I watched a most wonderful person talk to us last night

[madokie]

talking about love and compassion for one another and an end to hate and bigotry. Our President who is and has been kicked, scorned and cussed at by many from day one but who was able to rise above the fray and deliver a very heart warming and much needed speech. I'm sure it was lost on many of the haters and the bigots but to me he was most humble and warm, not trying to score political points nor point fingers, just reminding us of the promise that is America, the melting pot of the world. If we can't see it for what it was then yes it was wrong the things we as a country did to our native Americans in creating this place we now call home.

Have a great day eveyone, I plan to try my best to get there myself.

[TBF]

1. I think what we need to think about, as a party, is why people like

Limbaugh, Beck, and Palin are appealing to people. If people didn't watch them they wouldn't have ratings and would go off the air. What do we need to do to reach folks, what does our party need to do to get back to it's roots (actually defending working class folks). I don't think we're ever going to reach the Aryan Nation folks that Sarah was trying to channel in her bigoted fireside rant yesterday, but we should be able to reach good and decent people. President Obama tried to do that last night and I thought his speech was very good. Now let's back it up with some policies that help normal folks.

[RichGirl]

4. From my PSY 101

To the degree you love yourself, you love others. To the degree you hate yourself, you hate others. If you practice self-exploration and recognize your lack of self-esteem then you can work on it. But if you are totally clueless, then you deal with your self-hatred by projecting it at others. This is the cause of all racism, prejudice, etc.

Democrats are more likely to do self-exploration and admit their weaknesses and deal with them which actually makes them more compassionate. Ironically, Christians blame the devil when they behave badly instead of looking inside themselves. So the self-hatred simmers as they look for people and groups to direct it at.

[gblady]

19. my impression of that speech

was love in action. Powerful!

[TBF]

22. good stuff-

you know it was the Anarchist Emma Goldman who said ""The most violent element in society is ignorance."

We've got to figure out how to talk to these folks. Not all Christians blame the devil, I sure don't as a Methodist. In fact one of the things I like about our faith is the emphasis on compassion and reaching out towards others. Other religious groups I can't speak for ... just what I've experienced.

[OneGrassRoot]

5. I agree. That's the question I've been asking...out loud...

as I engage here and there.

Why do people listen to and follow people like Palin and Limbaugh?

I have my own thoughts as to what type of person WANTS to stay angry all the time and need a boogeyman to focus on (liberals/progressives/democrats and anyone they perceive liberals/progressives/democrats as supporting).

I posted this at Facebook yesterday:

Think about this sentiment: "People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Now think about Rush Limbaugh. It seems he only makes people agitated and angry -- both his listeners and others. We don't need that. We can do better than that.

The sad truth is, some people don't WANT to do better, for reasons I can't fathom. What to do in a country of this size, with so many people who feel that way, I don't know. My hope is to appeal to the sane people who don't thrive off of hatred and anger as much as possible.

[GoCubsGo]

7. They are afraid.

Some people are just held hostage to their fears, and these types are afraid of just about everything. People who are afraid of everything that is different are easy to manipulate. Why do you think so many of them are fixated on guns? They think guns will keep them safe. Couple that with ignorance, often willful ignorance, and you have a Palin/Beck/Limbaugh follower.

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Indeed. And I try to encourage discussion in this regard...

to try to get to the heart of their fears.

The boogeyman usually isn't that scary once brought out in the open.

But I absolutely agree that fear is the issue. Their anger is really fear in disguise.

:hi:

[TBF]

23. Anger -

yup, I think that's right. And particularly if they are sheltered (maybe less educated or haven't traveled much) that leads them to fear other types of folks.

I can still talk to my small-town friends. I moved away but it doesn't matter. I was a socialist in high school and I am now - and they know that. But we've known each other personally for years and trust builds up despite the labels.

Maybe part of the reason is that we have no way to talk to them, on a wider scale. The right wing has bunches of pundits (including the MSM). All we have is Keith and Rachel. Working on the communication has got to be part of it...

[Conservato]

2. What an amazing speech!

President Obama did a masterful job last evening writing and delivering his words. Outstanding Mr President. To quote Gabrielle Giffords, Two Thumbs Up!



I Remain, Conservato

[klook]

3. Let me be the first to say

Welcome to DU, Conservato. :) Looking forward to more of your posts.

[Conservato]

10. why thank you for your kind welcome,

I must say I stumbled upon this wonderful site by google-accident. This place is very interesting, the raw passions mixed with some well thought-out positions, some not so much, all working together to bring interesting discussions. A good read.

I Remain, Conservato

[malaise]

6. K & R

Have a great day :fistbump:

[Goblinmonger]

9. I wanted to barf at the "puddles in heaven" line.

As a whole, the speech, to me, smacked of WAY too much of religion.

Prepare for comments based on majority privilege.

[somone]

14. He was trying to emulate Reagan's 'touch the face of God' stuff

[Goblinmonger]

15. That doesn't really make it better for me, anyway. n/t

[onecent]

17. That part was ONE of my favorite!!!

Do you have children or grandchildren?

