What I can say for certain is that I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America—not just for the sake of future generations of Americans but for all of humankind. I’m convinced that the pandemic we’re currently living through is both a manifestation of and a mere interruption in the relentless march toward an interconnected world, one in which peoples and cultures can’t help but collide....
Our divisions run deep; our challenges are daunting. If I remain hopeful about the future, it’s in large part because I’ve learned to place my faith in my fellow citizens, especially those of the next generation, whose conviction in the equal worth of all people seems to come as second nature, and who insist on making real those principles that their parents and teachers told them were true but that they perhaps never fully believed themselves. More than anyone else, my book is for those young people—an invitation to once again remake the world, and to bring about, through hard work, determination, and a big dose of imagination, an America that finally aligns with all that is best in us.
In this rhetoric, America is something that has never existed in reality, only as a set of ideals. The "America" of Trump's "Make America Great Again" was not only never great in the past. It was never even America. At some point in the future, the dream of America may come true. Obama has considered abandoning the hope that America will some day come into existence, but he's holding off. He's putting his faith in the people, especially the "next generation," which might be the Millennials, but could be Gen Z.
And don't forget the babies — the "Alphas" — and what they'll be thinking, seemingly second nature, after 10 or 15 years of whatever the Gen X and the Millennials inflict upon us. Somehow, something known as "the best in us" — be best! — will align with Mars, then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars.
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144 comments:
There is an interesting parallel with this and the Christian view of the Kingdom of God and America as a potential temporal realization of that kingdom, which Christians view as their duty to construct.
We've been noticing for a while that leftism is becoming more and more a religion.
Obama is a joke.
He and his wife are ultra wealthy now.
He hired and installed the most corrupt pack of insider traders/pay-to-play actors and corrupt a-holes to fill his cabinet.
Biden-Pelosi-Clinton. that's just the top scratch we see. The real players are embedded in the CIA and FBI. China holds their dicks.
" America is something that has never existed in reality, only as a set of ideals.”
That’s the standard line for commies. A lot of old Soviet jokes start with “when communism is finally built on this earth.”
“When communism is finally built on this earth, where there still be pilfering?”
“No! Everything will have been stolen under socialism.”
America hasn’t really been tried.
People like Obama still don’t appreciate what America had going before him.
He needs people like Trump and much worse to bring balance to his worldview, utopian as it is.
This is much like the further Left acting out fascism while claiming to be against....fascism.
It could have been avoided at the higher levels and deep within our institutions. Sad!
I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America
That's a relief. Now I can go about my day, as happy as two clams in a pod.
Obama's New American Man is Steal Bread to Feed Family
Get home, find all family have gone to Canada! Or Mexico!
"More bread for me," man think.
But bread have worm.
Obama was taught to hate this country, by his family sans perhaps his indonesian father in law by ayers bell khalidi wright et al
Choomhead, the least productive douche nozzle to inhabit the White House, will only be surpassed by Kamala.
If Obama had been a better president, we all would have been better people. Unfortunately, he sucked so we're deplorable.
When we have finally stamped out free speech, then the day the true America arrives will be that much closer.
Sob! We'll never be good enough for Obama!
The idea of the American experiment and greatness are both asymptotes. There is no destination it's just a journey.
The 30 years post-war economic manufacturing Juggernaut of the United States which allowed high school diploma single income fathers to keep a wife at home raise four kids send to college have a couple cars in the garage and go on vacation a couple times per year.
Part of the destruction of that lifestyle which is so mourned by the Trump supporters was due to the success that Republicans had busting up and decimating the unions. The corruption of the unions also helped their own demise No doubt.
Part of the problem is the rest of the world isn't a bombed out shell that can barely dig itself out of the rubble from World war II. The playing field is a lot more level so a return to that era is not possible.
Ultimately I agree with Joe Rogan and that universal basic income is going to be the solution.
Also, having a mother Exit Left while seeking a global community here on Earth and taking Frank Marshall Davis as a mentor....didn’t help.
Ya reap what ya sow, Barry.
Playing the cult of personality angle to advance your political ideals...may this be your fate.
