Doug wrote: > I don't think he's an ideological conservative > - I was referring to his temperament, which is > very cautious.
Cautious? I'm not sure I can reconcile caution with the long bets with low odds he's made in his adult life. Obama is certainly tactical, calculating, and ferociously disciplined. In politics, there's nothing wrong with keeping your tongue following -- rather than leading -- your brain. Only children and the intoxicated have a valid excuse to ignore the effects their verbal choices have on others. This is an analogy that may aggravate some people here, but Obama's approach reminds me of "suaviter in modo, fortiter in re," the slogan Marx and Engels chose for their International version 1.0. Obama's re so far has been to get elected with broad support. We don't know yet if, moving forward, he'll be fortiter for the correct re, that is, the left re. As I've been saying, no point on relying on him. We should do our work on the grassroots, wage the battle of ideas. There's a clear opportunity to advance. By the way, on Saturday, I saw Che 2 and then Che 1. The makers of the movie, including the actors, decided to portray a Che very much aligned with the perceptions of those who were personally closest to him. Not an arrogant, self-righteous "concientón," but a genuine, fair-minded "comecandela," to use the Cuban apt descriptors. Everybody should go see it. It is the sign of the times that a movie like this comes out. It's not going to be widely viewed in theaters. In a city of 8 million plus people, there are only a couple of theaters showing it now. But when the torrent or DVD come out, let's make it as widely available as we can. If it gets bit-torrented soon, I'll be showing it at the Obama inauguration party that my family and friends will be holding at my place. PEN-Lers are all welcome, with or without RSVP. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
