Just couldn't resist the reaction to Candidate Obama's latest: his response to the 2nd grader when asked why he is running for President:
America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.
What a stupid thing to say. Why would we want such a negative attitude in the White House? Really, why? I don't think anyone walks around saying America is perfect; there are always things wrong that can be improved. Like our Presidential candidate offerings.
I am not a Rush Limbaugh fan but I have to say I like his response:
...It’s a 7 year old Senator. Ya tell her because you love the country. You tell her because this is the greatest place on Earth. That we’ve got challenges, but you want to help the country through it. You don’t tell a 7 year old that her country isn’t what it once was. You do not lie to 7 year olds and tell them that your country sucks. You just don’t do it Senator.
Maybe some people don't think he's lying. That's OK. It's still a stupid, arrogant, ignorant, wrong thing to say.
Here is a comment from the linked site. (There are a lot of comments; I didn't read them all but this one caught my eye.)
Haven’t read all the comments yet, forgive if I repeat, but the first thing I noticed was his stuttering and stammering just trying to answer a simple question for a 7 yr old. No teleprompter; no eloquent speeches. Really! I suck at public speaking and I could have answered that question easily.
A candidate for the school board should have been able to answer that question without stuttering, stammering, and going all negative. For postmaster. For dog-catcher. OK, I'll stop.
7 comments:
I agree with you and Rush, whom I've rarely listened to for more than 5 minutes. Kids need upbeat messages. Sure, there are times when they need the harsh truth but this wasn't one of them and this wasn't the truth.
I noticed Obama's stuttering also. Usually someone who stutters like this is going over in their head what they should say. It's a sign of deception.
I've heard that as eloquent as Obama seems. He can not really speak well at all when he does not have a prepared speech. I wonder he he'd do when speaking to heads of other countries on our behalf. (If heaven forbid he should be elected)
I have been thinking about this a little more, and I guess George W. Bush is not always the most eloquent when he is speaking off the cuff. I suppose anyone can find something to criticize in someone's style of speaking.
Still, the negative message to the kid was wrong no matter what. I saw something GWB said at the Olympics:
“I wasn’t exactly sure what to say to you, except to start with, God, I love our country and I love what we stand for,”
What a difference!
On stuttering: I present — a lot. What is being discussed seems to be less of a "stutter" and more of situation where one is gathering thoughts. "Umms" and "uhhs" are fillers for those moments. That said, when posed with any question during a presentation, I always do three things before answering: listen to the question over again, develop my response, listen to my response before blurting it out.
On Obama: Another daily duty of mine is too examine problems and find solutions. Can I be the President? Well ... another discussion. However, what I tend to do when examining situations is step back about 10,000 feet and take in the "big picture." What's the overall strategy that will be employed to put the solution in motion? Now, I'm not an Obama advocate, but I am an idealist — many Americans my age are (30) — and I have to ask, do you see his big idea? Do you see the strategy? Too many people continue to harp on the minutiae and fail to see that he is giving Americans what they need — hope. That debt will not overcome us; that we'll be able to take the scenic route without thinking about the money it's costing; that thousands of brothers, husbands and sons (and sisters, mothers and daughters) will stop dying in a war that is eating away at our fabric. The minutiae can always be tweaked, but it's the pig picture that counts.
Well now Ed, we oldsters have to harp on the minutiae, it's the only thing that fits our dementia-addled short attention spans. Oh, wait - you young whipper-snappers are supposed to be the ones with the short attention spans, because we made you watch Sesame Street when you were little.
OK, I'm just having fun.
You are correct the "uh" "um" is not a stutter but a filler. I can remember being trained how not to do that back in my old working days when I did training and presenting. So, yeah. But anyway:
I don't see hope here. With hope comes a positive attitude. Hope says "I love this great country and I want to do all I can to make it even better!" Hope doesn't tell a classroom full of little kids that their country isn't so great. Hope doesn't fill kids with despair. OK, I am exaggerating. I think I am starting to channel my Dad. Oh man, he would have a field day with Obama. McCain too, for that matter. He'd be hoping for the return of Reagan, I guess.
Oh what am I thinking, I don't mean Reagan, I mean... NIXON!
Maybe it does have something to do with my age but the "hope" meme of Obama does nothing for me. We don't need an ephemeral "hope." We need concrete, well thought out plans and ideas. None of which Obama has at the moment.
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