Speaking in Prague last month about North Korea’s recent test launch of a ballistic missile, President Obama sternly said that “Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.”
It would be pretty to think so. Certainly, North Korea had violated UN Security Council resolutions 1695 and 1718, which explicitly prohibited its launching of ballistic missiles, among much else. Thoughtful observers, I believe, understand exactly what UN Security Council resolutions mean–i.e., nothing, unless it be fodder for a grim sort of comedy.
But here we had the President of the United States, not only fantasizing about a nuclear-free world but also assuring us that “Words must mean something.”
What do they mean for President Obama? During his campaign, Obama made more than 500 promises. By one account, he has to date kept 28 of those promises, taken no action on more than 400, and broken 6 promises, including the key promise not to sign any “non-emergency” bill “without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.” Obama called this “sunlight before signing.” What we’ve had, though, is signing before moonshine.
The website Politifact.com keeps useful eye on the veracity of American politicians of all political stripes, and its “Truth-o-Meter” ratings are well worth looking at. If are as jaded as I am, your response to its findings will be one of disappointment but not surprise.
But let’s return to President Obama’s declaration that “Words must mean something.” I think, I fear, that his own words mean something and that even if he breaks many of the promises he made during his campaign he will make good on his larger effort to make the United States poorer, less secure, and less free than it was when he took the reins of power. He is certainly off to a good start on accomplishing all that.
Last October, Obama declared to his followers that they were only a few days away “from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
I think he meant it then and everything he has done since January 20 corroborates the melancholy realization that the complexities of office have done nothing to temper his zeal to bring radical change to the richest, freest, most powerful nation in history.
As I contemplate which of those achievements Obama will attack first. It is too early to say for sure, but his 100-day blitz, just completed, suggests a close competition between focusing the liberal wrecking ball on the country’s wealth, as the foundation for all the other things he dislikes, and on the country’s freedom, which makes dissent, and therefore alternatives, possible. A diminution in the country’s power and security will follow suit.
“Words must mean something.” Indeed. But when powerful politicians set about bringing fundamental transformation to a hitherto stable democracy, the meanings of words begin to shift and change. This is something the great general and historian Thucydides noticed happening to Athens when it went through its own moment of “hope and change” during its long and bitter war with Sparta. “To fit in with the change of events,” he wrote, “words, too, had to change their meaning. What used to be described as a thoughtless act of aggression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one’s unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action.”
Political ferment naturally begets semantic mutation. Words must mean something. But exactly what often depends upon those defining the context in which they appear. That is why a people’s credulousness regularly gives way to cynicism. I’d say we’re right on the cusp of that metamorphosis. It will be instructive to see how the narcissist-in-chief responds to that alteration.
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65 Comments
1. Professor Guvinoff:How wonderful it would be for this analysis to be mistaken! Unfortunately, there are many facts confirming it.
Last year there were many indications (personal associations, hiding all he could while professing a historic breakthrough in transparency, repudiating his own grand-mother, getting involved in the politics of Kenya, etc…) that the man was thinking like an agent of subversion. Now, he is behaving like one, even personally threatening and firing business executives.
Fortunately, he is also trying to talk down the significance of the tea parties, only to further energize them. This man is dangerous. We better get practical about identifying his vulnerabilities.
May 4, 2009 - 11:46 am 2. Obama and a lesson from Thucydides « Cliftonchadwick’s Blog:[...] Obama and a lesson from Thucydides Filed under: Diplomacy, Foreign Policy, History, Politics — cliftonchadwick @ 4:42 am Just so we won’t have too much levity on this blog, here is a serious piece from Roger Kimball. [...]
May 4, 2009 - 9:42 pm 3. Pajamas Media » Do Obama’s Words Really “Mean Something?”:[...] Read the entire piece here. [...]
May 5, 2009 - 2:29 am 4. LeighB:“Words must mean something.”
Words are a funny thing to our President. He seems more comfortable if they are not his own. His preferred method of communication is to read from a teleprompter. During the campaign, he reprised a “Deval Patrick classic”, although the original was better. Many people believe he did not write his books (or write them alone). Since he has not written anything else, no legislation, no article for a journal, nothing to get promoted from law lecturer to assistant professor, perhaps these people are on to something.