That was an homage to Bruce by the way
Exactly: Conservatives love America for having a stable constitutional republic and laws that in theory provide "equal protection" but Progressives love the idea that America can be changed into something else without all those pesky constitutional impediments to their Power.
In short, one party represents people who Love America as-is and one party hates America as-is but claims to love the "idea" of America. So like socialism, to a lefty, America is just a great idea that has never been realized the "right way." This is why progs are on about a "third way" all the time but America still keeps returning to the mean, preferring a constitutional republic after all.
What I can say for certain is that I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America—not just for the sake of future generations of Americans but for all of humankind. I’m convinced that the pandemic we’re currently living through is both a manifestation of and a mere interruption in the relentless march toward an interconnected world, one in which peoples and cultures can’t help but collide....
Obama is not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America.
But he can certainly see that happening if America doesn't conform to his vision of the future.
There’s more to America than recycled notions of globalization and the post-war boom, filtered through UBI talk with an appeal to Joe Rogan, filtered through....Howard.
But Howard did use the word ‘asymptote’ so that sounds legit.
Classic Obama. "Here's a strawman that I don't believe in."
Of course, Red Diaper Barry's vision of America differs radically from the vision o0f America held by those of us who actually value liberty.
Obama got paid a lot for this nonsense. Actually, the book was only the McGuffin to account for the bribe.
"....This nation’s ideals have always been secondary to conquest and subjugation, a racial caste system and rapacious capitalism, and that to pretend otherwise is to be complicit in a game that was rigged from the start."
The key word in Obama's sentence is "always."
Everything in America that has come before is "rapacious" and "rigged."
Everything.
Tragic that a President could write such a sentence. More tragic that so many people believe what he preaches to be true.
He’s planning on running the show again. He’s knows what’s best for us. It has nothing to do with that pesky Constitution.
Although I disagree with his policies in almost every way, I have to face the fact that for black Americans, even wealthy former presidents, "America" has always been an ideal; one never quite realized. I wish he'd use his influence to call BS on Critical Race Theory and the other loony ideas that are working their way into mainstream thought.
Chris N: Touche
Obama does not seem to have any faith in any other country. Just the one he and his gang are trying to loot and destroy.
Dear Barack,
Foxtrot Yankee.
Strong message to follow.
Regards,
America
Of course Barack Obama would endorse fraud on a grand scale.
Howard writes: "Ultimately I agree with Joe Rogan and that universal basic income is going to be the solution."
Great! You and other State-shtuppers can pay for it! Should I get one of those GoFundMe accounts so you have somewhere to send the money to me?
Howard at 936 - Some valid points, but UBI concerns me. Pay to do nothing seems imprudent.
Bloviating Bozo Barack Babbling Again. When will it end? The fellow has an ego taller than the Washington Monument. Still it would be interesting to see Biden say "Buzz Off Bozo! I'm The Big Dog Now. I don't have to listen to your BS---I'm the super spreader of BS now!"
That is, if Biden can remember where he is, and who he is--and the odds on that are Slim and None and Slim just left town. But he's got to watch that sneaky Kamala.
"I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America"
And since the possibility of America is merely his idea of it, Obama's patriotism lite is just another form of narcissism.
Note the implied threat: when America falls short, as it always does, O and his comrades might just "abandon" it, so America, you've been warned. You don't wanna be Portland.
stever: "He’s planning on running the show again."
That's why Kamala is there.
She is obama's ventriloquism dummy.....with a politically tone deaf cackling laugh that makes even Hillary cringe when she is not in a chardonnay-induced coma.
It's all funny money anyway it's not coming out of anyone's pocket. The current debt levels are so high nobody has any assets but in reality possession is 9/10 of the law so I think we're through the looking Glass and just haven't realized it yet
Kevin: "But he can certainly see that happening if America doesn't conform to his vision of the future."
Once again, America has failed obama.
As always.
It is difficult to meet the moral and ethical standards of someone who was pronounced "sort of a god" by the entire democrat party and LLR's everywhere.
