After listening to his speech, I got the feeling that whether or not "his promises" come to fruition or not depend largely on our ability to work together to make our country and the world a better place.
Regardless of anything that divides us we will share the future together and so will our children.
Lets work together and try to make the best possible future for all of us.
Yes, b-hal: we have to wake up and realize that our politicians do what they do (or don't) because we either hold them accountable or don't.
One of the most moving elements in President-Elect Obama's speech last night was his reiteration of the truth that government can't solve all our problems. We bear much of the responsibility to make of our nation what we want it to be.
If a significant portion of us just sit back sulking and wait for President-Elect Obama to fail, he will. He's asking that we come together. He's advocating policies that seek to re-communalize our sundered communities. He knows that he doesn't have a landslide mandate, that he needs Republicans and Libertarians and Independents and disenchanted Democrats to rally to the cry of unity.
President-Elect Obama (I just LOVE saying that!) won't be able to do a thing if we as a country can't come together and help heal the rifts both at home and abroad.
I love barbecue. Won't you come have some with me?
and on that note, rd, there was an article in either the wsj or the washington post (dc not state) about how americans' treatment of bush has been disgraceful. he couldn't win because no matter what he did he either disappointed the right or angered the left and nobody would compromise. i'm trying to find the link to paste in.
ah found it. you can read it here let me know if it asks for a login and i'll paste it into my blog.
rd, yes i agree. too much a and not enough b. even now, there is a lot of "we support candidate x because of [insert characteristic that has nothing to do with the issues, ie race, gender, etc]" i will also try not to be hypocritical. and at LEAST more politically aware than i have been in the past.
mmm...bbq...i'm hungry...
ps miss kitti i'm happy that you're happy! and i'm happy too!
With regards to A and B. I think it is also the candidate/president's responsibility to make sincere efforts to work across division lines. President Bush showed that he was neither interested or willing to do this. He frequent veto threats and willingness to circumvent the legislative branch provide ample evidence of this.
We will see if Mr. Obama will be any better, my hope is that he will. If he fails to do so, I think B is justified (though obviously not ideal).
I teared up during the acceptance speech last night. The feelings of hope he inspired were overwhelming. I too went to sleep a happy, and relieved, camper.
I also felt very inspired by his speech last night. I think that his ability to inspire will, in part, help him bring this country together and deliver on most of his promises.
I think McCain also gave a good speech and it was too bad that we couldn't see more of that side of him during the campaign.
I'm happy, too, Miss K. I'm also an optimist who really wants Obama to be successful. His promises seem sincere to me. He doesn't seem self-serving. I think he truly wants to do whatever he can to make good things happen for the American people. Did anyone else notice some somberness in his demeanor last night after he was declared the winner? Maybe he was just battle weary after a long campaign, but his smile looked to me as though he has already begun to feel the burdens he faces.
Annie - I agree with the article you referenced. We as a people are too often utterly disgraceful, totally lacking in good taste in how we say whatever ugly thing comes into our head, no matter who it hurts.
Annie, I finally had a moment to read the WSJ editorial, and I have to say that while Shapiro is right about our culture in general exhibiting boorishniess, I think he's really out to lunch on most of what he says about President Bush.
I may be obtuse, but how can a President be "standing by us" when the vast majority of us disapprove of his policies and administration of the government? Shapiro makes Pres. Bush out to be an underappreciated (misunderestimated?) genius to our slavering philistinism (ie, we only disapprove of him because we're too dumb to see that Father knows best).
So that while I agree that some of what Pres. Bush's reputation has suffered is due to our needing someone to blame for the myriad woes we've in part brought upon ourselves and for which no president could be reasonably held to account, I do not agree that future scholars will look back upon him or his presidency with increasing respect.
rd, i don't necessarily agree with the article, particularly how he compared bush to truman. i don't really know much about truman's presidency or popularity, but in 25 years, i'll still disagree with most of bush's presidential decisions, even if the history books decide he's a hero in 25 years. what i DID like about it was the idea that, like you and b-hal said, politicians' promises can only come to fruition if we as a people work together and hold them accountable. and i think the general disapproval of bush is exactly what that is. however, i DO think we can be diplomatic in how we voice our disapproval and i think that a lot of what is going on right now is really just kicking someone when he's down and not at all helpful in starting a dialogue or making things better. hopefully our new president will be able to, at the VERY least, lay a foundation for this. it will be interesting to see how things unfold for obama and who turns on him if things don't go the way we hope they will.
I think we're mostly on the same page, Annie, esp. regarding principles of solidarity and personal accountability.
