Barack Obama just finished his speech here in Boise. The Idaho Dems are caucusing on Super Tuesday, so, unlike Her Royal Clintoness, Obama actually made a real speaking stop here this morning to talk to the faithful and the curious. They got a big crowd (standing room and lined up outside with speakers), which you’d expect from a big college town.
He’s a pretty good speaker. I listened to his whole speech, and in fact, this is the first time I’ve been able to hear his whole stump speech. I wanted to see the “messiah” thing, and listen for anything I might like. Often time listening to your opponent will tell you a lot more than just replaying what your friends have to say. I perked up when he said “people want their cherished American values restored“. I thought “YEAH! I DO. Tell me, what do you have to say about that?!” Of course, I’m HOPING he’s going to give a list like this one, which are MY cherished American values that I’d like to see restored.
- lower taxes
- cut government spending
- reduce the size of Fed government by getting the Feds out of all but Constitutional duties
- strengthen freedom of speech
- support the military both overseas and at home, especially with plenty of funding and up-to-date equipment
- ensure American sovereignty and protect the borders
- restore the right to keep and bear arms, without restrictions, for all Americans
- leave the UN and quit funding them
- energy independence by utilizing our own resources and promoting new and alternative sources
- promote business, both large and small
- quit micromanaging the economy (sometimes you have to let bad juju just work its way out)
- quit micromanaging education, and cowtowing to the teacher unions
- reduce foreign aid, especially for idealogical reasons
- enforce the laws on the books, and write better laws, not more of them
- promote judges that interpret the law as it is written, not mandate it from the bench
- strengthen and protect private property rights
- support marriage and traditional families by no longer undermining them (ie by funding Planned Parenthood, abortion, fetal stem cell research, or by mandating legalizing homosexual marriage)
- allow everyone to worship & practice according to their conscience
Instead of hearing about my cherised traditional American values, he told me about someone else’s values. Much of his speech was boilerplate campaign feel-good stuff, things that sound wonderful when you’re in a big crowd, and can actually make up a large chunk of a speech coming from any of the candidates right now, on both side. blah, blah, change, blah blah hope, blah, blah blah, we’re gonna take back Washington, blah, blah. But he did put in some more specific things, and none of them are on my list of what I cherish, and what I expect from my government.
- government health care for everyone
- government needs to address outrageous, unfair CEO pay
- stop government tax breaks for business
- roll back Bush tax cuts
- give every family $1000 tax credit
- seniors under $50K are living in poverty so they’ll pay no more taxes
- mortgage credits for homeowners
- raise the minimum wage (didn’t say how much, but does the term “living wage” scare you too?)
- take charge of and provide early childhood education
- higher teacher salaries
- make college affordable for everyone, $4000/yr for every student in exchange for volunteer work
- invest in clean alternative green energy
- raise mileage standards & force auto makers to “change their ways”
- take the huge profits away from drug and oil companies
- support the troops and use military wisely by pulling troops out by end of 2009
He tried to reassure me about all the nasty things people have said about him too. He told me he has gone to a Jesus believing church for the last 420 years, so he wished people would quit insulting him and the Muslims by saying he’s a secret Muslim. And he said there were lots of hunters in Illinois, so he knows about the Second Amendment, and he “has no intention of taking away people’s guns”. I guess he said that because everone in Idaho hunts and wears camo all the time. That sure makes me breathe easier, and he seemed so sincere when he said it. I think he’s a little challenged, historically that is. I mean, he rattled off a bunch of stuff about the Founders and the Depression and WWII and Abolition and Freedon Marches. If I was a high schooler, or a “young skull full of mush”, it would have sounded pretty fine and it might have gotten me all enthused to join the movement. But I’ve read a little more American History than the average joe, and the way he put it all together was just a bit “formatted to fit the screen” if you know what I mean. He’s not Newt, we’ll just leave it at that.
He is a good speaker. When I was 20 I ate this stuff up. It’s attractive to think that America is a big, rich, powerful country, so there is no reason not to expect it to give me everything I want. Too bad the real world doesn’t support that incredibly naive vision, to say nothing about the loss of liberty and freedom such a government would require. He took a shot or two at Bush. He bitched about excess government spending. I couldn’t hear the guy in the back yelling “What have YOU been doing about that?”… or maybe he never got into the hall? Nobody inside seemed to care about the answer to that question. But this was a speech about “what if”, not “what is”… I’ll leave this post with three more soundbite quotes
-” the drug companies and Exxon aren’t going to give up their profits easily”
-”is this the beginning of the American Dream?”
and
-”we can remake the country and remake Idaho”
I hope not. This is not the Messiah. Please God, forgive us our sins and have mercy on us.
Entries (RSS)