We already pay UBI. UBI will join the existing pantheon of welfare programs whose general purpose is to employ minority women as administrators / keep the natives full of enough carbohydrates and drugs to continue consuming without making too much trouble.
I always thought he was kind of a dick.
I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America
Sounds like a threat. Perhaps he should ask for a divorce and move on.
Don't these people ever go away?
(Nope, not when there is more power to be amassed.)
America should be like one big college town!
What's not to like?
There aren't enough low level jobs now to pay people to do 'something' as opposed to 'nothing.' This is just going to worsen when warehouse pickers and checkout clerks are all put out of work by AI. So we might as well pay those people to sit in the Stacks, smoke pot and play xbox. At least that way they won't be storming the burbclaves.
I don't like it either but is there a better plan that is realistic?
I'm a little surprised that Hair the movie came out so late -- in 1979. I wonder what took so long.
What the fuck does Barack Obama know about America?
As stated, utopians have but one role: To deny the world that exists while recognizing a world that does not.
p.s. my references make more sense if you have read Ready Player One and the novels of Neal Stephenson. Who btw is a distant cousin of mine, and who lives in a hermitage on Vashon Island, which is exactly what I would do if I had the bucks.
America isn't a possibility. It has happened. Millions have already come here and realized their dreams, which were only possible yet realized here, in America. Obama may have considered abandoning his dreams, and I'm perfectly fine with that happening. I lived his dream for 8 years and found much of it miserable, particularly the part where we became a police state that spies on oppositional opinions and then tries to cancel those opinions.
Sorry wild chicken there are not enough beautiful young women to populate every town like a college campus. My wife and I visited Dartmouth college this week. The quad was full of young ladies wearing shorts and tank tops along with their face diapers. Say good night to Indian summer
Howard at 955 - Agree debt is a big concern (both consumer and government). Back in 1992 I loved Perot for focusing on debt and deficit. Now no one cares. That scares me. Fiscal prudence is one of the reasons I self identify conservative.
"We've been noticing for a while that leftism is becoming more and more a religion."
Mencius Moldbug makes a strong case for the reverse proposition; that American Leftism is the heir and direct successor of New England Protestantism. In the Revolution, the Fathers had thrown off the dead hand of Monarchy and won a Nation. In the Civil War, the Sons had destroyed a Great Evil (and rival economic system) which had fixed itself upon that Nation. New England considered itself the font and arbiter of American morality and rectitude, and thought it only reasonable that the Nation's rulers should be found among the alumni of the Ivy League. The once-strong Christian faith has now waned, but the Puritan moral conviction remains, directed into the various forms of worldly Virtue the trust fund babies are so frantically signalling to one another.
Shorter interpretation via cliche: satisfaction is the end of desire
Usually when one contemplates getting off a boat, they have in mind the next boat they want to be in. Or is Obama contemplating swimming the rest of his life?
"Vooobaaaa! Vooobaaa! Vooobaaa!"
"EEEEEEEEE!:
"NOAH?!"
"What?"
"HOW LONG CAN YOU TREAD WATER?!?"
Big Zero just won’t go away. Class A narcissist that he is, he’s high on his own supply.
Pants at 1003 - You raise good points. My concern is..aren't many of the BLM and antifa rioters people who were being paid but not working? I think Mickey Kaus wondered about that.
Wasn't it Democrat mythical-hero JFK who declared, "Ask not whether you are ready to give up on your country. Rather, ask whether your country is ready to give up on you."
"an invitation to once again remake the world"
What utter arrogance. When did they 'remake the world' in the past? You know what remakes the world? War. And I'd rather not see that happen in what remains of my life.
Of course, the pandemic is being counted on to 'remake/reset' the world and, if that fails, there is the even more virulent 'climate change' hysteria.
Well said, Quayle @10:11.
Some of us cherish liberty, others - such as 0bama - value tyranny.
He just doesn’t “get” America.
Things sure can look pretty bleak from Martha's Vineyard.
I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America
He should make like his father and just skip town..
Howard is a troll, but Howard is not merely a troll. He raises an interesting point.
