"I have been but little in," said Ninian hastily...

The tribute to American citizenship in the President's State of the Union address last night, especially his tribute to Office Brian Murphy, made me think of a similar speech by a fictional president, praising courage.

What President Obama said about Officer Murphy was this:

We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside, even as he lay bleeding from 12 bullet wounds. And when asked how he did that, Brian said, “That’s just the way we’re made.”

That’s just the way we’re made. We may do different jobs and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title -- we are citizens. It’s a word that doesn’t just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we’re made. It describes what we believe. It captures the enduring idea that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations, that our rights are wrapped up in the rights of others; and that well into our third century as a nation, it remains the task of us all, as citizens of these United States, to be the authors of the next great chapter of our American story.

The speech I was thinking of finished this way

"...More than any time in recent history, America's destiny is not of our own choosing. We did not seek nor did we provoke an assault on our freedoms and our way of life. We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people's strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive. Forty-four people were killed a couple hours ago at Kennison State University; three swimmers from the men's team were killed and two others are in critical condition; when after having heard the explosion from their practice facility they ran into the fire to help get people out... ran into the fire. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless. This is a time for American heroes. We will do what is hard. We will achieve what is great. This is a time for American heroes and we reach for the stars. God bless their memory, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America."

No, wait, Martin Sheen says it better.



That, and the other speech he delivers on the same event, bring me to tears every time.



Words have power. Words can be used well or poorly. Rhetoric is a tremendously underappreciated art. But in the end, words express beliefs, values, sentiments, aspirations. I lvoe beautiful words, and I admire those who use them well. But most of all I admire those who hold proudly to great aspirations, to noble sentiments, to worthy values, and who seek to pursue them to the utmost.

I am glad, for this little time, these eight years, to be able to put the lie to my own icon. I have a better *real* president even than the ideal, fictional one that I'm so fond of. And, even more than that, I live in a country where, despite all the lies and slander that have been spread about him, despite all the bile and hatred that's been poured on him, that smart, capable, good man was elected not once, but twice by my fellow Americans. That makes me proud to be a citizen.

I really like this analysis of the president's role in recent events and of America's in the world.

I came to it from this brief post by Tom Ricks about his conversation with Bob Kaplan. It's shorter, but I think also very sound.

I  still reflect with amusement on my one short introduction to Mr Kaplan; I was working at a prominent (now defunct) bookstore in DC well known for its security policy orientation. We hosted a book launch for Kaplan's Soldiers of God: With the Mujahidin in Afghanistan. I still wish I knew who the Afghans were who came to spend the evening with the author; some wore Italian suits and some wore shalwar kameez and pakuls, but I have a feeling I've probably been reading about all of them for the last 20 years.

One of my friends pointed me to this Obama interview with Indonesian television news. It's fluff, but it demonstrates (to me) his geniality, his humanity, and his ability to appreciate all that the wide world has to offer.

On the other hand, I suppose it probably doesn't do him any credit in the Heartland. :-( Appreciation of nasi goreng and satay, and a familiarity with Hindu myth and Indonesian puppet theatre don't play well in Peoria.

I was talking to redactrice last night, and one of the topics that came up was the Nobel award to the president. I've discussed this with a couple of people so far, and I saw at least one of my friends here comenting on it. So, to avoid spamming up someone else's journal with my voluminous remarks, here are my thoughts. ( Read more... )

Have a question about the economy? Ask the president. No, he won't answer all of them, but you can also help choose which ones he answers by voting for ones that have been submitted.

*That* is cool.

But he's headed in the right direction.

Obama orders Guantanamo's closure within a year

and many other Bush policies have been frozen or reversed almost immediately, including a halt to torture, an end to 'black' prisons, a change in ethics and lobbying rules, and a limit on White House salaries.

A rhetorician disassembles Obama's victory speech and explains why it works so well (even apart from its content).

Aaron Sorkin's Jed Bartlett gives Barack Obama a pep-talk, New Hampshire-style.

Read all of it, it's good, but this exchange is at teh core of it:

OBAMA: The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?

BARTLET: Well ... let me think. ...We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know ... I’m a little angry.

OBAMA: What would you do?

BARTLET: GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

Thanks to my friend Andy for the link.

I am rapidly losing any belief, not only in the Obama team's *ability* to win the campaign, but in their *desire* to win.

US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has announced that Joe Biden will be his running mate in November's election. ... Mr Biden, a 65-year-old veteran lawmaker, is highly respected on foreign policy issues.

Joe Biden is not "respected" by anyone. He's a joke, a Washington punchline.

He's also an old white guy from the northeast. He's establishment with a capital "eh".

A VP choice doesn't mean much in and of itself, but it's an opportunity for the candidate to reach out and appeal to people who feel he's missing something in his campaign and his personality. And to reinforce the basic themes of the existing campaign. Biden doesn't do that.

Yes, he has a reputation as a blowhard on foreign policy issues, but that's not because anyone thinks he *knows* much about them is is particularly intelligent. It's because he talks a lot.

He has no appeal outside his region (hell, probably no name recognition, other than negative). He doesn't appeal to working class voters. He doesn't appeal to the moderates, the great undecided 10-15% lying between the parties. He doesn't bring Obama strength in a contest region. He doesn't bring Obama more credibility with Latino or women voters.

He's a liar. And a cheat. He's a party man, an old-time hack. He brings a taint to the ticket, not a luster.

About the only positive thing one can say is that there's no chance he will outshine Obama. Is that really necessary? Is Obama that insecure?

I don't think this is the thing that will tip the scales, but there have been a steady accumulation of small failures and missteps, and this is the first really large misstep.

The campaign is now McCain's to lose, I think.

EDIT: I'm astonished at how calmly some of you guys are taking this. I hope you're right, but I think this is a blunder that signals that the Obama campaign has passed its high water mark and is heading rapidly down.

Obama criticized for no wearing flag lapel pin (by conservative commentator who frequently doesn't wear one himself)

Every day, I find new ways to be disgusted and ashamed by some of my fellow citizens.