Mati quoted Obama:"To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will
defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all
those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we
proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might
of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our
ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope. That's the true
genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What
we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve
tomorrow."dmb says:Good to hear from you Mati.I should be doing my work but
this moment is big and I just can't resist the temptation to comment. Apologies
to gav, but I can't resist the temptation to gush a little.Obama's acceptance
speech was not "rhetoric", except in the Pirsigian sense, by which I mean
"excellence in thought and speech". It would have been very impressive
even if he were a well-rehearsed actor doing a scene in West Wing or some
hopeful movie. The delivery was pitch-perfect, the stagecraft was invisible.
The style of delivery and the substance of the ideas fit together just right.
But it wasn't just a movie. It was actual history in real time. It was a
sublime moment.I'd ask gav to notice the part where he says, "NOT from the
might of our arms", and I'd suggest that his threat to "defeat" "those who
would tear down the world" should be seen in that context. He's no pacifist or
anything and he certainly can't afford to look weak but he does think the macho
tough-guy pose is a stupid posture for conducting foreign affairs. I suppose
his attitude is that you gotta have a gun in the tool box, but it should be a
big one with lots of other tools in it.And notice how he attributes our "true
strength" to ideals rather than guns or money. Doesn't that strike you as a
case of putting intellectual values over social level values? I thin
k so. This is immediately followed by locating the source of our "true genius"
in an openness to change, putting the dynamic over all. It looks forward by
looking back at the pattern of historical change and it does so with a
reasonable hope that we can make things better. For a guy that's only giving a
political speech and not even trying to be a philosopher, I think he's saying
some very MOQish things. I can see how it could smell of nationalism - our
strength, our genius - but considering the substance of the remarks, the way it
sets priorities in terms of these values, and the context of having just been
elected to our highest office, it is was entirely appropriate the nation's
self-image and all that. It would have been enough for me just to stop the
slide toward being a police state but I think we probably did a lot better than
that.Two cents, dmb
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