Thursday, January 28, 2010

Great Vision, But Obama Could Speak Out And Ask For More..

Of course, I just had to listen to President Obama's State of The Union address. I found it to be a great speech. Yes, it had its share of rhetoric. That is to be expected: this is, after all, politics. We are each entitled to our own individual vision and his speech and vision are always subject to individual interpretation.

His speech included indisputable facts, such as the budget surplus from 2000 which took a nosedive at warp speed in the years that followed. Of course I'm paraphrasing. By the way.. did Senator McCain say "blaming Bush?" after President Obama stated that fact?

Anyway, I enjoyed listening to President Obama's vision of unity and I found his wrap-up quite inspiring. Here's hoping that both democrats and republicans in the House, Senate, and Supreme Court listen closely to what Obama had to say.

But that's not what I'm writing about tonight. As with any political speech, there were also rather unremarkable moments.

Take this one:

"[...] we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it; that if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else."

An interesting post and commentary is over at zackfordblogs.com regarding the very brief mention of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

The comments in that post refer to the above statement from the State of The Union, which reminds readers about a certain Proposition 8 thing going on California which Obama seems to be a little quiet about.


Then there was the following:

"As we have for over sixty years, America takes these actions because our destiny is connected to those beyond our shores. But we also do it because it is right. That is why, as we meet here tonight, over 10,000 Americans are working with many nations to help the people of Haiti recover and rebuild. That is why we stand with the girl who yearns to go to school in Afghanistan; we support the human rights of the women marching through the streets of Iran; and we advocate for the young man denied a job by corruption in Guinea. For America must always stand on the side of freedom and human dignity."

Hmm. I took note that there was no mention of the plight of gays in Uganda. He discussed working with communities around the world. It is really too bad that President Obama appears to have chosen to be quiet about a certain death penalty for gays that is under consideration in Uganda.


Don't get me wrong: great speech, great vision. I do believe he is doing the best he can. I'd rather have this vision to look up to than the one we had to live through before Obama assumed office. This great vision would be even better if he'd take a visible stand on more for gays.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

"Its Happening Under Obama's Watch." Getting Old, Folks!

I'm getting tired of reading and hearing commentary that "(fill in the blank) is happening under Obama's watch". You know, crap that has been happening since BEFORE Obama took Office.

I've stated this before, and I'll state it again. When Clinton left office we had a budget surplus. When Bush took office, our country's finances took a nosedive and he lead our country into a huge budget deficit.

President Obama inherited a screwed up situation and he is doing the best he can.

I came across the following post on Twitter and I just couldn't help but respond.

NCLRights:
From recent op ed by Richard Socarides: "hundreds of military careers have been destroyed on (obama'-) watch for no valid reason." #sotu

What about the hundreds of military careers that were destroyed during the years Bush was in office? Which brings up another thing. Just WTF was Clinton thinking when this "compromise" known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell was enacted?

I say again, only not as politely. I say this about one man, forced to deal with a screwed up House, Senate, and Supreme Court which have some selfish people who do not give a damn about the needs of the many. One man leading a nation which is more unbelievably backwards than it would care to admit.

President Obama inherited a fucked up situation and he is doing the best he can.

 
Tornado Rainbow Triangle