I liked Obama’s acceptance speech tonight. If you haven’t heard or seen it, it is worth listening to.
The Obama web site highlights this portion of the speech. I felt it was a powerful statement.
That promise is our greatest inheritance. Itâ??s a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours â?? a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.
And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincolnâ??s Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.
The men and women who gathered there couldâ??ve heard many things. They couldâ??ve heard words of anger and discord. They couldâ??ve been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.
But what the people heard instead â?? people of every creed and color, from every walk of life â?? is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.
â??We cannot walk alone,â? the preacher cried. â??And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.â?
America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise â?? that American promise â?? and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.
I liked the reference to Harlem (also known informally as Dream Deferred) by Langston Hughes, the poem that begins A Raisin in the Sun. Good poem.
What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? -- Langston Hughes
One theme I picked up on and have heard him say before is that we must be the change we want to see. And, like his other references to famous but unnamed persons/events, he channeled the ideas of Gandhi without specifically calling him out.
Needless to say, I’ve made up my mind. I think Obama will make a better President, manage the government better, and he will put better and more competent people in charge than McCain will.
Even then, I don’t like how either canidate handles the subject of the budget deficit. A deficit today is a tax tomorrow. Deferred taxation is not good policy. But both argue for tax cuts. If you disagree and want a tax cut, see whether Obama or McCain will cut your taxes more. http://alchemytoday.com/obamataxcut/