The President would love us to just listen to his words while he does the opposite. The “gift” he was really talking about with Reid is his gift to deceive. To manipulate. To hide in plain sight.
His words and actions are unlikely to be consistent. How will history judge him? Not just the words. Actions must mean something too.
May 5, 2009 - 3:53 am 5. Vaughn:Here’s two words for the ‘Big O’, that mean something……….F**K YOU.
May 5, 2009 - 3:54 am 6. Paul -Indiana:Why is it that we could see through this shyster from the early part of the campaign, but so many people are still in denial concerning Obambi’s true objectives?
May 5, 2009 - 5:17 am 7. Marsha:Isn’t President Obama wonderful? Of course words mean things, silly! The thing is, when normal people say things, they usually speak to specific things. When, The One, President Obama speaks, his words are so vague and generalized that they could mean anything and everything to anyone and everyone. So in essence, when President Obama speaks, the listener only hears what he wants to hear, putting what ever spin on them he wants. Ah, the wonders of President Obama.
May 5, 2009 - 5:20 am 8. Juvenal:For this “president,” words are just things to be strung together into mushy platitudes which he can decide the meaning of at his convenience.
“Words must mean something” is very much included in that.
May 5, 2009 - 5:44 am 9. Juvenal:#6 Paul-Indiana:
I think it may have something to do with the “tragic vision.”
May 5, 2009 - 5:46 am 10. HalifaxCB:“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
May 5, 2009 - 6:11 am 11. Meryl:“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”
So can we begin to hope that the United States citizens who are still just watching the arsonist wander from corner of our heritage to another, dropping lit matches along the way, will finally begin to say, “Wow. I think I see an arsonist at work”?
That would be very helpful.
It seems that in the last 24 hours, more of the business sector has finally gotten stirred up. These latest voices have apparently figured out that it never was just big auto and big hedge funds that he was after.
Eventually,in some form, may we finally be able to say without having our heads taken off, “This man really does not like America or anything she stands for”?
Anybody who was listening to HIS WORDS knew that 10 months ago.
(Interesting to note that when he’s talking about things that matter to him, he can be perfectly clear. It’s only when he’s talking about alien ideas like heritage, the Constitution, value of human life and faith, etc. that he stutters and needs TOTUS.)
May 5, 2009 - 6:20 am 12. D-wah:“That is why a people’s credulousness regularly gives way to cynicism. I’d say we’re right on the cusp of that metamorphosis. It will be instructive to see how the narcissist-in-chief responds to that alteration.”
Wishful thinking we’re on the cusp of some general wake-up–we’d never see it if it happened thanks to the Ministry of Truth. We’re buried in so much misinformation it’s like layers of the Matrix.
How he responds to to cynicism, should it ever publicly be acknowledged? He already has. He ignored and then spurned the tea parties. He demonizes the right and ex-military. He pits himself against individual adversaries. He sends his thugs to quash resistance to his “financial plan”. He’s made his plan very clear. See the UK openly blacklisting “threatening” individuals like a flipping talk show host, Michael Savage and an anti-gay preacher? They’re following his lead–they see it’s working.
Get ready for more intimidation and suppression–that’s his response. It’s in the manual.
May 5, 2009 - 6:57 am 13. anton:Words mean things but they are only a vehicle for expressing a plan or exchanging ideas. What needs to seen are the actions that accompany the words.
Things done, things not done.
Laws broken, laws not enforced.
Resolutions made (funny how that word comes from the root word resolute=unflinching or unwavering, too bad the U.N. lacks a proper dictionary) but not enforced that make all further resolutions just so many scraps of paper.
As they say when watching a magician; don’t listen to what he says, watch what his hands are doing. Obamas words mean little, if anything. What scares me is what he doing.
Watch the hands, always watch the hands.
May 5, 2009 - 7:01 am 14. sheesh:Read my lips . . .
“In spite of the wild and speculative stories about arms for hostages and alleged grants of payments, we did not, repeat, did not, trade weapons or anything else for hostages. Nor will we.”
Ronald Reagan, November 13, 1986
Now I think you all need to STFU.
