We didn't start Obama...
This video is making the rounds where people sorta sing an Obama Barack speech that contains the refrain "Yes we can." It makes me wonder, am I being too cynical about Obama?
But Obama's speech is vacuous and it makes me think instead about this equally vacuous video from Billy Joel from the late 1980s, where his big line: "JFK blown away, what more do I have to say?" used to make me scream at my television screen, "Billy, you haven't said a damned thing." The song, "We Didn't Start the Fire", was merely a catlogue of names that mean nothing to anyone in the 21st Century.
Obama's speech about "women grabbing for the ballot" is vacuous because it tells us nothing about what policies Obama is even thinking about. Is he saying he'd support abortion rights when he says that? Is he saying he'd fund more Title IX programs? What does he mean?
Again, I wonder if I'm being too cynical for my own good. Then, I read this article by Alexander Cockburn and just sigh. I guess I'm voting for Edwards on Tuesday here in California after all...
posted by Mitchell J. Freedman @ 9:25 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
We are cynical and jaded about our government. Deep down though most Americans have this flickering flame of hope that someday our country can be united and our government can work for us once again some distant day. Obama is trying to rekindle that flame. It's not about policy details -- not yet. You have to unite and energize people first, then do the policy. That's where Hillary went wrong in 1993 when her health care reform failed miserably. She did the policy details but the people weren't engaged. Major change requires a popular ground swell. That's what motivates Congress to act.
Be inspired, dream about a better America, ride the Obama wave. There will be plenty of time for President Obama and Congress to work out the policy details later.
And then what do we do, Mitch? We really don't know how clean Edwards is. And look how well that cleanliness served Dennis. Is this Rezko guy worse than the myriad of stuff they can bring up against Hillary? Certainly Romney would have lots of ammo for him. I'm quite sure McCain, too. Can you get to a certain height in politics these days, and still be full of integrity? Just don't know... I just sigh too...
I'm feeling a bit better this morning, and perhaps I was too hasty in my sigh-ness last evening. Thanks, Pamela!
And to the first commenter above, I say thank you, too, but with this caveat: Americans already understand what's wrong. They need to be inspired to understand what they can do about it. The loss of the spirit of of the New Deal and Great Society is what needs rekindling, which is more than about "Yes we can" from an individual rights' perspective, which is what Obama's "Yes we can" speech is about.
I know FDR did not run on the New Deal in 1932, but somehow I still feel burned by thinking in 1992 that "If Rush Limbaugh thinks Clinton is a Communist, he must be a good FDR type liberal..." Was I ever wrong! And that is why I wonder about whether Obama governs as economically conservatively as Clinton. I just hope I'm wrong about Obama in the other direction...
I admire the hope Obama is inspiring, and I agree with Pam that he is less likely to be stuck with the corruption charge than Hillary. Still, my mother in law is already afraid that Obama is a secret Muslim because he didn't change his middle name of Hussein and what you learn in a Muslim country's school at age 6 seeps so deep into your psyche that it controls your views for the rest of your life. I wish I was making this up, but I'm not.
There are a couple of reasons why voters may not be able to bring themselves to vote for Obama, but we should not oppose him for that. I like him because his anti-war position is unequivocal, and that is the most important issue the next President will face.
I hope there is no movement to draft Gore. He was an ineffective Vice-president & terrible Presidential candidate. He should keep up his current good work.
IF, and that is such a gigantic word here, ...IF Obama does really energize the usually minimal youth vote in California tomorrow (almost always that is the lowest percentile demographic turn-out), and IF they DO make a difference, then we should all be very pleased to recognize that Obama does mean 'change' hopefully for the much better!!
He has shown in his earlier years more than a hint of real progressive, liberal views, including single pay health insurance. With a more liberal Congress that hopefully would 'ride his coattails,' we might yet see true universal health insurance in this last industrialized nation to enact same.
In ANY case, either Democrat will NOT appoint judges "like Alito and Roberts" -- as McCain has just again stated he would do!!
Bud
Post a Comment
<< Home