It's still really hard for me to feel much (read: any) sympathy for Pres. Bush, though, given the incredible swathes of destruction his administration and its hubris has cut through our world. Maybe I'll get there at some point.
Re the article referenced by Annie, I reread it just now and find that what jumps out at me is not that the author portrays Bush as a genius (because I think most of us would agree that he is not) but rather as the butt of tasteless, tacky and boorish remarks that say more about the sayer than the target. Proposing to name a sewage plant after him? That's just potty talk. Is our national vocabulary so limited? I think we can be a better people than that. And that's what I took away from the article.
OK. But I DO agree with you on some things about Bush. I don't like him, for one. I didn't like his swagger (think landing on the aircraft carrier in the flight suit), his refusal to admit the truth about Iraq, his vice-presidential pick, his (in your words) "Father Knows Best" attitude. I guess I'm a little biased that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth because I don't think he'd have been elected president if he hadn't been born a Bush. (Look at Obama's roots in contrast--even Bill Clinton's.) Etc. Etc. My beef recently has just been our American incivility, the cruelty and inaccuracies we use to argue our politics, not helped along any by the likes of Sean Hannity, et. al. I guess I'm just weary of the long campaign we've just endured--interesting as it was. I like reading and look forward to your posts and comments. Yes I do!
So, since I had a minute to spare tonight between writing my PhD dissertation in nuclear physics, putting the triplets to bed, running the school board, making a quilt a day for the homeless shelter and creating tasty new recipes from my food storage, I thought I'd start a blog. Just an inane one. No big deal.* If you have a spare minute, too, you might look for it at dointhelaundry.blogspot.com
*literalmente--in every sense of this word--and it has no hope of being any more than it is right here, right now. Just warnin' ya.
23 comments:
I'm happy for you that you're happy, really! Congratulations, and may God continue to bless America!!
I'll be happy for you tomorrow, give me a day!
And for our country's sake I hope that he can deliver on most of his promises.
Me too! I wish we could have been together to party last night.
After listening to his speech, I got the feeling that whether or not "his promises" come to fruition or not depend largely on our ability to work together to make our country and the world a better place.
Regardless of anything that divides us we will share the future together and so will our children.
Lets work together and try to make the best possible future for all of us.
Erika, you are a total sweetheart. Thanks for being friends.
I have to say, McCain gave a great speech. I am really impressed by his attitude.
B-Hal, I agree. We all need to work together.
Yes, b-hal: we have to wake up and realize that our politicians do what they do (or don't) because we either hold them accountable or don't.
One of the most moving elements in President-Elect Obama's speech last night was his reiteration of the truth that government can't solve all our problems. We bear much of the responsibility to make of our nation what we want it to be.
If a significant portion of us just sit back sulking and wait for President-Elect Obama to fail, he will. He's asking that we come together. He's advocating policies that seek to re-communalize our sundered communities. He knows that he doesn't have a landslide mandate, that he needs Republicans and Libertarians and Independents and disenchanted Democrats to rally to the cry of unity.
President-Elect Obama (I just LOVE saying that!) won't be able to do a thing if we as a country can't come together and help heal the rifts both at home and abroad.
I love barbecue. Won't you come have some with me?
and on that note, rd, there was an article in either the wsj or the washington post (dc not state) about how americans' treatment of bush has been disgraceful. he couldn't win because no matter what he did he either disappointed the right or angered the left and nobody would compromise. i'm trying to find the link to paste in.
I'm totally guilty of this, annie, with the previous administration.
So am I a hypocrite? Yes. But I'm going to do my best not to be from now on. (Yes, I can.)
I do think, however, that there's a qualitative difference between saying:
a) "He better keep his promises" and then sitting back and doing nothing to help, blaming him for his failures.
and saying:
b) "I really don't like what he's promising--I think those promises are bad ideas," and actively opposing those plans.
What I'm hearing today is a lot of (a), and not so much (b). That is, it seems that there's a lot of cynicism without criticism.
ah found it. you can read it here let me know if it asks for a login and i'll paste it into my blog.
rd, yes i agree. too much a and not enough b. even now, there is a lot of "we support candidate x because of [insert characteristic that has nothing to do with the issues, ie race, gender, etc]" i will also try not to be hypocritical. and at LEAST more politically aware than i have been in the past.
mmm...bbq...i'm hungry...
ps miss kitti i'm happy that you're happy! and i'm happy too!
With regards to A and B. I think it is also the candidate/president's responsibility to make sincere efforts to work across division lines. President Bush showed that he was neither interested or willing to do this. He frequent veto threats and willingness to circumvent the legislative branch provide ample evidence of this.
