I heard Obama giving this speech on television and it made me want to stand up alone in the living room and start clapping.
He is being criticized for borrowing oratory from someone else. “It’s true that speeches don’t solve all problems,” he said. “But what is also true if we cannot inspire the country to believe again, it doesn’t matter how many policies and plans we have.”
Right he is.
If he can be as pursuasive at the negotiating table as he is on stage, he very well might get better results than resorting to military force. Could it be that the incumbent president has to wage wars to compensate for being, shall we say, somewhat limited in his use of the mother tongue?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Just Words
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4 comments:
Hoots, you're assuming that Obama has the same core morality as you and I. But actually, he is very much in the mold of the socialist leaders of Western Europe. He believes in government largesse, which necessitates the redistribution of wealth by compulsion.
Some irresponsible folks have fallen for the lie that he's a Muslim sleeper, when the real problem is that he's an overt socialist.
Blieve me when I say I understand what you mean. I have been living in suburban Atlanta (Cobb and Cherokee Counties) for the last two and a half decades. The Fifth Congressional District sent Newt to the House and was the home of many solid Conservatives. Lester and Virginia Maddox were frequently among my customers and knew me by name.
However...(you knew this was coming)...
I, too, harbor some of the ideas you mentioned and I have heard them maligned by well-meaning people for years. I favor Social Security and believe that efforts to torpedo that safety net are dangerously misguided. I think a progressive income tax (a nakedly Communist idea, you know) is both good and necessary, especially when the multiple of earnings separating those at the top from those at the entry level continues to rise. My mother and father were (in my mother's case, in a nursing home) both beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid, two of the largest of government "largesse" programs. Come to think of it, I was beneficiary of the G.I. bill when I was in college. Oh, and my pension is safe thanks to PBGC (privately funded, they say, but government run... think Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac) because the company from which I retired declared bankruptcy. And is the Federal Reserve private or government or some kind of amphibian?
Sorry, Jim. The word "socialist" doesn't alarm me as it once did.
If Barack Obama as president tries to turn America into a Socialist Paradise, there are plenty of patriotic people like those among whom I live who will stand in his way. If he screws up, there are remedies. If impeachment can be sought for a blow job, surely more serious misbehavior can trigger the same remedy if people can't wait until the next election.
Dear Friend and Naked Communist,
As a former president would say, "I feel your pain." However, I believe one of the main reasons for the income gap you noted is that those at the entry level are becoming more and more dependent upon government help, and hence do not develop the same skill sets they might otherwise develop. It is a basic truth that the more external government one lives under (voluntarily or not) the less that person's self-government is developed.
I cringe when I hear both Obama and Clinton refer to various privileges as basic rights, and to hear them constantly call for government help for "our children," because government "help" invariably involves government intrusion. Probably the worst statement is from one of Hillary's commercials, where she promises to "worry every day" about "your needs." Sheesh, she wants to be our mommy!
But that is the spirit of the nanny state, not Big Brother, but Big Mother.
Your Naked Arch-conservative Blog Buddy
In principle I agree. But a thirty year management career working with "those at the entry level" (cafeterias are not famous for paying well) has not convinced me that government assistance--intrusion, if you will--is all that bad. Rants in a comment thread will not change much (links in my other comment, for example) so this is a case where we can agree to disagree and remain friends.
Two more links to think about:
►Just this morning I listened to a feature on the radio about childhood development underscoring the imporance of "child's play" in cognitive development, particularly of what is called "executive functions." Another way to say self-control. It goes directly to your point regarding "self-government" and has nothing to do with politics or money.
►Katrina was a case study in government responsibility. My comments about that are here. Think of them as reflections of a naked communist. (And thanks for your reading and followup)
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