May 5, 2009 - 7:09 am 15. SUE IN TEXAS:Obama isn’t the only one with a gift. I grew up in the south, with 3 older brothers, so I can detect bull sh*t from a mile away. I recognized it with Bush/Cheney and I can dang sure see it in Obama. Why is this country electing idiots for Presidents? I know we are a smarter country than that. I know the power of the office could corrupt some people, but to put a corrupt one in office is just too dangerous!!! I don’t know the answer, but something needs to be done to save us from Barack Obama!
May 5, 2009 - 7:11 am 16. MCMJR:to #6 Paul, so many people fell prey to Hr. Goebel’s maxim on propaganda, tell a lie long enough and loud enough and it becomes the truth. “Bush is evil incarnate…”
to #7 Marsha, I think the best way to understand THE B. Hussein is to ignore his words, watch his actions and do what one can to thwart them.
May 5, 2009 - 7:19 am 17. Sebastian Shaw:President Obama’s words are meaningless filibusters to puff him up into something he is not; however, his actions are where to look.
May 5, 2009 - 7:21 am 18. Jerry:Re Marsha, #7: What the ordinary person needs is the Babel translator to understand President Obama. When he says that he wants to “end the cycles of boom and bust” he means that he wants to institute some idealized form of communism with a small ‘c’, because it is the capitalist system that produces these cycles in an attempt to correct the economy’s oscillations. Interpretation: He wants stability that can never be reproduced in any living system. Stones don’t change much when compared to life.
Sheila Bair, head of the FDIC, for President.
May 5, 2009 - 7:28 am 19. MiamaMan:6. Paul -Indiana:
[Why is it that we could see through this shyster from the early part of the campaign, but so many people are still in denial concerning Obambi’s true objectives?]
Many voted for him, and knew what he was, wanted him to be like that, could not care less, but then I wonder about those in the middle, the so-called Independents, and other usually well-meant people that gave this fraud the edge.
May 5, 2009 - 7:43 am 20. BCK:#1
May 5, 2009 - 8:12 am 21. AThinkingPerson:Now that is the one word that describes this evil man that is ’suppose’ to be our President.
Subversion.
It is mind boggling how people believe in him.
Wake up Americans….watching him and his ilk destroying this country bit by bit is horrifying.
TOTUS is BAD for this great country!
Can’t wait for July 4th Tea Parties! Time for We the People to speak up.
TeleBama’s words? You mean whomever’s words were put into the teleprompter right? TeleBama’s actual words would be em, er, eh, and , uh, duh, Bush, er, eh, huh, etc.
May 5, 2009 - 8:15 am 22. D-wah:#14Sheesh-as usual on the seesaw of political relativism–that’s how your mindset keeps you busy so you can’t acknowledge the plain truth. Take a lesson from plain truth Sue in Texas #15.
May 5, 2009 - 9:08 am 23. Roark:Obama was a liar from the start…you have to be a thinking reasoning human to know that fact…Obama won the election…the majority of Americans therefore, are idiots.
May 5, 2009 - 9:45 am 24. Pastor of Muppets:Roger Kimball writes: “But when powerful politicians set about bringing fundamental transformation to a hitherto stable democracy, the meanings of words begin to shift and change. This is something the great general and historian Thucydides noticed happening to Athens when it went through its own moment of “hope and change” during its long and bitter war with Sparta.
“To fit in with the change of events,” he wrote, “words, too, had to change their meaning. What used to be described as a thoughtless act of aggression was now regarded as the courage one would expect to find in a party member; to think of the future and wait was merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one’s unmanly character; ability to understand a question from all sides meant that one was totally unfitted for action.”
The frustrations of Thucydides you quote above are hauntingly similar to the frustrations of anti-war Liberals leading up to and during the Iraq War. Only words of aggression and zeal for war were regarded as patriotic and courageous; whereas “to think of the future and wait” for more intelligence on whether Saddam actually had WMDs, was according to Conservative Republicans and FOX News, “merely another way of saying one was a coward; any idea of moderation was just an attempt to disguise one’s unmanly character.”
Indeed, words do matter. Words like “Mission Accomplished”.
Like “Greeted as liberators”.
Like “The last throes of the insurgency”.
