Thurs. SEP 8, 2011 "Ladies and gentleman, the President of the United States"

[Nuclear Unicorn]

"Thank-you. Ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Vice President. Honored guests.

"As you all know the economic crisis gripping our country has shaken not only the confidence of the America people, in whose name we serve, but has rippled outward to the rest of the world. This is not just a crisis where a working mother or father is reduced to collecting an unemployment check for half their usual salary for a few weeks. This is sustained, it is severe and it is systemic.

"We have tried numerous stop-gap measures that, while well-considered, failed to rise to the level needed to meet a financial rot that far exceeded the estimates upon which those remedies relied.

"We can no longer afford to nibble around the edges while our economic house is devoured by a collapsing job market, evaporating federal revenues and the attending, demoralizing effects on consumer confidence. We face a crisis of the magnitude not seen since the second world war. And as we faced that crisis, with all its uncertainties that went with it, so too must we face the one before us today.

"As in World War 2 we came together with a unity of purpose, a singluar vision. All of our resources, our ingenuity and personal power were dedicated to defeating the menace that threatened us all.

"What I am here to propose today rises to that level. There will be those that balk but so too were such voices heard in the 1940s. There were those who would insulate themselves as malevolence overtook the world. We did not shirk from confronting that evil then, we will not avert our eyes from the malignancy we face in our own era.

"To this end I have directed Attorney General Holder to seek out the legal remedies and just compensation by which our major oil and gas producing corporations will be divested of private ownership. This is not a seizure as the stockholders will be duly compensated as proscribed by constitutional law. Those production assets that cannot be purchased or will not be sold will claimed under eminent domain for the sole use of the public good.

"So too will we claim our coal and nuclear energy assets.

"Once claimed we will begin a new Manhattan Project. Not one that builds weapons but one that seeks clean, renewable energy. This alone will bring employment to hundreds of thousands if not millions along all strata of the economic spectrum from scientists to engineers and technians to the hard-working blue collar workers that have always been the heart of America's pride.

"With energy production held in public trust we can meet the demands of our economy and society and see fossil fuels phased out to make room for newer technologies coming on line rather than see these technologies smothered under so-called competition.

"We will see consumer prices scale back as the cost of bringing products and services to market is reduced once energy usage is freed from profit-driven speculation, costly regulation and the cost of cleaning-up endless environmental disasters.

"As production costs drop producers will find both the incentive and the capital to take on new workers who will once again bring their own capital to the market place.

"Even to those who would resist such plans I ask: would not this resurgent economy replace the revenues the government has lost since this recession began? If so, then it would obviate the need for the tax increases they seem to so vehemently oppose.

"We could take comfort that our resurgent economy will allow us to meet our committments to Social Security, Medicare and educating future generations.

"With this proposal I tell all of you gathered here tonight that we have everything to gain and far too much to lose by inaction and stifling debate.

"History will not look kindly on those who turn away from their last, best chance to avert catastrophe. I ask each of you to join me today.

"Thank-you and may God continue to bless the United States of America."


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A girl can dream, can't she?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[frazzled]

2. If that's the bar you're setting--seizing the gas and oil resources and nationalizing them

Then you are clearly setting yourself up for disappointment. I suppose anything short of such a radical move, which 99% of all Senate and House Democrats would even oppose, will elicit a prompt "He caved/wimped out/he's a Republican" response after the speech.

Let's assume your dream is just a dream. But dreams aren't a productive way to govern or even assess a complex nation. Please stick to reality. (And, oh, don't think about running for president any time soon!)

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. What if I'm already disappointed

I wrote this fiction knowing it was fiction and it would never be thought, let alone uttered. It's over the top precisely because we have been left with flaccid mediocrity. But these are not mediocre times.

He can't appeal for money for "shovel-ready jobs" after he's already said, "I learned there's no such thing as a shovel-ready job."

All he has left is to give the GOP what *they* want. He'll throw away his base for policies we already know will fail for a bloc that will simply take the money and run.

After the whole scheduling brouhaha the nation will look to the president saying, "This had been be worth it!" and if it isn't he will spend the next 16 months as the nation's longest serving lame duck. Next Thursday is make or break but there isn't enough cohesion to go either way.

Not only is Obama's political capital invested in this speech but progressivism's capital is invested in Obama. The next time we try to front a serious candidate we will have our "HOPE" posters thrown back in our faces to the sounds of sneering laughter. And yet we didn't get half of what we needed to make this work.

So, my friend, I don't know if Obama will go big but I will at least dream big.

:toast:

[frazzled]

5. Thanks, Hugo

Your position is clear ;)

[Nuclear Unicorn]

6. FDR was able to guide swathes of the economy much broader

than anything I've fictionalized. Not only did we become "the arsenal of democracy" but when the war had passed those industries were re-privatized and the nation did just fine. Wars are temporary and destructive. I want something just as bold, just as temporary but geared to constructive ends and better people's lives.

I fail to see the snark-worthy sin in that.

[Recovered Repug]

3. About the only similarity between your speech and Obama's

will be the first sentence.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. Not ready to give this one up yet. n/t