In the spirit of a day off, I figured we could branch out into the ...."real world."
Scary, huh?
Actually this topic is thrilling and exciting....one could say that is full of "the audacity of hope."
Yes, I am talking about Sen. Barack Obama. If you have not read his speech last night, please do so now. I can not EVER remember hearing a politician talk like that. He truly is THE ONLY PERSON in the world that could have given that speech....a speech that I believe will be referred to for MANY years to come. Never before have I witnessed such pure presidential leadership. Finally a political campaign that is causing America to discuss IMPORTANT topics, and, perhaps more importantly, a campaign that makes one believe that change is possible. Even if Senator Obama fails to become president (remember life mocks me!) his contribution to this time is HUGE.
Read the speech and make someone else read it too.
5 comments:
My first thought was "I am loathe to mix politics and baseball." Then I looked at the history of my own posting, specifically in regards to BLB, steroids, the media, MLB, blogging, etc. In other words, politics pervade everything, even our sacred escapist hobby. I did read the speech this morning, and I suppose I ought to listen to it for its full impact. It is a remarkable and articulate re-stating of the American Dream. I will admit to thinking Obama was a lightweight, but he has shown much depth of character and intellect lately, and I'm beginning to appreciate that about him. I'd sure like to have his faith in America's future. Perhaps my lack of religious faith makes that difficult.
The speech is powerful, perhaps we will be reading it in context of some of the greatest American orations of all time. What most impresses me, however, is not the quality of the words themselves, but, first off, a willingness to confront the issue of Rev. Wright's speech directly, without trying to evade the issue, or say that he hadn't heard it, or that he used to know Rev. Wright but the man had changed. He said quite directly that this guy is linked to me, and that is not going to change. I find this alone impressive, although I'm betting his "handlers" may have counseled against it as not being the "safest" route. This took integrity, which, of course, is broadly lacking in politics and increasingly lacking the higher the office, and it took guts.
Somewhat more broadly, he took on the issues of political sniping - Geraldine Ferraro's comments among them, and characterized them for what they are, sniping that distracts from important, difficult issues. Does anyone really think that Ferraro's comments either influenced anyone to vote for Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama?
Unfortunately, it is the mainstream (and other) media that stirs those superficial pots, and they are not about to stop. In fact, they were already tripping all over themselves to "explain" the speech and "its impact" so, of course, we don't have to think about it. Or actually hear it.
So here is what I dare to hope. I hope that there are enough people listening to this speech, and are willing to think about it, so that the pollsters are again taken by surprise, and their projections based on demographics are again flawed, and we make up our minds on what kind of president one of three (or more) individuals would make based on their qualifications, their ideas, and their leadership potential, and their integrity. People making up their own minds after some serious thought! What's more, I hope that people can recognize that the safe bland, try-to-please-everyone type of politics are nothing more than packaging to entice buyers revealing what is inside. Sen. Obama's speech goes beyond that, I hope people notice.
Great comments Zo!!
I spent all day telling everyone (not students cuz I'm a chicken) about the speech. I'm glad that you think it is as important as I do.
Here's a link to the video:
A MORE PERFECT UNION
You should watch it if you have not.
I actually just watched the speech in its entirety before checking out RMC. It was great, of course, but I'd heard so much about it I wasn't surprised.I'm already totally on that bandwagon, especially after having just read "Dreams From My Father."
I have one complaint about his speech: he talks about cynicism like it's a bad thing. And another thing: why does he have to be a christian anyway? I hope to live to see the day when America elects its first openly atheist president.
Brother Bob
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