It does rather appear that we decided some time ago to abandon pay-as-you-go, and to raise government spending without raising taxes. And like Coyote walking off the cliff, it seems to be working. The inevitable inflation that every thoughtful observer predicted, including myself, failed to materialize. Just don't look down!
The only explanation I can think of, is that the economy has in fact become enormously productive, perhaps due to the internet, and the only reason we are not seeing massive deflation is that the government is skimming off the excess. Just don't look up!
Obama has always been easily duped by conventional wisdom and prone to cliche. This is the standard globalization-of-America view that is widely believed among the elite. America as an idea, and the inevitability of a globalized world.
The notion of America as "an idea" is well over a century old and probably goes back at least to the spirit of Linconln's Gettysburg line: "a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." At Clarence Thomas's swearing-in in 1989, George H.W. Bush said: "America is the first nation in history founded on an idea, on that unshakeable certainty all men are created equal."
Speaking of George H.W. Bush, at his 1991 State of the Union and in regards to the Gulf War, said: "it is a big idea: a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind—peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle and worthy of our children's future."
Obama is merely reiterating a standard view among elites that has predominated for at least 30 years. The notion that the spread of capitalism and of liberalism occur in tandem. It was humming along nicely until it ran into a Great Wall of China.
Bush was right to call it a "big idea." And as P.J. O'Rourke once noted, "as anybody who has ever been asked 'What's the big idea?' knows, most big ideas are bad ones."
Obama's campaign 'Obama for America' morphed into 'Organizing for Action'. OFA has trained tens of thousand of "community organizers." They are the ones who disrupt Republican events.They are the ones leading BLM and ANTIFA. The massive social network and training of hard core extreme left activists by OFA has been Obama's crowning achievement.Obama did not condemn the violence leading up to the election, rather he made a point of saying how different these "peaceful protests" were from the 1968 riots.This book sounds like a message to his proteges - thank you, keep up the good work.
The quote needs context. Why would he think of abandoning the possibility of America?
So someone at Penguin finally wrote the book for him so the money laundering of the advance cash that really came from Iran is hidden a little better?
To their credit, the Obamas didn't monetize their influence while he was president and only monetized their fame after he left office. I don't envy their riches or even care about them.
I loved the symbolism of Obama, but his judgment was limited and, ultimately, he was ineffective and unprepared. His presidency would have gone better if he'd served more than two years in the senate or, better still, a term or two as governor of Illinois. He simply wasn't grounded. Naifs who are overpraised often take seriously the blather of their claques. (Like the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.)
That he ran for the presidency when he did was not all his fault, however; there was a palpable wish in the country to absolve ourselves of past sins by electing an African American president. There's more to the project than that, and there is plenty of blame to go around.
I will not buy his book.
What a fucking asshole. Not “yet”? So it’s a thought that is on his mind sometimes — abandoning the possibility of America. Because he doesn’t get his way, and if he doesn’t get his way enough times, he’s done with it. Back to Kenya or wherever.
“Collide” is not usually used as a positive action by people. He’s promoting war here, seems to me.
"I’m not yet ready to abandon the possibility of America."
Read: reparations.
What a gas bag!
I wonder how many more best sellers he has in him before his audience realizes his pap is just...pap.
Nothingness. Nice words. Neat phrases that can, in the right person, elicit goosey feelings. He is he wealthiest, most accomplished nothingbuger I've ever seen or heard in my life. He is the King of Pap.
We went from Michael Jackson to Barack Obama with only a vowel change.
Obama's starting point is what's been standard rhetoric for years: America is an ideal that we haven't yet fully achieved. But how far along are we? How close did America come to achieving that ideal in the past and how close are we now? The temptation for the left is to say that if we have always had racism, then we haven't measured up and have failed as a nation -- or have yet to achieve America.
It's understandable that many African-Americans, especially of the older generation, believe that America has failed, and it's true that countries can't stand still and are always changing, but forever feeling that the country is a failure doesn't do us any good. On the one hand, it leaves us prey to those who claim that they can fix everything if they get power. On the other hand, it makes us weaker and unable to defend the country and hold it together.