Like “We do not torture”.
It’s quite ironic that you would try to compose your argument based on the words of an ancient historian who was clearly frustrated by exactly the type of mindless, antagonistic, puerile, with-us-or-against-us behavior with which you and your Conservative Republican ilk have conducted yourselves the past eight years.
I would suggest that you gain a firmer grasp of the underlying beliefs and writings of your sources before cutting and pasting their words into your essays. I would suspect that that Thucydides would be rolling in his grave if he knew that his words were being so twisted for such disingenuous purposes.
May 5, 2009 - 10:12 am 25. MikPazula:President Obama learned long ago that meaning is NOT in words. Meaning is in people. The audience is always sovereign. We only perceives the things for which we have linguistic labels. No two people ever attach the same meaning to the same linguistic symbols.
So he uses symbols that reflect what people want to hear. They respond positively because they have assigned their own meanings to his words and then he gets to do what he wants. I have done a lot of public speaking and it is always amazing to me to hear what people perceive that I have said. They almost always find whatever they were thinking before I started speaking.
For Miami-man, this answers your question about the independents. Obama was the Anti-Bush. Everything the W was O is not and vv. The country was waiting to be freed from newk-u-ler. His eloquent delivery builds the emotional bridge and his rhetoric allows the audience to assign whatever meaning they want to his comments. Bingo!
May 5, 2009 - 10:48 am 26. Meryl:14.Sheesh…
I’m just sure that I heard somewhere–some time back–that Ronald Reagan had died.
In fact, I believe that his death occurred several years after he had left the Presidency of the United States.
You might want to check on that, so that you stop using dead men as your jumping off point for swearing and namecalling.
Or is that really all you have to offer?
You really are the completely irrelevant screaming two year old. We can’t make you stop screaming, but you are still completely irrelevant.
May 5, 2009 - 11:07 am 27. Juvenal:I taught college freshman composition for a long time.
I can tell you that most of those kids, brought up in an electronic stew of advertising and shallow, glib news reporting, don’t think that words mean anything. They really don’t. I think that that is a major part (if the not the key itself) to Obama’s success.
Young people (and many adults) think that words are things you spray at other people to create a vague, impressionistic field of meaning or a sort of emotive tapestry. They also think that the only point of rhetoric or debate is persuasion–even if nothing said is factually or logically valid.
Trying to reverse the attitudes in a term is damn nigh impossible, because, like I said, these kids have been raised in this kind of environment. Obama could not survive in any other kind of environment.
May 5, 2009 - 11:16 am 28. donttreadonme:23. Roark,
May 5, 2009 - 11:25 am 29. Finbar:“the majority of Americans therefore, are idiots..”
Why, I am offended by that! Gotta run…I need to set my DVR to record American Idol…
23. Roark – Howard, the best lessons are those painfully learned.
May 5, 2009 - 11:26 am 30. Rachel Peepers:President Oblather’s words certainly do mean something. In fact, the boy blunder, I suspect, means every word. Like about playing palsy walsy with tyrants and terrorists overseas.
In fact, is it me or does The Annoying One seem much more interested in putting pressure on “24″ producers to do a season on Jack Bauer riding herd on domestic terrorists than Muslim ones?
Real foreign threats to our safety and security, as Borat would say, “Not so much.
In truth, though, Barack baby doesn’t have the will, the guts or gumption to face down overt foreign threats and freedom haters (or he simply doesn’t want to) so he’s facing down domestic mirage threats.
For example, apart from the Starkwood Corporation, returning GI’s from war will get special hawk-like surveillance should they join the NRA or appear to be sympathetic to any pro-American organization, not including but not ruling out for future consideration the American Legion.
PS Stanford’s crawling with Barack mind numbing support, and some of my friends are no longer talking to me. Mainly girls. The boys don’t seem to be blathered, or, I mean, bothered by my red white and blue reputation. One girl screamed at me on my way to class because I speculated that Michelle, after a careful chromosome check, might turn out to be a crusty, middle aged male. She called me a “cheap, Barack-hating racist, ignorant slut”. I told her there was nothing cheap about me. So she walked off in a puff. Or huff. That girl could be Stanford’s next middle lineback if she trimmed down to a svelt 190.
