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Eminentoes
Obama Is Here to Teach Us
The Secret Pilgrim
It has been a long time since a teacher has become President in this country. Professor Woodrow Wilson of Princeton came to the post with ideals too lofty for prime time, and arguably did some real damage. Indeed Winston Churchill implied that Wilson's approach unwittingly laid the groundwork for World War II. Sunday School teacher Jimmy Carter came with a crabby disposition, a cranky rhetorical style and a creepy disdain for other opinions. His tenure brought the Republic to its knees, on the verge of losing its status as a great power.
Now we have University of Chicago Professor of Constitutional Law Barack Obama. Part of his appeal on Election Day was his vibe as the cool professor, the one guy who didn't put you totally to sleep and who could make impractical ideas sound romantic. So we give him the highest pulpit in the land, and stand ready to hear soaring flights of noble aspiration. Our ears our perked to hear the call to our better angels.
And what do we get instead? Sour grapes, poor-mouthing, downers, doomsaying, negativism, and bile. Yeah, the hope and change may show up, but way on down the road.
Frankly, I think the President's statements, his general tone, have been nothing less than vile. We can prove this by imagining the alternative. Honestly, now, even if like me you are no fan of Obama, you could have been won over, at least in the short term, if he used the Reagan playbook. Say he stood up on January 20 and issued a broad appeal to the nation to come together in a commitment to a shared optimism. Yesterday's finances, yesterday's troubles, we yesterday, today can be different. This is the point -- we thought so, anyway -- of The Audacity of Hope. He could have asked people to have faith and buy the new home, the new car, though staying within reasonable budgets. He could have asked businesses to suspend their planned layoffs for six months, to give new policies and a new spirit a chance to lift their sagging fortunes.
Now a hardheaded accountant type may argue that businesses would do what they needed to do and not respond favorably to such a request. In actuality, the business cycle is hostage to national mood, which is why consumer confidence is seen as the key indicator of an economy. The front you put up is a big part of salesmanship. There is no doubt that many businesses would have stepped up and held off their downsizing. Some would announce the decision, hoping to benefit from the publicity, and others would get on board more quietly. Believe it or not, that kind of direct call to the nation would itself have put a trillion new dollars into the economy, maybe more. Such is the power of the Presidency and such is the power of the good will that was directed toward incoming President Obama.
In place of this we get short-term despair and long-term sorta maybe optimism, contingent on giving his administration a trillion dollars to reward old friends and buy new ones. We must sign on to his whole agenda, and we must prostrate ourselves before his throne. On top of all that, this teacher has many preachy lessons for us backward types. We must stop our partisan bickering and narrow self-interest and parochial jingoism and patriotic chauvinism and ethnocentrism and irresponsible financial behavior. This professor ain't cool, he's cold… and a scold.
How about some talk about our national virtues, or don't we have any? Apparently, Obama says, he must "remake America." I never thought I would be looking back on Jimmy Carter's rhetoric with nostalgia.
I hear a lot of audacity in Barack Obama but very little real hope.
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Crypto-Conservative| 2.10.09 @ 8:34AM
IBM and other companies are aligned with Obama is spreading this same narrative. As just one example, IBM states in global strategy presentations that they see the US and Europe as declining markets. As reported in NY , IBM is telling laid off staff that they can reapply for their jobs overseas - i.e. India. The technological and market leadership is being taken over by India, China, South America (Brazil), eastern Europe (once Russia but Putin's reeling economy is slowing that) and Africa. These companies are shifting resources, investments and attention east and south. At the same time, they are supporting the massive bailouts AND government spending mandates as a chance to reap billions in sales revenues and profits that will be reinvested away from the US.
Sweet William| 2.10.09 @ 9:21AM
Wilson would not let reality interfere with his ideology and prejudices. It is not generally known but he set race relations in the US back 25-40 years. At the start of his term the US military was almost integrated. In fact the Navy had polyglot crews. A large fraction of Roosevelt's army at San Juan Hill were American Negro calavery regiments. The Federal civil service in Washington, DC was merit based and people of color were supervisors over whites. Wilson changed all this. His wife did her symbolic duty by renewing the "colored" signs on DC water founts.
