Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Obama’s Speech

It reminded me of Jefferson’s First Inaugural--on the surface conciliatory, in fact a threat to his opposition: We will read you out of America if you resist me.

What I like best about Obama’s election: the sight of his two daughters growing up in the White House. And aren’t daughters the best means of forcing a father to be more conservative?

On mother Obama, Michelle: I read her senior thesis --it was not the worst Princeton thesis I’ve read. That said, the thesis spekas of "a distinctive Black culture very different from White culture" (p. 54) and "Blacks and other Third World students" (p. 58), among other expressions. What saves it from racial demagoguery is social science tediousness. Let no one in the maturity of one’s life be judged by a college paper. But let us keep such expressions in mind, as we observe the First Lady.

Discussions - 5 Comments

The Obama girls even melted my icy heart. He is to be commended for not using them more than he did. It would have worked, and yet he didn't do it (much).

Still . . . as their daddy promised them a puppy I wished I had some way to transmit these three words to those girls: JACK RUSSELL TERRIER! That's what you want, girls . . . a Jack Russell Terrier.

His speech is what you said it was. My husband--who never really watched an entire Obama speech--commented that it was like listening to a poetry reading or the singing of a choir. I actually think his speeches are more like the background music you get in the climax of an inspiring movie. You can plug them in to accompany the climax of any movie--it's all about overcoming. "Yes we can!" Can what? Overcome what? This is never asked because the music overwhelms. Change what? Hope for what? Fill in the blank. Obama will be filling in a lot of blanks starting tomorrow. When people do not like the answers he provides he can be counted upon to strike up the music again. He plays the right tune but he sings the wrong lyrics. It is difficult to get people to listen to and resist the words when they admire a tune. Even Lincoln admired the song "Dixie."

Did anyone else around here notice that Senator Obama looked back "221 years ago"? The US was founded at the Constitutional Convention. Not very Lincolnian.

Like Obama's 2004 convention speech, most of tonight's speech could have been spoken by a conservative Republican.

Yes, Richard, I did that math. Before he was a rhetorician, now he is a President.

At least he did not say: "I have political capital, and I intend to use it."

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