thoughts so deep they’re written in a diving bell
The Scooter Libby verdict is in…
Got that pardon pen ready for action, Dubsy?
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Earlier today, I was avoiding work by catching up on my daily dose of a few quadrillion RSS feeds. The eye of hell was on CNN, but I wasn’t paying attention. But then I heard a voice talking about Moses and Joshua, and cheering and applause in the background, and I turned to the screen to see what the hell was going on.
It was Barack Obama speaking in Selma Alabama in memory of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches. I have to say, Obama is one hell of a public speaker.
He was connecting all the dots. The ripples sent out by the civil rights movement led to his father coming to America, so he owes his existence to the movement. He’s a product of the generation that began the movement, but his generation (Joshua to their Moses) still has a lot of work to do and can’t rest on what they’ve inherited. He talked about the responsibility of government, of communities, and of individuals, and wrapped the whole thing in hope. And of course, his generation is my generation.
Atheist that I am, I have to admit that this particular style of oratory impresses me. MLK is my hero, and while I’d like to believe that he could have done what he did without bringing religion into it, I know that’s not true. He preached justice, and that’s just what Obama did today.
Shortly after Obama finished, Clinton started her speech at a church down the street. She tried to do what he did, but it just wasn’t happening. She’s simply not an orator. I could hear her shouting while the audience cheered, but I was losing interest like I do whenever the weather report comes on — I lived in Iowa for about 18 months, and I’m simply not a rural person. Half of the local news is dedicated to “drying times” out there, and I learned to just automatically ignore it. Now, 20 years later, I’m incapable of paying attention to a weather report. And I’m afraid that’s how Clinton’s speech felt to me.
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if today’s speech is remembered for a long time. This “Joshua Generation” speech could be the start of something. If I can find video of the speech, I’ll update this post to include it.
I really wanted Russ Feingold to run for president. I thought he’d be the perfect person to deal with the mess Bush is going to leave us with. But in Feingold’s absence, I’m thinking Obama just might be the one who can get enough people to care that he might actually be able to accomplish something.
Tags: Civil-Rights, Eye of Hell, Obama, Politics, Selma, Video
To paraphrase my mother:
She’s just trying to get a rise out of you. Don’t give her the satisfaction. If you ignore her, she’ll get tired of it and stop.
She obviously has very low self esteem if this is the best she can do, and the people who agree with her are nothing more than weak victims of peer pressure. When people start to lose respect for her, which is bound to happen, she’ll lose whatever popularity she has very quickly and she’ll be left sad and alone, with no one interested in anything she has to say.
She deserves your pity, if anything.
Tags: Coulter
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