Quick Obama Speech Take: WTF?
This one may actually have been worse than that other wretched speech. Even local lefties who sang the big Wright-excuse speech’s praises, calling it the second coming of MLK Jr., have been saying this one didn’t go anywhere or deliver any punches. But it was worse than that. Some stock American History 101, some standard bootstraps and strong America rhetoric, and a string of other platitudes and sniping entirely unsupported by anything he has said or done or said he will do … because once you get past the vague “hope” and change” promises, everything else has either been put on hold, sent back for reconsideration, or as is the Obamist wont, abandoned in favor of someone else’s ideas. Then there was the fact that much of it was also entirely divorced from anything representing the realities of Washington and the world. UPDATED:
I’m not going to waste a lot of time on it. Another disappointment from a guy who is being hailed as the second coming of Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Truman and FDR. Still waiting to get a sense of what the guy actually believes in, and what, aside from his personage, the mystical change is about.
“We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.” I dunno, looks from here more like discordant Americans just took counsel of their fears, and put a “hope” blanket over their majority head.
An “end to petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.” Unless he just fired Congress and resigned, then petty grievances, false promises and worn-out dogmas remain the order of the day. Jury’s still out on the recriminations.
This next part would have been pretty good if he wasn’t talking about the twin scams of socialized medicine, global warming, as well as his watch-your-wallet New Deal threats:
“Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.” Actually, the most recent person to suggest our systm cannnot tolerate too many big plans was Obama himself. Talk about short memories. Bush not only had big ambitious plans, he brought them to fruition with the help of many free men and women whose imaginations were joined to common purpose. Including quite a few Democrats, though once they got cold feet they had to be dragged along kicking and screaming.
“What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.” Yes they do. He doesn’t actually think his election has somehow allowed this nation to transcend politics, does he? Hang on, I get it. He means the Bush political arguments. Well, the Bush arguments Obama is adopting still apply. As well as the stale Clinton political arguments he’s pikcing up and the stale political arguments of Congressional Democrats he’ll soon find himself saddled with. That leaves the Republican half of a bunch of political arguments. I guess we are not one after all.
“… we are ready to lead once more.” This is from a guy who just took over another guy’s war policy wholesale, and plans to put a bow on it and call it his own. Kind of rude when the guy whose cabinet he just raided is sitting one row over. He may not have noticed, but while he was still an Illinois state senate hack, that guy formed and led several coalitions. To fight a war in Iraq. To fight a war in Afghanistan. To combat the financing of terrorism and coordinate anti-terrorism efforts globally. To try to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. To thwart Iranian plans to build nuclear weapons. Then, there was the much vaunted leadership the fight against rampant AIDS in Africa. That’s a lot of global leadership.
Ha. Here’s a lefty at Firedoglake calling it the “Worst. Inauguration. Ever.” Coming on the heels of two Bush inaugs, that must be pretty bad. The lefty in question spent hours in the cold and could hear anything. Don’t worry lefty, you didn’t miss much.
Ross Douthat: “A little Carter, a little Reagan.” You know, that’s about exactly how much sense any of it made. Like trying to mix Carter and Reagan.
Tigerhawk thinks it was fine enough, but his lawyer’s eye notices that friendship with nations seeking “peace and dignity” could include any number of authoritarian cesspools, and that the Bushian emphasis on ”freedom and democracy” was entirely lacking.
Gateway with some peace and dignity seekers in Iran:
Ace with the worst Inauguration Day sell-off in history.
Reynolds, who politely takes the high road, also has some helpful anti-hubristic reading for Obama. Never too late, I guess. They say he’s a quick study.
Surber: Nation of Mouth Breathers. His roundup captures the quote of the week from academic wanker/author Ron Carlson:
“What courage to use a complex sentence talking to a million people! By expecting the best of us, he just might get it.”
The brave knight Obama, wielder of complexity, smiter of errant clauses, venturing boldly into the multisyllabic forest to best the soul-sucking dragon of plain speech! (Surber presumes to offer the speech Obama should have delivered. There’s a lot of smiting and wrestling to the ground in it, but not of clauses. Only one problem. Bush already delivered it.)
Malkin wasn’t too crazy about the more simplistically phrased ”when white will embrace what is right” benediction, either.
Hot Air notices that the new White House website wastes no time dumping on Bush over Katrina, and giving him no credit on iraq … well, that’s all being reserved for the Great Withdrawer.
TalkLeft, presciently, “When Obama’s Inaugural Speech Will Become Great.”
Judging an inaugural speech in the moment is a mistake in my opinion. Immediate plaudits and pans are meaningless. Barack Obama’s inaugural speech will best be judged after he acts as President.
Well, the speech did suck. But TalkLeft unintentionally makes a good point. Anything Obama has said only stands a chance of becoming great if and when he does, and then if what he has said reflects what he does. The act of getting elected and inaugurated has been more about how great America is, though we could debate aspects of that given the woeful campaign performance of the press and the questionable if unquestioned qualifications of the candidate. In any case, with Obama increasingly it appears that what he says is meaningless, as when forced to make actual decisions, he thankfully often defaults to the far preferable status quo.
TalkLeft goes on to highlight another part of the speech I had overlooked:
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.
Interesting, coming from the side of the aisle that spent much of the last seven years pushing all kinds of false choices and falsehoods re safety and ideals.
Meanwhile, Iowahawk has collected the actual Obama allegiance pledges of a lot of deeply concerned and highly involved Hollywood movers and shakers.
Welcome Gateway, Anchoress, Yahoo News, Moderate Voice, etal. Always so good to see you. If you liked/hated this one, you may also enjoy liking/hating Tests, New Era of Responsibility, and ruefully, Goodbye to All That.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:12 pm on Tuesday, January 20, 2009
4 Responses to “Quick Obama Speech Take: WTF?”
Leave a Reply
Trackback URLYou must be logged in to post a comment.
January 20th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
[...] Ramesh Ponnuru thought it was pedestrian See all the NRO reactions here Jules Crittenden is very underwhelmed. [...]
January 20th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I am going to miss Bush.
January 21st, 2009 at 6:45 am
A low-class and tasteless slog by a guy who not only doesn’t get it, but doesn’t care he doesn’t get it.
Sadly, despite the world-tipping amounts of irony available, irony won’t be enough to combat Hopium.
January 21st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I faded out in the middle of the inaugural speech, so I have no idea what the man did say. As it happens, Mr. Obama’s magic oratory just doesn’t grab some of us.