We will see if Mr. Obama will be any better, my hope is that he will. If he fails to do so, I think B is justified (though obviously not ideal).
I teared up during the acceptance speech last night. The feelings of hope he inspired were overwhelming. I too went to sleep a happy, and relieved, camper.
I also felt very inspired by his speech last night. I think that his ability to inspire will, in part, help him bring this country together and deliver on most of his promises.
I think McCain also gave a good speech and it was too bad that we couldn't see more of that side of him during the campaign.
I'm happy, too, Miss K. I'm also an optimist who really wants Obama to be successful. His promises seem sincere to me. He doesn't seem self-serving. I think he truly wants to do whatever he can to make good things happen for the American people. Did anyone else notice some somberness in his demeanor last night after he was declared the winner? Maybe he was just battle weary after a long campaign, but his smile looked to me as though he has already begun to feel the burdens he faces.
Annie - I agree with the article you referenced. We as a people are too often utterly disgraceful, totally lacking in good taste in how we say whatever ugly thing comes into our head, no matter who it hurts.
Annie, I finally had a moment to read the WSJ editorial, and I have to say that while Shapiro is right about our culture in general exhibiting boorishniess, I think he's really out to lunch on most of what he says about President Bush.
I may be obtuse, but how can a President be "standing by us" when the vast majority of us disapprove of his policies and administration of the government? Shapiro makes Pres. Bush out to be an underappreciated (misunderestimated?) genius to our slavering philistinism (ie, we only disapprove of him because we're too dumb to see that Father knows best).
So that while I agree that some of what Pres. Bush's reputation has suffered is due to our needing someone to blame for the myriad woes we've in part brought upon ourselves and for which no president could be reasonably held to account, I do not agree that future scholars will look back upon him or his presidency with increasing respect.
rd, i don't necessarily agree with the article, particularly how he compared bush to truman. i don't really know much about truman's presidency or popularity, but in 25 years, i'll still disagree with most of bush's presidential decisions, even if the history books decide he's a hero in 25 years. what i DID like about it was the idea that, like you and b-hal said, politicians' promises can only come to fruition if we as a people work together and hold them accountable. and i think the general disapproval of bush is exactly what that is. however, i DO think we can be diplomatic in how we voice our disapproval and i think that a lot of what is going on right now is really just kicking someone when he's down and not at all helpful in starting a dialogue or making things better. hopefully our new president will be able to, at the VERY least, lay a foundation for this. it will be interesting to see how things unfold for obama and who turns on him if things don't go the way we hope they will.
Wow, you guys are good. Am I related to you? YES I AM! (That's sorta like Yes We Can)
I think we're mostly on the same page, Annie, esp. regarding principles of solidarity and personal accountability.
It's still really hard for me to feel much (read: any) sympathy for Pres. Bush, though, given the incredible swathes of destruction his administration and its hubris has cut through our world. Maybe I'll get there at some point.
Re the article referenced by Annie, I reread it just now and find that what jumps out at me is not that the author portrays Bush as a genius (because I think most of us would agree that he is not) but rather as the butt of tasteless, tacky and boorish remarks that say more about the sayer than the target. Proposing to name a sewage plant after him? That's just potty talk. Is our national vocabulary so limited? I think we can be a better people than that. And that's what I took away from the article.
Well, Neesh, I guess we'll just have to disagree. Tastelessly, tackily boorishly yours.
OK. But I DO agree with you on some things about Bush. I don't like him, for one. I didn't like his swagger (think landing on the aircraft carrier in the flight suit), his refusal to admit the truth about Iraq, his vice-presidential pick, his (in your words) "Father Knows Best" attitude. I guess I'm a little biased that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth because I don't think he'd have been elected president if he hadn't been born a Bush. (Look at Obama's roots in contrast--even Bill Clinton's.) Etc. Etc. My beef recently has just been our American incivility, the cruelty and inaccuracies we use to argue our politics, not helped along any by the likes of Sean Hannity, et. al. I guess I'm just weary of the long campaign we've just endured--interesting as it was. I like reading and look forward to your posts and comments. Yes I do!
what mom said.
So, since I had a minute to spare tonight between writing my PhD dissertation in nuclear physics, putting the triplets to bed, running the school board, making a quilt a day for the homeless shelter and creating tasty new recipes from my food storage, I thought I'd start a blog. Just an inane one. No big deal.* If you have a spare minute, too, you might look for it at dointhelaundry.blogspot.com
*literalmente--in every sense of this word--and it has no hope of being any more than it is right here, right now. Just warnin' ya.
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