…because he makes appeals to both sides. *Yuk yuk yuk, sexual orientation is a social construction*
Watch his September 8th, 2011 speech on “The American Jobs Act” below and see what I mean- what can I say? Politicians going both ways turns me on.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5f-FwN2ZJs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Highlights from speech:
8:15 “No more bridges to nowhere” Palin reference
12:31 “I know that some of you may have sworn oaths to never raise any taxes on anyone for as long as you live” Bush Sr. reference
12:38 Speaker Boehner’s laugh
Oft-repeated refrain: “Pass this bill,” “Pass this jobs bill” and at 9:01, “You should pass it right away”
21:46 “If Americans can buy Kias and Hyundais, I want to see folks in South Korea driving Fords and Chevys and Chryslers,” said with a Southern twang
32:14 “Our problems are man-made. Therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants.” JFK quote…what does that last part mean?
It ends on a wonderful, climactic, aggressive note that is even a tad too nationalistic for my taste. (Who says America is the best country in the world? Best in terms of what? Hasn’t anyone learned anything from Head of State?)
I think this is the optimism and inspiration people have been waiting for to re-energize the country. Even if you don’t agree with his politics, you have to admit he makes a good argument for working together across political boundaries.
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Class of 2013
Writes crosswords for the Blowfish
Writes sketches for Boris' Kitchen
Writes show reviews for Justice Arts
Does improv in her free time
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Author: elly
Class of 2013
Writes crosswords for the Blowfish
Writes sketches for Boris' Kitchen
Writes show reviews for Justice Arts
Does improv in her free time
View all posts by elly
Did you watch the Republican debate? The only question there was whether the corporate tax rate should be 9 or 0%. There are no good right-wing ideas these days.
The right wing will move further to the right as Obama moves further to the right. And he was never worth anything to begin with, but holy heck has he jumped the shark.
Things in Washington are totally out of whack. The good of the people is not being considered. The Republicans are only thinking of strategies to get a Republican into the White House. Obama’s speech was an appeal to both sides to do obvious and easy and practical and non-partisan things to help us in the next few months. ANyone who fights these suggestions is a fool.
The only way to fix things is to get both sides on board. I believe it’s possible to be progressive but also hear and value other points of view, in order to come up with the best solution diplomatically. Besides being the most sensitive way, that is also the only practical way, since the more liberal Obama sounds the more militant and refusing to compromise the right-wing becomes.
In this post I did not critique his ideas, but rather his tone, you are right. I think tone and public messages/attitudes are equally as important as ideas. One of the many reasons Gore did not win the election was because he got a reputation for not being a good communicator, regardless of the value of his policies.
I don’t understand how you can pretend to blog from a progressive perspective while advocating a middle-ground position as the best one. Honestly. This isn’t an ad-hom, I just want to know what you find useful about appealing to both sides of American political discourse.
The fact that you care about tone more than meaning suggests you have little horse in the race. That speech was a pure act in high comedy. It was like getting punched in the face with a very nice boxing glove.
If he’s going to pay for his plan with tax hikes and cuts to medicare, then it provides no Keynesian stimulus, if you even believe in that kind of thing. The best part of his speech was that Obama mentioned some infrastructure repair, which is nice but is so commonsensical that it doesn’t count as an appeal to the left. There was no appeal to the left. Infrastructure repairs are incredibly popular among the American population. His appeal to the right was cutting taxes on business and cutting medicare.