Thursday 13 January 2011
Barry O rises to the occasion
yes I know I have been disparaging about President Obama in the past. I know I did not support him as candidate (and oddly got a lot of nasty pornographic comments from his alleged supporters). I know I thought, and think, that he has character issues and is flaky on policy. I know I think that he has not followed through on the promises made, and hence on the hopes of many. But I also know that no elected representative can keep all the promises they make. And I know that President Obama, in his speech after the Arizona murders, did the very best thing. He told us what was best about America. I hadn't known, until I read the speech, that Christina Taylor Green, the nine-year-old girl who was murdered, was born on September 11th 2001. But I remember the solidarity there was in Europe after those terrorist murders with the people of the USA. My American niece visited me in Reading exactly a year later and we went to a special church service (at Greyfriars church as it happens, the views of whose congregation are not mine) where they draped the American flag behind the altar. (My niece was a little shocked to see the flag draped incorrectly and with one corner trailing on the floor, but how were they to know). Much was made of my niece, simply because she was American. Well, that didn't last. Only Israel is more demonised than the the USA by the chattering classes these days. But read President Obama's speech here and think about the best of America.
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6 comments:
Gore Vidal, heard on BBC World Service a week or so ago, repeated his view that the American Empire is dieing, and also opined (yuk: Americanism) that Obama is not intelligent enough.
Oh for God's sake - Gore who? So yesterday and so never was. If anybody has had people hanging on their coat tails of the nonentity variety it is Jack Kennedy.
And as he has been long dead, he can hardly disassociate himself from the third rank such as Gore Vidal.
I did support Barack Obama and do support him - and think that he said the right things - as he does.
I also expect that some loon in America is planning a Dallas-style 'future' for him - and sincerely hope that it can be avoided. We don't need him to join JFK any time soon.
Don't worry dreamingspire. The OED dates "opine" back to 1450, and other citations are Aphra Behn, Trollope and Scott. Incidentally, Scott is the second most cited author in the dictionary after Shakespeare. As Jane would say: Interesting, hein?
To be relevant, Obama's speech was excellent.
Excellent indeed. This is why he is the President - he rises to the occasion and the famous 'cool' is really a rational head.
Nobody becomes a great President from day one. You grow into it. That's what he is doing.
Amen to that. In 2008, the US had two presidential candidates both worthy of the great office to which they aspired.
Obama has imperfections, and his extraordinary life story may have given him false pointers as well well as good ones, but he has the grace, dignity and clearness of mind - that's what "coolness" is - to rise to the challenges his nation faces.
Agree.
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