An aside, my top ten ugly first lady list which I insisted should be in the next edition of the S.Daily has been officially categorized as hate speech by the editor. Aside II. A couple of months ago Billy Keller, NY Times head honcho, visited to talk trash about the tea parties and help dedicate new digs for the school paper’s, the Daily’s, dwindling size, ads down 50%. Pages down from about 12 to 6. I guess the constant pro gay, anti religious, anti-american terrorist touting kumbiah rants are turning off somebody.
Keller, by the way, makes hapless Harry Reid look like a John Bircher. I actually met him, and when introduced as Rachel Peepers his reaction was “I’ve heard that name somewhere.”
He was nice to me, though in a middle aged man meets cute blond haired blue eyed lil’ole’ Rachel who used to date the football teams’ quarterback sort of way.
Ahhh. Romance lost. Had the makings of a John Milton epic poem.
It was like Jennifer Simpson and Tony Romo he’d say. (not keller, the boy) Whenever I went to a game, they’d lose.
How does a guy like Tony Romo who went to a football nowheresville school like EIU make it in the NFL?
Speaking of contact sports, is dating now a non-contact sport? On this campus, boys have to ask first, step by step, because of some politically correct lesbian student affairs coordinator or something or someone like that.
The last date I had was about three weeks ago (is dating passe?)
Anyhoots, it felt like a date. I mean, he picked me up at the dorm at 7pm and we went out to dinner. Then later, on a bench or something, he asked if he could put his arm around me? Where has civiliztion come in 24 million years?
Political correctness has gone so amuck sometimes I wonder how any college couple decide they want to really…oh, sorry, phone’s ringing.
It’s my Dad. Gotta go. I think tonight I’ll cry myself to sleep. This Obama worship is so depressing. Either that or I’ll find some double A batteries that work.
May 5, 2009 - 12:18 pm 31. emma:by for now.rachel
I’ve been reading articles and comments here and at Salon.com for a while.
Something I as a registered independent find quite interesting is that the Obama supporters have absolutely nothing positive to say about Obama.
Their only response to any argument against him is “look at what republican presidents have done in the past!”
Odd. If the man were so great, you’d think there’d be some positive arguments for him… you know… something more than someone else lied before… someone else ignored the Constitution before.
May 5, 2009 - 12:31 pm 32. AThinkingPerson:#31 emma: THANK YOU! I totally agree with your comment and have often wondered that myself. Well said!
May 5, 2009 - 12:44 pm 33. Pastor of Muppets:Emma writes: “I’ve been reading articles and comments here and at Salon.com for a while.
Something I as a registered independent find quite interesting is that the Obama supporters have absolutely nothing positive to say about Obama.
Their only response to any argument against him is “look at what republican presidents have done in the past!”
Odd. If the man were so great, you’d think there’d be some positive arguments for him… you know… something more than someone else lied before… someone else ignored the Constitution before. “
1.He’s ending the War in Iraq.
May 5, 2009 - 1:02 pm 34. Juvenal:2.He’s closing Guantanamo.
3.He overturned the “Mexico City Policy” that prohibited the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from contributing money to international family planning agencies that offered abortions or abortion counseling.
4.He’s released the CIA’s torture memos and is ending our campaign of torturing anyone and everyone we could get our hands on in the Middle East over the past 6 years
5.He’s signed into law the 2009 economic stimulus bill – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act –that will, among many things, create jobs, lower taxes for 95% of Americans, invest in alternative energy to begin weaning us off Saudi oil, and repair desperately needed infrastructure.
6.He’s easing travel restrictions to Cuba.
7.He got a dog.
Pastor of Muppets wrote:
“1.He’s ending the War in Iraq.
2.He’s closing Guantanamo.
3.He overturned the “Mexico City Policy” that prohibited the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from contributing money to international family planning agencies that offered abortions or abortion counseling.
4.He’s released the CIA’s torture memos and is ending our campaign of torturing anyone and everyone we could get our hands on in the Middle East over the past 6 years
5.He’s signed into law the 2009 economic stimulus bill – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act –that will, among many things, create jobs, lower taxes for 95% of Americans, invest in alternative energy to begin weaning us off Saudi oil, and repair desperately needed infrastructure.
