Nonsense and dribble is expected from the right and they deliver on cue. Such pettiness and snarkiness coming from the left is disheartening, disturbing and quite possibly unjustified.
Around the Blogosphere, in articles and comments, President Obama was criticized by progressives for merely giving a pep talk and for not offering a plan to develop alternative energy sources. This speech was about the oil spill; it was not about recycling or growing our own food.
If he were Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy, he would have done this or said that, an echo heard throughout cyberspace.
Truth is, most of us have romantic and fanciful notions about the great speeches of Abe, FDR and JFK. We have memorized and recited passages in school and we have seen the same snippets over and over on David Letterman. But what most of us haven't heard or read are the entire speeches.
Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865
The last paragraph is what many of us had to memorize in school:
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
Lincoln offered no plans on how to end the Civil War. The speech was described as "theologically intense." In fact, Lincoln mentioned God six times in this very short speech - four paragraphs in all.
Full text.
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Declaration of War, December 8, 1941
In FDR's brief Declaration of War against Japan, most likely it is the first paragraph that people remember the most.
"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
Roosevelt did not elaborate on how we were going to win the war, or urge people to buy war bonds or plant Victory Gardens. That would come later. His speech was only slightly longer than Lincoln's. But what he did say in the next to last paragraph was:
"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God."
God: 1
Full text.
John F. Kennedy, Bay of Pigs Invasion, April 20, 1961
I think it's safe to say that the most famous quote from any of Kennedy's speeches was from his inauguration. The words moved the entire nation - well, at least the Democrats and probably a lot of young people.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
God: 3
Kennedy presented his Bay of Pigs address before the American Society of Newspaper Editors. It is described as a motivational or inspirational speech.
He outlined three lessons that should have been learned from recent events: 1) the forces of communism are not to be underestimated, in Cuba or anywhere else in the world; 2) this Nation, in concert with all the free nations of this hemisphere, must take an ever closer and more realistic look at the menace of external Communist intervention and domination in Cuba; 3) we face a relentless struggle in every corner of the globe that goes far beyond the clash of armies or even nuclear armaments. (His words.)
God: 0
Full text.
John F. Kennedy, Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1962
Kennedy's Cuban Missile Crisis speech was a work of art as were most of his speeches. I think it is safe to say that he had a rare gift - and better writers than any president has had before or since.
Just as Roosevelt accused Japan of planning the attack on Pearl Harbor for a long time and lying about it all that while, Kennedy accused the Soviets of planning and preparing a series of offensive missile sites on the island of Cuba and lying.
The president detailed seven major steps: 1) put a strict quarantine on all offensive military equipment under shipment to Cuba; 2) continue and increase close surveillance of Cuba and its military buildup; 3) to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States; 4) reinforce our base at Guantanamo; 5) call for an immediate meeting of the Organization] of Consultation under the Organization of American States; 6) call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council; 7) to call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace.
At the end, Kennedy said:
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is the one most consistent with our character and courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender or submission.
Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right; not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.
God: 1
Full text.
Barack Obama, Gulf Oil Spill, June 15, 2010
I will be the first to say that this wasn't Obama's finest hour - or fifteen minutes. His speech did not measure up to Kennedy's on the Cuban Missile Crisis but it was better than FDR's Declaration of War and even Lincoln's second Inaugural address.
Our country is an old hand at war but this spill is the worst environmental crisis we've ever faced. I'm not sure there's anyone in the White House, or the science and engineering fields, who really knows what to do. Being an arm chair engineer is always easier than being on the team trying to figure out how to get this monster under control. I doubt if the president ever took an engineering course in his life.
I wonder if people truly understand that, "Because there has never been a leak of this size at this depth, stopping it has tested the limits of human technology."
Obama offered a battle plan consisting of three stages: 1) clean up; 2) recovery and restoration of the Gulf Coast region; 3) ensure that a disaster like this does not happen again - "I have established a National Commission to understand the causes of this disaster and offer recommendations on what additional safety and environmental standards we need to put in place."
I wonder if people remembered this statement the next day:
Tomorrow, I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness. And this fund will not be controlled by BP. In order to ensure that all legitimate claims are paid out in a fair and timely manner, the account must and will be administered by an independent, third party.
God: 3
Full text.
This is a wonderful post. There is nothing like the actual facts, is there?
ReplyDeleteUnless, of course, you are a Republican.
I love the comparisons. It is easy to make a point by pointing to the obvious facts.
ReplyDeleteI love arguing with idiots by pointing out things like this because they fail to comprehend the similarities. Critical thought is serious lacking in some...
Green Eagle: I actually had fun researching and writing this piece. And I also learned, which is always good. I'm afraid that your comment about the Republicans also holds true for some Democrats - which is all the more disturbing because we are supposed to be the smart ones. Anyway, thanks.
ReplyDeleteKevin: The trouble, I guess, is that idiots don't have the brains to even want to learn. I don't know that I want to listen to their crap either - but I know it's crap.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for giving the hours of work I know this post required. I often agree with the progressives, but they wish for the moon--and yesterday. To my mind, this president is going as fast as it's possible for American government to move to address an onslaught of desperate problems.
