Obama: Baracked to the future

Yesterday Barack Obama had this to say:

This is the moment to give our children back their future.

Gosh. How frightfully embarrassing. I thought the day after tomorrow was supposed to be the moment to give my children back their future.

I am supposed to do it now?

To be honest I can't remember where I put their future. Perhaps Mr Obama would allow me a moment to search the house.

I'll try not to miss the moment, but if I do he can rest assured that I will get round to giving my children back their future eventually. Sometime in the future.

Comments

[Richard Young]

Granted that's an inelegant phrase. But it's not a bad speech at all. Maybe not "Ich bin ein Berliner" - but then, he's not the president and Berlin isn't a city under siege any more.

So I'd say this is a pretty cheap shot at a guy who's at least attempting to raise the debate from petty sniping and do what leaders are supposed to do: inspire us. I don't see McCain (or Brown, or Cameron) doing that.

[JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO]

Indeed, Obama's line about finding the future for the children was ghastly stuff. But that was hardly the worst of the speech.

There are some fine phrases in his speech, but I am disappointed overall.

Obama, sadly, felt the need to emphasize his American identity and his love of country.

What else could he be but American? He comes as an American candidate. He sounds like an American. He talks from an American perspective. He didn’t need this weak, saccharine-flavored emphasis.

As far as the love of country, hasn't the world had enough of American jingoism?

It has been nothing but a source of pain and injury to others, death and destruction on a rather massive scale from the holocaust in Vietnam to the destruction of Iraq.

And there is something painfully embarrassing about the need to tell crowds you love your country. It really reminds me of the urges of Fundamentalist Christians to declare their love of the Lord.

That Puritan strain seems to drench, almost like cheap cologne, much of America’s communications, from info-mercials for mops to policy speeches abroad.

Do other foreign leaders come to America and make featured speeches about their love of Britain or France or China?

At least he spared us a team of baton-twirling girls in red, white, and blue sequined panties.

[JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO]

On an issue of substance, more troops to Afghanistan, Ms Merkel has already told him no.

Europeans for the most part understand the futility of this American crusade.

And I do think it inevitable that Obama disappoint Europeans, although there will never be the intense antipathy George Bush invites with every utterance.

The Americanism stuff in Berlin only suggests how difficult, almost impossible, it is to be truly different at the top of American politics.

There is a large group of very wealthy and powerful people whose views drive American policy. They have interests in keeping a conservative state at home and an aggressive imperial force abroad.

Presidents come and go, and anyone abroad who thinks they have the power to greatly shift the emphasis of America simply do not understand the country.

[maxine]

Obama could give the children their future by voting to drill for oil in his beloved America.. so his kids wont have to pay 20.00 dollars a gallons for gas... or ride in a soup can with wheels on it..I am tired of this for the children crap politicans pull every time they try and pull the wool over our eyes..

[Tom Robinson]

John Gluckman said "Why would anyone think they would be able to shift the emphasis of America". First, why should they think that......that's like saying we in America can shift the emphasis of Europeans.

Tom Robinson

[in_awe]

Empty suit...but when he does espouse a policy it inevitably is some socialist rubbish. He has no concept of the damage his programs will do to the US economy and our freedom from further government intrusion into our lives. He has even less perspective on security matters and has surrounded himself with equally incompetent advisors.

An Obama presidency will be a disaster of the first order.

[paul vandusen]

How is it possible to say so much yet say nothing?

[Paul Miller]

This is a frivolous nit-pick that comes across as churlish. You are usually much better than this, Daniel. I think your judgement is thrown by some intense dislike you seem to have of Obama, though why you should dislike him so I cannot imagine. You can't seriously think that the ignorant and uninformed old geezer with an idiotic leer that the Republicans are putting up is the superior candidate?

[Bev]

It sends up a red flag when a person
is so enamored with who they are that they see themelf as not only the president of the USA but as the Savior for the whole world.
Someone with that image of himself
can not have an open mind to hear
advice from others because they have the mindset that all the answers are within themselves. This is a danger because no one person has all the answers. Usually a great orator can make everything sound like the truth. Those of us who dont really weigh what Obama is saying and how it will affect our lives if he becomes President...will be the ones to lose alot of our freedoms. He will be the one with the freedom to smooth talk his way into and out of anything. We will be the ones to live with the aftermath.