claims to be a little more modern and scientific in their approach, but that is up for debate and does not denote superiority of style.
Third, TKD history needs a bit of clarification. After WWII there were 5 kwans. Branches from these kwans brought the number up to 9 around the end of the Korean War. Circa 1959 the kwan heads decided to try and unify, the result was the KTA (Korea Taekwon-Do Association) with Choi as president. In the early 60’s the KTA was renamed to the Korea Taesoodo Association, and Choi changed it back to Taekwondo when he was reelected president in 1965. In 1966 he left to form the ITF in opposition to the KTA (whose members he had many differences with). In 1972, the Kukkiwon was formed as a central dojang and to certify rank amongst the still unified Kwans, and the WTF was formed in 1973 to manage the planned World Taekwondo Championships. January 8, 1977 marked the day all 9 Kwans (including Choi’s old Oh Do Kwan) of TKD unified and aligned to have the Kukkiwon certify rank, curriculum, and technique; the WTF would handle world level Taekwondo competition (and only accepts competitors with Kukkiwon rank); and the KTA was relegated to a “member national association” of the WTF… the same role that USAT serves in America.
Yes, WTF-style competition can be boring (and there are many aspects of it that I do not enjoy). However, that should not be an excuse to lampoon Kukkiwon-style Taekwondo as a whole, especially if you have not trained in it. To do so shows a lack of respect for others, and youreslf. And it certainly shows a lack of Ye Ui and Yeom Chi (yup, I just broke out the tenets). Taekwon-Do and Taekwondo is the same, no matter what flavor or wrinkle you practice. The sooner we move past that, the sooner we can build a better martial arts community.
By the way, I am a Kukkiwon dan-holder and I am totally pissed that Obama was given a black belt without earning it.
You obviously have no knowledge of the history of Taekwon-Do. Unfortunately, General Choi, the father of Taekwon-Do, did not have the foresight to copyright the name and did not know his son and students would eventually betray him. Anyone who practices Taekwon-Do under anything but the original ITF set up by General Choi is practicing a fraud. You can reason whatever you want, but that is the truth.
You seem to be very caught up on names. Taekwondo/Taekwon-Do are just names. The facts are there. The KTA was created (General Choi was a big force behind it), he left/was forced out due to differences with other masters (so was Hwang Kee who created Soobahkdo and Tangsoodo Moo Duk Kwan) and formed the ITF, those remaining in the KTA worked to form the Kukkiwon and the WTF. Those are facts. Just because their Taekwondo is not the same as your Taekwon-Do does not mean I know nothing of Taekwondo/Taekwon-Do history. The above is by no means detailed, but those are the high points. By all means, enlighten me on your version of TKD history, I’d love to hear it for a complete picture.
The bottomline is simple. Some ITF proponents will vilify the Kukkiwon and some Kukkiwon/WTF proponents will vilify ITFers (hell, even I vilify the WTF at times). I have shown no ill-will towards the ITF while you are obviously hostile to the Kukkiwon and to me. Please show maturity in at least respecting a fellow martial artist and fellow Taekwondo brother (although you would most likely not admit to the latter).
The fact of the matter is, is that General Choi and the rest of the Kwan heads had great ideas that were taken in two different directions. Rather than being closed minded, hostile, and dismissive… you should be open minded, courteous, and willing to participate in discourse that could possibly lead to greater things for TKD.
At the very least, you and I should be united in our disgust that someone has been given rank in ANY martial art when they are clearly not worthy. I would be just as outraged if Obama had been given rank in Shotokan Karate, or even ITF Taekwon-Do. His lack of training, work, sacrifice, and suffering insults all of us who have gone through that process to earn what we wear around our waist.
To dismiss me simply because the Kukkiwon gave me my dan rank instead of the ITF is short-sighted and bordering on arrogance. Please reconsider your position and help eliminate meaningless barriers between our Taekwondo brothers and sisters, and take a pragmatic approach in the future. We are both martial artists, we have both trained hard, we both have things to teach each other, but we both have things to learn from one another.
Just means you believe the lie – it is not a “name”. General Choi created the name and art. Don’t you wonder why you use the same techniques with different names and WTF had to create different patterns. It’s a fraud, which was my point. No wonder they easily gave away a black belt. I mean you guys are masters at 4th degree – LOL! What a joke!
If you would pay attention, you would remember that the WTF has nothing to do with developing technique and curriculum. The Kukkiwon created the Taegeuk and Yudanja paoomsae. You criticize other styles of Taekwondo and yet you can’t even identify the correct group to criticize.
By your own previous statements, General Choi did not “create” Taekwondo. You yourself said he merely improved Karate. So which one is it?
::sigh:: I offered an olive branch and offered a chance for you to state your case. But you saw fit to slap it away, and be insulting. My conclusion is that you are a poor example of a martial artist. Taekwondo is no longer the issue. You are simply ignorant. I feel sorry for you.
Look Dunderhead, I do not get what you do not understand. An improving of Karate is the creation of a new art. And OK, yes your beloved Kukkiwon is the fraud then. Happy? I guess I have been remiss in focusing on the WTF when I should have pointed out that the WTF splintered into other groups too because everybody wanted to be boss. Now there is the ATA and TKD has even split into the muddled mix martial arts arena. And the ITF itself has splintered as well. There are very few the follow the true art and spirit and again this is why the President was given something for nothing. I wanted to distance the true art from the fraud.
ive lived in Korea for several years and study TKD.
first off Gen. Choi didnt create TKD he was just one of the main spearheads of the movement.
ITF TKD is communist TKD just because ITF has different rules doesnt mean that they dont still spar like sissies.
TKD is NOT an Improvement of Karate. ANY kick that is in TKD is in Friggin Karate.
alot of TKD fancy advanced kicks were COPIED from Karate and Kung Fu. the Kukkiwon hired people from the Karate
and XMA world to teach them the advanced kicks that they did not learn from the Taek’ kyon people.
“WTF” is the Sport committee side of TKD. so that was an inaccurate way to judge WTF affiliation.
if your an ITF guy an think your so much hot shyt then come over here to South Korea with your Commie Communist TKD
an spar against a Kukkiwon TKD or visit one of the military posts and spar one of the US or Korean TKD trained soldiers and see what happens to you.
TKD people and people who practice Korean martial arts in general need to stop making
ignorant remarks about Karate. theres so many different styles of Karate , I train with mainland Japanese and Okinawan Karate
guys who have the same kicking techniques as TKD if not better. Ignorance must be bliss for some folks.