Robert| 2.10.09 @ 9:25AM
The Audacity of Hope got this bozo elected. The Audacity of Armageddon will aggrandize the power over our freedoms the collectivists have been dreaming about since the dawn of the US of A.
It has happened and we have no one but ourselves to blame. Democracy has sown the seeds of its destruction and now the seeds have sprouted.
Gill O'Teen| 2.10.09 @ 10:32AM
Jay, I sense that your heart is troubled. You need the peace and joy that Obama brings. Bow your head and pray with me.
First Prayer for the Age of Obama written in year 1 of his audacious reign:
Heil Obama, who art in Washington,
Hallowed be your Fame.
Your kingdom won.
Your will be done,
In the red states as it is in Congress.
Give us this day our mortgage paid.
And forgive us our conservative talk radio,
As we condemn those who speak out against You.
And lead us not into depression,
But deliver us from the evil Bush.
For Yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the Senate,
for at least another 4 years.
Amen.
Second Prayer for the Age of Obama written in year 1 of his audacious reign:
Heil Barry, full of compassion.
The Lord has anointed You.
Blessed are You among humans,
and blessed is the fruit of Your mind,
Genius.
Holy Barry, Father of Hope and Change,
pray for us lemmings,
now and at the hour of our plunge.
Amen.
Third Prayer for the Age of Obama written in year 1 of his audacious reign:
Glory be to the Obama, the Pelosi and the Harry Reid
As it was in Chicago, is now, and ever shall be, government without end. Amen.
First Psalm for the Age of Obama written in year 1 of his audacious reign:
Obama is my shepherd,
I shall not want;
He lies me down in green pastures.
He leads me beside receding waters;
He restores my climate.
He leads me down paths of shared wealth
for His fame's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of Bush,
I fear no evil
for I now have free health care;
His brilliance and His Staff, they comfort me.
Surely his goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in a house without mortgage forever.
Repeat as often as need to de-agitate your thoughts. May the peace and love of our all merciful Protector be with you and yours forever!
Gill
Motown Mike| 2.10.09 @ 11:48AM
Obama says "Follow me and you will be a great nation."
Reagan said: "You are a great nation. Follow me."
David Govett| 2.10.09 @ 1:10PM
A wise man knows he knows little and solicits advice from others. An intellectual is not necessarily wise, or even common-sensical.
megapotamus| 2.10.09 @ 3:08PM
I guess I have more faith in the power of reality to drill some sense into our fellow citizens. In Barack's Hawaii a couple years ago they inflicted a single-payer state system, just for children mind you, on the populace. Hawaii is as blue as states come and with built in revenue streams both interstate and international as well as a tiny population so this should have been an easy lay-up right? Wrongo. The whole mess didn't last seven months. And we can be certain that SOME of the good citizens of Hawaii have learned something about free lunches and free-dom. Sadly this sort of fiasco will have to be replayed to a larger audience. Happily, that is on stage now.
Raving Rabbi| 2.10.09 @ 7:46PM
Gill O'Teen, thanks to you and your brother Guy for your inspirational readings from the Him-'n-all! My head's off - I mean, my hat's off - to you!
Jay, you must realize the left mindset: "Those Republicans know deep in their hearts that their policies are selfish and help only them, the rich and privileged. So, for the sake of the country, they should stop objecting to our unselfish giveaways with their hard-hearted partisanship." He's young yet, maybe he'll learn!
Go, Bro!
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Toby Katz| 2.17.09 @ 4:19AM
1. Carter wasn't the last teacher in the White House. Bill Clinton taught law school. And there is no doubt in my mind that he was a way better teacher than Obama. Which leads me to....
2. Obama is not a great speaker, he is a dull and boring speaker, especially without the teleprompter. The king has no clothes. I just can't understand what people are getting excited about. I say this as a person who had no respect for Bill Clinton and certainly did not vote for him -- but Clinton had charisma. You could listen to him talk - it might have all been an act but he was smooth and charming. Obama is a dull fellow. Uh, uh, uh, aaaa...nd, aaaa...nd, uh, uh.
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