ReplyDeleteI, too, wish he would hand us more answers, more precise maps, but I won't be caught nagging at him from the sidelines; it's our cheers and encouragement he needs--I might even say that he responds to best. When he's nagged too loudly from his base, he tends to throw wild.
And I heard this from you, too: I should be asking, What I can do for my battered country?
Three cheers, tnlib.
Thanks Nance. As I said on my post, I think Obama's MO is to work on something and then talk about it when it's a done deal. Rightfully, imo, he doesn't talk to the press and I don't blame him, so we aren't getting information like we have wth other presidents.
ReplyDeleteTnlib, I think that your assessment of Obama's MO is on target. I've also found myself frustrated with progressives who spend their time complaining as if they really do believe that Obama can walk on water. I'm not impressed with the reasoning abilities of the conservatives or the progressives. I supprted Obama's message of yes we can. He never claimed to be a solo act nor a miracle worker.
ReplyDeleteSo, now we know...Obama is a 'relic.'
ReplyDeleteOh, and that makes him a progressive collectivist statist....
Give us, the 'you are with us or against us' or 'mission accomplished' and by God...we will follow you to stupidity and back...
...this post reminds me that I too am a 'relic.'
tnlib,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fine post. I think it's true that romanticized images of the presidents quickly take hold.
That said, I've also read a fair amount of Lincoln's work and I think he's among our finest writers -- when he's in his eloquent mode (which is tactical, occasional), he's magnificent. I wish all presidents were required to write their own damn speeches most of the time -- Lincoln certainly did. Probably he traded some of them back and forth with his friend and bodyguard Ward Hill Lamon as a sounding board.
Anyhow, I recall an account of the Gettysburg Address that said the speaker preceding Old Abe prattled on forever and then it was so noisy when Lincoln spoke that almost nobody heard his brief but remarkable words. Supposedly he didn't have a great speaking voice, either -- George Templeton Strong's diary offers an unflattering rendition beginning something like a high-pitched "Walllllll ... " for "Well...." He could have used a bit of coaching from Morgan Freeman.
President Obama's Gulf Speech was okay for the subject: I mean, it's pretty hard to drum up "inspiring" about a devastating oil leak. The whole thing is a hideous downer, so I don't see why they're demanding that the speech claim otherwise, or promise happy-face fixes.
What was the point about enumerating the mentions of god? I didn't quite follow that -- was some of the criticism you reference based on that kind of language?
Amazing research and post, Leslie.
ReplyDeleteI tell the Obama haters to remember how a certain segment of America detested everything Mr. Lincoln said and did. They didn't know a great man when he walked among them. And they still don't.
TAO: Relic? You? A loveable old curmudgeon maybe, but never a relic.
ReplyDeleteTo all,
ReplyDeleteOn Lincoln again, I think it's interesting how the South tried to reclaim him as one of their own after hating him so much during the War. D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation really trades in that reclamation project, doesn't it? Some of the best scenes are the ones recreating President Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and then of course his murder at Ford's Theater. He is referred to in the captions as "The Great Heart" and made to say of the South, "I shall treat them as if they had never been away" (paraphrase). Indeed! All this on the premise, I suppose, that had he lived he might (so they suppose) have dealt less harshly with the rebel states than did Andrew Johnson.
If there's a past president I might link with Obama, it would be Lincoln -- my intuition is that they share the long sense of time I wrote about a while back. That's the main reason why I don't start hopping up and down every time BHO does something I don't think quite benefits the dinosaurs, so to speak. Plus it creates minor impact tremors when I hop up and down. Disturbs the neighbors....
Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThe 3 Kennedy quotes I post on the right hand top of my blog all came from his inaugural speech.
The one that hits home, is his comment that we cannot secure the position for the rich, unless we provide opportunity for the poor. Yet, conservatives would call that opportunity and assistance Socialism.
dino: I have a foggy recollection of reading that account of the Gettysburg address sometime in the past. I opted for the second inaugural, partly because it was all about God!
ReplyDeleteI should have included the God factor as one of the complaints in my introduction. I read more than a few sarcastic comments about Obama using "God" and "prayer," which is one reason for the scorecard.
I was too busy thinking of "this" instead of "that." I'm going to have to start sending my work to you for editing before I post it. In all sincerety, I appreciate having the errors of my ways pointed out to me - keeps me on my toes.
Shaw: One of the most succinct comments I've seen was just left by Citizen K on PP's:
ReplyDelete"they tend to understand policy in a vacuum devoid of the contexts of history, politics, and process.
Tom!!! You almost snuck by me there. I'm thrilled to see you.
ReplyDeleteI like the comment about the rich and poor and your analysis is quite accurate. I may use that on top of my blog after the current one runs it's course.
Kennedy was a hell of a speaker but I kind of wish presidential speeches would lean toward an economy of words.
I did not find Obama's speech last week either motivational or inspirational. It was a tossaway. The feeling I got was that someone (maybe Rahm?) was pressuring him to do it, so he did. His heart was not in it.
ReplyDeleteAny speech on the oil spill has got to look past the immediate issues at hand and look at our economic dependence on fossil fuels. I've said from day one that while BP and MMS may share immediate blame for the GOM oil spill, we all are responsible. Because we have done little to nothing to move our country beyond oil. So now we pay the price. And like little children, we pretend we aren't to blame.
Sometimes it's all I can do to keep from running off into a cave somewhere.