To their credit, the Obamas didn't monetize their influence while he was president...
LOL. Good one! Yeah he only wrote two autobiographies on a subject no one cared about before he was 50, and got paid handsomely to do it because he was a "rising star" in the D party. That's why a fellow mobster bought him and Michelle a mansion. Poor Obama only had million$ in "royalties" (one of the many ways the grifting class pays bribes disguised as "business deals" one of many little cool things you can do with a D after your name) to count on while president and hundreds of million$ upon exit. Talk about delayed gratification! Didn't monetize their influence! Comedy gold dude.
Those who have been discomfited by the barbs and bristles in Trump's tweets can take comfort in the creamy softness of Obama's rhetoric and spread it on their cracker. Nutella and shit are much alike in appearance, but there's not much nourishment in shit except for dung beetles.
If only the Aztecs or Commanches had been left undisturbed to fulfill their vision for America.
That he ran for the presidency when he did was not all his fault, however; there was a palpable wish in the country to absolve ourselves of past sins by electing an African American president.
I disagree vehemently.
Collective salvation/Black Liberation Theology, based in marxism.
There was not, and is not, a palpable wish to embrace it in America.
America does not need absolution it needs transparency.
Obama is extremely boring and extremely left-wing. Fortunately, he's also an elitist, and lazy. So, the damage done while he was President was limited. That he doesn't like America 1.0, and wants to change it drastically, isn't a surprise. His American roots are VERY shallow, and he sat in a church applauding his "Goddamn America" pastor. THe "Goddamn America" thing could have cost him the election, except "Maverick" McCain wouldn't "stoop to that". McCain reserved all his vicious attacks, lies, and smears for his fellow Republicans.
He is narcissistic in that liberal, Scandinavian way, that his people, our tribe, the best people are unquestionably superior. It inoculates against any suspicion that you personally are arrogant because "hey, I'm not saying this about myself, but about certain ideas." Except it's not about ideas, because those have changed a couple of times in my lifetime. It's tribal.
his people, our tribe, the best people are unquestionably superior
Otherwise known as "American exceptionalism."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18mrVLf3DrQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IIYsxV0bkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywVHF6Lltac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDP2PzOSIL4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGPq5fpfZGw
J. Farmer writes: "his people, our tribe, the best people are unquestionably superior."
"Otherwise known as "American exceptionalism."
Not exactly, Doctor IQ. Obama's form of Amerrican exceptionalism is that belief that despite all the impoverishment and death (see the Democide statistics) statism has brought to other countries, here in the US, we'll avoid all the bad consequences of State-cultism and just have good consequences! Because we have exeptional geniuses like the Lightbringer to steer us in the right direction--if only we would listen and submit!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B22uqSJvi2U
Oh look another crook, Obama, opining how he became President as a 'pauper' and left as a multimillionaire. Sorry, Mr. Obama, you have no creditability in by book.
J Farmer oversimplifies. The claim of exceptionalism isn’t American exceptionalism to the person. American exceptionalism means U.S. constitution exceptionalism. It is the constitutional system, and the individual protections that it afforded, that enabled unexceptional people in the world to come here and prosper - and become exceptional - when they otherwise had no chance.
Not an artfully written sentence but in the context of the excerpt he seems to be addressing the possible future for America. Written after the pandemic started and before the election. Not saying there is no America. He was POTUSA for 8 years, after all.
"Our divisions run deep..."
No kidding cocksucker...you stoked a ton of them yourself.
Jeezus...what an awful version. Could you substitute the 5th Dimension?
Wonder how sales will compare to FLOTUS's.
Yes Quayle! Thank you. Saved me from writing the same thing less clearly. Government derives its power from the consent of the People here, Farmer. That is exceptional, that a government would recognize rights granted by a Higher Power that must be protected.
" then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars."
Just remember, that only made sense at the time because it was accompanied by pictures of attractive young women, naked. I don't know, maybe you liked the naked young guys. I just wondered what the Hell they were doing in my fantasy. Useless, hairy bastards.
And the best song in the whole production was from Hamlet.