[Goblinmonger]

20. Yes, I have children.

It did not speak to my religious leanings.
And, as an English teacher, I thought the imagery was forced and, frankly, something a middle school girl would write.

[gblady]

18. wow.....the puddles reference...

was one of my favorite parts....
(as someone who loved to splash in puddles as a child)

such a powerful visual image of that young child
who was so senselessly murdered.

It really brought it home for me.

Just honoring our differences.

[Toucano]

25. Symbolism doesn't have to be taken literally.

Though we are not religious, we cannot expect to eschew every reference to the myths that make up our human cultural heritage.

Religious or not, some symbols speak to our common shared experiences, not necessarily our individual contemporary positions.

This distinction is important to the inevitable blending of secular and religious traditions.

The listener isn't required to literally believe in heaven to understand the meaning of the "puddles in heaven" phrase as an expression of optimism and hopefulness.

[Goblinmonger]

26. Thanks. I understand symbolism (probably more like metaphor)

But I see two options with this one:
1. Religious reference to religious people by a president of secular nation. In which case:
:puke:

2. Symbolic/metaphoric language as you describe. If that is what he was shooting for, I wish he would have gone for something that I wouldn't expect to read in some middle-school girl's diary or some shitty Creed song. He is a better writer than that. So if he wasn't pandering to the religious (i.e. #1), then his writing has gone to shit and
:puke:

[Toucano]

27. I have exactly zero experience with the content of middle-school girls' diaries.

I really can't offer insight into that.

I suspect that a reference to the expected content of a middle-school girls' diary would have been wasted on a fairly large portion of the audience. I'm not sure how much of our shared cultural experience that could speak to.

"Puddles in heaven" was understood by close to 100% of the audience; religious and non-religious alike. Some would take it literally, some metaphorically, but all would have understood the imagery and the sentiment behind it.

It's not really pandering because it sends the same message to the religious and the non-religious: optimism, hope.

Other than verging on the cheesiness of a "Love is...Two Naked Kids Doing Something Together" graphic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Is..., I didn't feel any particular sub-context present.

[Goblinmonger]

29. Cheesy isn't a bad descriptor.

Obama's a better writer than to write something that cheesy.

[justiceischeap]

11. It was an amazing, touching speech but if you think he wasn't trying to gain political points

you are naive. EVERYTHING a politician does at that level is point based. If he hadn't been able to turn around the tone of the memorial last night, which IMO, is one of the greatest things he did last night, I think we'd be hearing different "reviews" for his political performance.

I'm not an Obama hater, voted for the guy (though he wasn't my first choice -- none of the Dems who ran were), I've not been complaining about him like others here (though I am disappointed that he didn't get all the LGBT stuff done before 2010) but he's still a politician, he was groomed since his convention speech is 04, was it, to take this mantle. Everything he does is about points. It just so happens, he seems to be a genuine guy and really cares. That's the huge difference between him and GWB, you could tell Shrub was playing the game and that's all he was doing. He didn't care. IMO, that's the difference between a mediocre politico and a great one.

[lumpy]

12. One thing I have come to realize is that President Obama is, like

past presidents Harry Truman and Ike Eisenhower, a truly good and honest man.

[madokie]

13. Unlike me, I felt I knew that from the beginning

He truly will be remembered as one of our great Presidents, I believe that with all my heart

[lumpy]

16. Time will prove us right. I have gotten to 'know' this unusual

president and any doubts I might have had have been diminished.

[madokie]

21. That is truly wonderful

Peace
:hi:

[TBF]

24. I've done some reading about Eisenhower lately and if we can get Obama

to emulate him even more we'd be in much better shape. Eisenhower not only spilled on the military industrial complex, but earlier than that in his administration he was the one to increase social security substantially: http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/social-security.htm

President Obama channeling his inner Eisenhower would not be a bad thing at all.

[klook]

28. “It is a proper function of government

to help build a sturdy floor over the pit of personal disaster, and to this objective we are all committed.”

Good quote from Ike. Thanks for the link.

And then there's more...

Those opposed to the initiative stressed their belief that retirement income was the responsibility of every individual and the federal government should not be involved. One citizen should not have to pay for the old age necessities of another. President Eisenhower responded to this notion during his press conference on June 17, 1953 with these remarks: “A strict application, let us say, of economic theory, at least as taught by Adam Smith, would be, ‘Let these people take care of themselves; during their active life they are supposed to save enough to take care of themselves.’ In this modern industry, dependent as we are on mass production, and so on, we create conditions where that is no longer possible for everybody. So the active part of the population has to take care of all the population, and if they haven’t been able during the course of their active life to save up enough money, we have these systems.”
- more at the link TBF supplied: http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/social-security.htm

Wow. I had no idea about this. This is most enlightening. I'd love to see more Democrats quoting Eisenhower when the right-wingers attack Social Security.

[TBF]

30. Eisenhower was right about Social Security -

check out David Swanson's stuff about the military though - http://journals.democraticunderground.com/davidswanson/1164

So, not all good (he was a republican after all), but at least he had a hint of a conscience which is seldom seen in his party these days.