6.He’s easing travel restrictions to Cuba.
7.He got a dog.”
With these achievements (except for #1, which is as big a lie as was ever told) no wonder they don’t brag about him much!
May 5, 2009 - 1:07 pm 35. patman:I have a shirt I proudly wear around my neighborhood. It has two words on it:
OBAMA SUCKS.
It should read:
OBAMA LIED. IDIOTS VOTED. WE’RE ALL SCREWED!!!
May 5, 2009 - 1:31 pm 36. SAY NO TO BIG GOVERMENT:Show Obama, Reid and Pelosi the tea party protests were not “astroTurf” but they were the beginning of a massive movement against massive Government growth and the control that comes with it. Tell them to Empower Individual Americans to take responsibility for their own lives and for the individual to have control over the direction of our country Sign the petition for Individual Empowerment!!! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Indv1776/petition.html THE ONLY THIS WILL WORK IS IF YOU COPY AND SEND IT TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT YOU HAVE THE SAME OPINIONS AS YOU. ALSO COPY AND POST IT ON OTHER NEWS SITES, BLOGS, EMAIL IT TO ORGANIZATIONS ETC
May 5, 2009 - 1:32 pm 37. Zhombre:Yes, and the dog is named Pastor of Muppets. Used to be known as Legion.
May 5, 2009 - 1:33 pm 38. Morning Reading — The New Clarion:[...] about how Obama is destroying the rule of law. Now we see what Obama meant when he promised the fundamental transformation: he meant turning the greatest capitalist nation in the world into a banana republic. var [...]
May 5, 2009 - 2:20 pm 39. The Historian:THEORY AND DOCTRINE DON’T WORK
Obama acting like a detached professor, not a practical leader.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/05/team-obama-flunks-beginning-economics.html
May 5, 2009 - 3:11 pm 40. Michael:Thanks, Pastor of Muppets.
I was feeling kind of blue but now feel much better.
It’s amazing what a belly laugh will do for a body!
May 5, 2009 - 3:59 pm 41. emma:#33 Pastor of Muppets:
That’s a list of things you admire about Obama… However, nothing in your list addresses anything posited either in the article above or the comments related to the article.
I’m just curious as to whether you have a substantive rebuttal.
I don’t want to be disrespectful, but really all you’ve done is give me one more reason to believe that Obama supporters aren’t thinking things through rationally, but are emotionally and blindly following someone because he makes them feel good for some reason… Or maybe just because he’s not George W. Bush…
May 5, 2009 - 4:59 pm 42. AThinkingPerson:TeleBama is ending the war in Iraq? You mean TeleBama is following Bush’s blueprint to end the war in Iraq. Give him credit for his fabulous read-from-script speeches but not for something he didn’t do.
My favorite is the last one …He is a dog. Oh wait, he GOT a dog. Damn. I thought you actually got one right there for a moment. LOL!
May 5, 2009 - 5:04 pm 43. Cybergeezer:Yea! This butt wipe has a degree in lip sync of tele-prompter.
May 5, 2009 - 7:08 pm 44. davidt:So, what does, “Words must mean something,” mean?
May 5, 2009 - 8:10 pm 45. Mike Blackadder:Pastor @ #33:
I don’t really feel like beating on a straw man today. But thanks anyway.
Patman: “OBAMA LIED. IDIOTS VOTED. WE’RE ALL SCREWED!!!” Very impressive. I have to say though that “OBAMA SUCKS” is also pretty good.
May 5, 2009 - 8:32 pm 46. D-wah:PasofMups–way to cut and paste, baby–sooo powerful! Your fearless leader will be proud to give you a medal for your nice new brown shirt…
May 5, 2009 - 9:59 pm 47. Edward A:Have we lost all contact with reality? When it comes to public speaking, the last occupant of the White House was unquestionably the worse in our lifetime.
At least we need to be honest with ourselves…to fault Obama’s speaking style/content after these past eight years is truly a joke.
May 5, 2009 - 10:01 pm 48. ked5:6. Paul -Indiana:
Why is it that we could see through this shyster from the early part of the campaign, but so many people are still in denial concerning Obambi’s true objectives?