Barry is so full of shit...
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=obama+turns+out+i+was+pretty+good+at
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obama-told-aides-turns-out-im-really-good-at-killing-people_n_5b4f6fd6e4b0860924770747
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/01/12/reflecting-on-obamas-presidency/obamas-embrace-of-drone-strikes-will-be-a-lasting-legacy
@Quayle:
J Farmer oversimplifies. The claim of exceptionalism isn’t American exceptionalism to the person. American exceptionalism means U.S. constitution exceptionalism. It is the constitutional system, and the individual protections that it afforded, that enabled unexceptional people in the world to come here and prosper - and become exceptional - when they otherwise had no chance.
This aspect of "American exceptionalism" is certainly true. Tocqueville commented on it in the mid-19th century. But then ask yourself, when does "American exceptionalism" come up in political discourse or get invoked? Invariably, it's to defend or justify some foreign adventurism, some unilateral action, some excuse for why the "rules-based order" doesn't apply to us, yada yada yada. It's encapsulated by remarks like those of Madeline Albright, that we are "the indispensable nation," that when we bomb places and get people killed, it's because we "stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future," or in boos like Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick Cheney.
I like that version of the song. Seen the film maybe 4 times. Was living in NYC when call went out for people to go to filming in Central Park for crowd scene dressed like late sixties. I lacked the wardrobe and hairstyle, unfortunately.
@Howard re UBI,
Yes we will have to deal with the continuing GNR revolution pretty soon, and the economic dislocation it creates. UBI is a very simplistic and hazardous way of dealing with it. It centralizes power and economic leverage to an unacceptable degree under the guise of fairness. Equal outcomes is a pipedream among an unequal and competitive species. I can't offer a solution, but UBI is a downward spiral for 95% of the population. Utopia is always just beyond our reach isn't it? But I don't think a dystopian future is a necessary outcome of the greater good. Let's come up with something else.
obama was mentored by the father of critical race theory derrick bell, it's the syllabi of the community organizing he presented as teaching law at u chicago, so why would he do otherwise,
The thing about a UBI is that you are going to need a secure border.
UBI is just another way to say that the deplorables are economically worthless, and we can make more money shipping their jobs to the ChiComs and the idea that this puts a boot on our throat from China never enters the thinking. Remember when we couldn’t get any PPE early on in the crisis because this strategic item is no longer manufactured in the US?
People thinking like this should read some history books without the assumption that we are at the end of history.
@Mike (MJB Wolf):
Yes Quayle! Thank you. Saved me from writing the same thing less clearly. Government derives its power from the consent of the People here, Farmer. That is exceptional, that a government would recognize rights granted by a Higher Power that must be protected.
The founding fathers were also pragmatic men who knew not to take their lofty Enlightenment rhetoric too seriously. There's a difference between theory and practice. That's why John Stuart Mill could write On Libert and still be a staunch advocate and defender of colonialism.
Natural rights is a very fuzzy concept. If the government is permitted to only act in a manner to protect natural rights, then it will simply make some appeal to natural rights to justify what it does, however tortured and tenuous that appeal may be.
I have abandoned the possibility of Barack H. Obama ever being more than a pompous ass.
There has long been a conflict between "ethnic" and "civic" nationalism: between the idea that the nation is a people with a common ancestry and the idea that the nation means adherence to certain ideas and principles. The US has long leaned in the direction of civic nationalism, because an exclusive emphasis on ethnicity and ancestry would tear the country apart.
The halfway house between the two traditions would be a "cultural" nationalism that sees a nation as having a common culture - basic principles, yes, but also language, traditions, culture, interpersonal connections. Such a concept of nationhood could avoid the pitfalls of ethnic nationalism (which can be exclusivist and domineering) and civic nationalism (which can be either aggressively crusading or weak and ineffectual).
Mencius Moldbug makes a strong case for the reverse proposition; that American Leftism is the heir and direct successor of New England Protestantism.
