Obama’s found his voice again and he’s got a new musical refrain…
Instead of Yes We Can—which he uses not mostly as a punchline—he is using as his repeating chorus “I trust the American people.
And he uses it well:
We can choose not to be divided…..we can choose not to be afraid..
This time can be different than all the rest….
This is our time to answer the call that so many Americans have answered before…..I didn’t get into this race thinking that I could avoid this kind of politics, but I am running for president because this is the time to end it.
We will end it by telling the truth forcefully, repeatedly, confidently, and by trusting that the American people will embrace the need for change, even if it’s coming from an imperfect messenger, because that’s how we’ve — that’s — because that’s how we’ve always changed this country, not from the top down, but from the bottom up, when you, the American people, decide that the stakes are too high and the challenges are too great.
The other side can label and name-call all they want, but I trust the American people to recognize that it is not surrender to end the war in Iraq so that we can rebuild our military and go after Al Qaida’s leaders.I trust the American people to understand that it is not weakness, but wisdom to talk not just to our friends, but to our enemies, like Roosevelt did, and Kennedy did, and Truman did.
I trust the American people to realize that, while we don’t need big government, we do need a government that stands up for families who are being tricked out of their homes by Wall Street predators, a government who stands up for the middle class by giving them a tax break, a government that ensures that no American will ever lose their life savings just because their child gets sick.
Security and opportunity, compassion and prosperity aren’t liberal values. They are not conservative values. They are American values, and that is what we are fighting for in this election.
Most of all, I trust the American people’s desire to no longer be defined by differences, because no matter where I’ve been in this country, whether it was in the cornfields of Iowa or the textile mills of the Carolinas, the streets of San Antonio or the foothills of Georgia, I’ve found that, while we may have different stories, we hold common hopes.We may not look the same or come from the same place, but we want to move in the same direction towards a better future for our children and our grandchildren. That’s why I’m in this race.
I love this country too much to see it divided and distracted at this critical moment in history…….
…..Don’t ever forget that we have a choice in this country, that we can choose not to be divided, that we can choose not to be afraid, that we can still choose this moment to finally come together and solve the problems we’ve talked about all those other years and all those other elections.This time can be different than all the rest.
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As for Hillary Clinton, she looked good, and spoke gracefully.
(EXCEPT she’s still going to put push the issue of Michigan and Florida.)
Bill, on the other hand, looks to be SERIOUSLY in need of sunscreen.
The giveaway was Chelsea: whatever her mom says, Chelsea looked like she knows its over.
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SO…….
Is it time to discuss the thing that Obama and Clinton supporters—-myself included—said was absolutely positively not possible?
On Sunday in the London Times, Andrew Sullivan said we need to revisit the idea of an Obama-Clinton ticket.
Yes? No? Maybe?
I think a Clinton-Obama ticket is a ridiculous idea because she totally undermines his message. If ever there were a symbol of the “old politics” it’s the Clintons. I know the press is too cynical to actually believe that Obama’s approach is anything more than a tactic, but even so, the tactic doesn’t work very well with the Clinton brand attached.