« Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 481 - Energy Intensity. | WILLisms.com | Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 482 - The Perils Of Regulation. »

Quotational Therapy: Part 144 -- Obama & Words.

BHO, Circa 1995-

We still don't know a lot about Barack Obama. He remains a blank slate-- a Rorschach inkblot test onto which people tend to project their own ideas. That being said, the Barack Obama narrative that has emerged in recent weeks does not inspire a lot of confidence. Sure, we've known that he is the most left-wing Senator in America (more left-wing that socialist Bernie Sanders of Vermont). We knew he was out of the American mainstream with regard to policy-- that his radical roots would eventually catch up to him.

Still, the real Obama remains fairly unknown, especially compared to Hillary Clinton and John McCain (we know everything about these two), so any new piece of evidence expanding on what we know about Obama is important.

Enter a piece from 1995 in The Chicago Reader (that Ace of Spades and others are talking about) explaining Obama's worldview in the wake of the Million Man March:

It Takes A Village:

"In America," Obama says, "we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective institutions and organizations."

Obama & Reverend Wright:

"We have no shortage of moral fervor," said Obama. "We have some wonderful preachers in town--preachers who continue to inspire me--preachers who are magnificent at articulating a vision of the world as it should be. In every church on Sunday in the African-American community we have this moral fervor; we have energy to burn.

"But as soon as church lets out, the energy dissipates. We must find ways to channel all this energy into community building. The biggest failure of the civil rights movement was in failing to translate this energy, this moral fervor, into creating lasting institutions and organizational structures."

Bringing America Together:

"The right wing, the Christian right, has done a good job of building these organizations of accountability, much better than the left or progressive forces have. But it's always easier to organize around intolerance, narrow-mindedness, and false nostalgia. And they also have hijacked the higher moral ground with this language of family values and moral responsibility.

Channeling John Edwards:

We must deal with the forces that are depressing wages, lopping off people's benefits right and left, and creating an earnings gap between CEOs and the lowest-paid worker that has risen in the last 20 years from a ratio of 10 to 1 to one of better than 100 to 1.

Working Across The Aisle:

"These are mean, cruel times, exemplified by a 'lock 'em up, take no prisoners' mentality that dominates the Republican-led Congress.

Yikes. Yikes. And more yikes.

This guy is not only shockingly unqualified to lead the greatest nation on the planet, he also has these troubling collectivist impulses, an apparent enmity toward Republicans, poor judgment, and he surrounds himself with corrupt and venomous individuals. As John McCain's newest ad vaguely alludes to, Obama seems to play both sides of the "American exceptionalism" debate. Obama is a terrible choice for president on just about every level.

Words matter. Obama has a troubling pattern of using words to elevate collectivism and diminish the role of the individual.

Previous Quotational Therapy Session:

Ezra Levant.

The right quote can be therapeutic, so tune in to WILLisms.com for quotational therapy on most Mondays and Fridays.

Posted by Will Franklin · 31 March 2008 06:48 PM

Comments

Posted by: ZsaZsa at April 1, 2008 04:40 AM