A valid argument worth considering. But New England was able to free itself of slavery and go where a larger cultural trend (Protestantism? Modernity? Or something larger still?) was heading. If the South wasn't as quick to follow that trend, there was an obvious reason. If the North is expected to admit that slavery and segregation weren't wholly Southern phenomena, is it too much for the South to admit that some "Yankee" or "Puritan" characteristics have also been in evidence South of the Mason-Dixon line?
I'm not going to fault Obama for saying that he isn't going to give up on America. That was standard liberal rhetoric in the Sixties (and in the Thirties as well), when many people did want to give up on America. We'll be hearing that affirmation again today when the far left has decided to give up on the country again, and it's also something heard on the right against those who are driven to despair by godless America.
Also, I don't think one can seriously deny that many Americans had the feeling that electing Obama would put racism behind us. It wasn't ideological, but rather emotional, even religious. It looks like a very quaint notion now, but it was very much part of the spirit of 2008.
. If the government is permitted to only act in a manner to protect natural rights...
*only
Submitted without commentary, seeking to avoid the wormhole.
you had to be totally ignorant about what obama was about, he imported every third world cliche into his mindset,
And the best song in the whole production was from Hamlet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKMOClN9ITg&t=1s
MD Greene said...
"That [Obama] ran for the presidency when he did was not all his fault, however; there was a palpable wish in the country to absolve ourselves of past sins by electing an African American president. There's more to the project than that, and there is plenty of blame to go around."
Lurker21 said...
"It's understandable that many African-Americans, especially of the older generation, believe that America has failed, and it's true that countries can't stand still and are always changing, but forever feeling that the country is a failure doesn't do us any good. On the one hand, it leaves us prey to those who claim that they can fix everything if they get power. On the other hand, it makes us weaker and unable to defend the country and hold it together."
**************
I had dinner the other night with a retired conservative black lawyer---yes, they do exist---who told me he likes to counter the claim of "systemic racism" with the election of Barack Obama.
He gets a lot of heat for saying so, especially among his family members, some of whom are on the right, and others angry "victims" who have quaffed the Kool-Aid.
Blogger narciso said...
you had to be totally ignorant about what obama was about, he imported every third world cliche into his mindset,
Indeed.
He, like all the commie bastards, don't want to "fix" America, then change the world. They want to break America by importing a failed governing philosophy, fixing communism that has failed because this time the right people are doing it right...finally. Once and for all.
"In this rhetoric, America is something that has never existed in reality"
IOW, Obama wants to destroy America, and replace it wit a sick, twisted, leftist sh!thole
You know who else wanted to remake the world?
Sell out to Iran again.
Teh democrat party is corrupt at the top. Media are on board.
Preening, sanctimonious prick.
Shut up and enjoy your mansion. Make those oceans recede or something.
Our divisions run deep; our challenges are daunting.
Who did more to exacerbate our divisions as a conscious political strategy than Barack Hussein Obama? Who did more to take problems that were essentially solved, undo the progress, and reopen them as “challenges”? The cynicism is breathtaking.
I'm still waiting for the sea levels to stop rising.
And now I'm wondering how Michelle was finally proud to be a citizen of something that wasn't yet possible.
But give me a 12 million dollar ocean front estate and maybe I could more effectively ponder these questions.
"... there was a palpable wish in the country to absolve ourselves of past sins by electing an African American president."
How did that work out?
Please don’t be fooled by Howard’s use of the word “asymptotes“; he doesn’t really understand the concept. If something is asymptotically approaching something else, then the two will never meet, correct. But what he doesn’t understand — or conveniently overlooks — is that they will become infinitely close. The difference will become infinitesimal. Sane people would take that in a heartbeat.
BTW, mathematicians deal with the concept of “infinitesimally close” through epsilon-delta arguments. If you got that far in your math classes.
an America that finally aligns with all that is best in us.
So America has never been good? This reminds me of the art restoration posted earlier. If you have never really liked America why should you be allowed to reform it?
It is like asking Salvator Dali to finish or restore a Michelangelo. If you have never liked Michelangelo you should not even volunteer to “fix” it.
