Julio Huato wrote: > What a president elect says is part of what he does.<
Note that he didn't sign any contract to put what he said into practice. Not even a verbal contract. LBJ _said_ he was the peace candidate (albeit compared to Goldwater). Not only was he the president-elect after November 1984, but he was the sitting president before that. That counted for beans when he turned around and escalated the war. Presidents and president-elects have been known to say a lot of things that don't translate into reality. It's true that words can have an effect on history (as when someone yells "fire" in a crowded theater). But words have to "fall on a fertile field" (e.g., the crowded theater). For example, Obama's words have to be an official policy that's transmitted to the government bureaucracy (which has to be convinced to go along). For that to happen, they have to run the gauntlet of opposition (both within the administration and in Congress and the courts). This can't even start until January. If Obama were to say "from now on all the air and water in the U.S. will be clean," it wouldn't make it so. We can't take words out of their social and natural contexts. > But, again, there's no doubt that Obama failed miserably to take this clear > opportunity to call all workers of the world to build communism. Damn him!< The number of people who expected Obama to make such calls (and blame him for not doing so) was likely zero outside of mental institutions. I know it's fun to attack scare-crows and knock them down, but what good does it do for discussion? -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