~~~~
This is just my opinion from observing others. So many bought into his rosey lies becasue they lie to themselves about the kind of person they are – they don’t want to hear truth.
May 5, 2009 - 11:05 pm 49. ked5:(Interesting to note that when he’s talking about things that matter to him, he can be perfectly clear. It’s only when he’s talking about alien ideas like heritage, the Constitution, value of human life and faith, etc. that he stutters and needs TOTUS.)
~~~~
Well, of course he needs TOTUS. Heaven forbid he “slip” and say something like, he’s going to redistribute wealth, the constitution is a document of negative liberties or the Warren court didn’t go far enough. things most “flyover country american’s” (even those of us on the coast) would disagree with.
May 5, 2009 - 11:12 pm 50. Meryl:31. emma:
31.emma
“I’ve been reading articles and comments here and at Salon.com for a while.
Something I as a registered independent find quite interesting is that the Obama supporters have absolutely nothing positive to say about Obama.”
Many of Stalin’s prison camp victims, sentenced to 10-20 years and more for “political crimes”, tortured (real torture) and used as slave labor, wept in sorrow and lostness when they learned that he had died.
Emotional dependence and unearned, blind loyalty can be a sick, sick thing.
May 6, 2009 - 6:03 am 51. AThinkingPerson:Edward A: We aren’t faulting TeleBama’s style or delivery when speaking WITH the Teleprompter cranked up. We ARE poking fun of TeleBama’s style and delivery when speaking without reading. At least Bush could form words without turning his head side to side constantly searching for the next line. Credit where credit is due Edward.
May 6, 2009 - 6:30 am 52. sheesh:26. Meryl: I’m just sure that I heard somewhere–some time back–that Ronald Reagan had died.
You might want to check on that, so that you stop using dead men as your jumping off point for swearing and namecalling.
Geez, Meryl, i was under the assumption that Ronald Reagan was relevant to the right wing. I sure do hear about Him a lot. Let me ask you, If Reagan Tolerated GOP Moderates, Why Can’t Today’s Conservatives?
Oh, sorry, I forgot, he’s irrelevant. Why that post is on this site is beyond me. Perhaps when you get a minute, after your color has set in, you can tell me again about the evils of evoking The Holy Actor.
First you think, THEN you type.
May 6, 2009 - 6:39 am 53. Roger’s Rules » Push back, or the real culture war, 21st-century style:[...] Obama’s monument of irresponsibility “A New Era of Responsibility.” “Words must mean something,” Obama said recently. But it seems pretty clear that he wants to reserve to himself the [...]
May 6, 2009 - 6:41 am 54. Sebastian Shaw:Edward A (#47), President Obama took 12 (twelve) different teleprompters over to Europe on his bash America tour; the man cannot function without at least 2 teleprompters.
President Bush rarely spoke with a teleprompter & comparing the two on this reason is worthless.
President Obama now supposedly governs our nation. Keep on the subject or vanish under your bridge.
May 6, 2009 - 7:12 am 55. Pastor of Muppets:41. emma writes: “#33 Pastor of Muppets: That’s a list of things you admire about Obama… However, nothing in your list addresses anything posited either in the article above or the comments related to the article.”
emma, you did not ask for a response that “addresses anything posited either in the article above or the comments related to the article”, you just stated that:
“Something I as a registered independent find quite interesting is that the Obama supporters have absolutely nothing positive to say about Obama”
So I provided you with some examples of positive things that I have identified. What about that do you have difficulty understanding? Do you really not remember the specifics of your own previous statement, or are you simply trying to goad me into an argument?
You then throw out a taunt: I’m just curious as to whether you have a substantive rebuttal.
So clearly you are just trying to goad me into an argument. You threw out a rather vapid generalization about liberals, and I rebutted it with specifics. End of story.
I’m curious as to whether you are actually a registered independent, or just a conservative lying about your political beliefs to give yourself some kind of credibility beyond that of just another right wing reactionary who hates our president.
I’ll bet the farm you’re the latter.
May 6, 2009 - 7:59 am 56. Meryl:“you can tell me again about the evils of evoking The Holy Actor.”
Sheesh,
I didn’t say there was anything evil about invoking Reagan.
I never made any reference to him as “holy” nor did I capitalize the personal pronoun “Him” as you did.
Once again, your starting point is false statements and irrelevant verbal slams.
I’ve just re-read my post #26, and really see no need to restate it. Are you ESL? If you are, that explains the difficulty. Sorry ’bout that.
I do think your concern about the Republican party (conservative vs. moderate) is sweet:)
Once again, your starting point is irrelevant, as is the headline over this column.
It is the moderates who do not tolerate the conservatives. The fact that the conservatives (for once) are not just sitting down and being quiet is what has raised the volume and temperature of the discussion.
And you, nice little helper boy that you are, stand on the sidelines and tell us to “STFU”. Sweet.
May 6, 2009 - 12:54 pm 57. Cybergeezer:14. sheesh:
May 7, 2009 - 5:29 pm 58. Ms. Attitude:Yu da man, bro; You a monsta homey on da keyboard!
By the way; What coutry are you in and what is your native language, homes?
Rachel, I would love to see your top ten ugly first lady list. We’ve had some scarey ones through the years….why was it classified as hate speech?
May 8, 2009 - 8:34 am 59. Ms. Attitude:POM:
1.He’s ending the War in Iraq. No, he’s completing the mission set forth by Bush that was implemented after the surge succeeded. Without the surge (which Obama was against) the end would not be in sight.
May 8, 2009 - 8:54 am 60. Ms. Attitude:2.He’s closing Guantanamo. Why is that good? They are POW’s and have gone before a military tribunal. These guys are the worst of the worst. It is a fact.
3.He overturned the “Mexico City Policy” that prohibited the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from contributing money to international family planning agencies that offered abortions or abortion counseling. Great, now my money is going to be used to kill babies in foreign countries!
4.He’s released the CIA’s torture memos and is ending our campaign of torturing anyone and everyone we could get our hands on in the Middle East over the past 6 years. We’re screwed, we are no longer safe.
5.He’s signed into law the 2009 economic stimulus bill – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act –that will, among many things, create jobs, lower taxes for 95% of Americans, invest in alternative energy to begin weaning us off Saudi oil, and repair desperately needed infrastructure. Create jobs? When? Most of those jobs won’t be around for a long time. And why not use the oil we have here in the US so we don’t depend on the Saudi’s?
6.He’s easing travel restrictions to Cuba. My cousin’s Cuban boyfriend hopes to see his family soon. He came to the US to get away from the oppression of the Castro. He’s happy that we will be using our tourism dollars to support Castro’s oppression…NOT!
7.He got a dog. So???
My “bolds” screwed up, sorry about that!
MOP, will you tell me why those are good things?
May 8, 2009 - 8:56 am 61. RonT:So, he got a dog…. Has anyone noticed he named it after himself. BO… B as in Barrak O as in Obama
May 8, 2009 - 5:23 pm 62. sheesh:61 Ron T . . . “Has anyone noticed he named it after himself. BO… B as in Barrak O as in Obama”
Stunning insight, RonT. I think you’ve hit on the root of our problems as a nation . . . Obama’s insidious narcissism. Then again . . .
The Washington Post reported in its online editions that Obama’s daughters chose the name Bo for the pup because first lady Michelle Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley. The name for the dog was an apparent reference to the singer “Bo” Diddley.
Do all of you people huddle in some church basement and think up this crap?
May 10, 2009 - 9:10 am 63. Aussie:Is Master of Puppets, or is that Mustard of Poppets, Eric Holder or perhaps that Gibbs bloke? He seems to spend a lot of time each reading blogs and making irrelevant comments.
May 10, 2009 - 10:47 pm 64. Roger’s Rules » The Meaning of Obama, Part II, with a note from J. L. Austin and an epitaph for cognitive dissonance:[...] Last month, President Obama assured the world that “words must mean something.” [...]
May 16, 2009 - 9:24 am 65. The Meaning of Obama, Part II, with a note from J. L. Austin and an epitaph for cognitive dissonance « Cliftonchadwick’s Blog:[...] Last month, President Obama assured the world that “words must mean something.” [...]
May 16, 2009 - 7:35 pm