---It does rather appear that we decided some time ago to abandon pay-as-you-go, and to raise government spending without raising taxes. And like Coyote walking off the cliff, it seems to be working. The inevitable inflation that every thoughtful observer predicted, including myself, failed to materialize. Just don't look down! [Jupiter]
Perhaps the inflation did materialize, and is present in financial assets valued at higher multiples of their revenue and earnings streams than at any previous time in our history.
Your final advice is good, but hard to do. It sure is a scary view.
Part of the problem is the rest of the world isn't a bombed out shell that can barely dig itself out of the rubble from World war II. The playing field is a lot more level so a return to that era is not possible.
The Marshall Plan.
Big Picture: In the history of Humankind on this planet, there has never been a better time to be alive. I'm tired of those assholes who fail to realize they won the Humankind lottery to be born in the best nation that ever existed on this planet. Grow some perspective.
@Bilwick:
Not exactly, Doctor IQ. Obama's form of Amerrican exceptionalism is that belief that despite all the impoverishment and death (see the Democide statistics) statism has brought to other countries, here in the US, we'll avoid all the bad consequences of State-cultism and just have good consequences! Because we have exeptional geniuses like the Lightbringer to steer us in the right direction--if only we would listen and submit!
Uh huh. Anyone remember when Republican bobble-heads were wailing that Obama "doesn't believe in American exceptionalism" and would quote his about British and Greek exceptionalism as evidence of this?
The question was put to him by a FT reporter in the context of G-20 and NATO. They never quote any other part of his answer. After talking about the resources and sacrifices for WWII and post-war Europe, says, "And if you think of our current situation, the United States remains the largest economy in the world. We have unmatched military capability. And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional." And of course goes on to say that he believes "that America has a continued extraordinary role in leading the world towards peace and prosperity."
As I said, "American exceptionalism" is invariably invoked on foreign policy matters to defend American global "leadership" (i.e. domination).
you had to be totally ignorant about what obama was about, he imported every third world cliche into his mindset,
Speaking of third world cliches, poor Narciso thinks the Battle of Santa Clara is always right around the corner.
A lot of politics is simple physics, if Obama thinks Trump is so bad, how is Trump the reaction to Obama?
Just maybe Obama had something more to do with that than any of the Americans past or future that we wants to examine.
It’s understandable that he wants to cast blame everywhere— to the entire system even when the only thing he can truly know is what he did to make it happen...it’s always the last place you look.
I think Trump had a more successful Presidency, but Obama gave us shinier platitudes. I found Obama's tones soporific but many found them soothing.
"It is the constitutional system, and the individual protections that it afforded, that enabled unexceptional people in the world to come here and prosper - and become exceptional - when they otherwise had no chance."
Well, OK. But as of about 1910 or so, "American exceptionalism" morphed into a preening self-regard that allowed two Democrat Presidents to drag the US in two European wars they did not understand, making them vastly more destructive than would otherwise have been the case, simply because they found they had the power to do so, and exulted in its exercise.
Barack "burden" Obama of saved and progressed social justice adventures and anthropogenic conflicts (e.g. "wars", catastrophic anthropogenic immigration reform, elective coups, spying, diversity, Springs, deals), and Obamacares' progressive prices and availability speaks.
That said, don't exercise liberal license to indulge diversity, not limited to racism, and exclusion. Don't embrace the bigotry of political congruence and other policies of selective exclusion. Principles matter. Make America Great Again
I recognize that there are those who believe that it’s time to discard the myth—that an examination of America’s past and an even cursory glance at today’s headlines show that this nation’s ideals have always been secondary to conquest and subjugation, a racial caste system and rapacious capitalism, and that to pretend otherwise is to be complicit in a game that was rigged from the start.
Obama quoted at The Atlantic.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/barack-obama-i-still-believe-america/617073/
(Well now you can see why they waited till after the election to publish this.)
Obama learned well from Frank Marshall Davis, who may have been his father.
Obama: this nation’s ideals have always been secondary to conquest
Obama needs to see The Marshall Plan.
A good book for Obama to start off with might be—
George Marshall—Defender of the Republic— by David L. Roll.
Context matters. When somebody says "There are those who believe ..." they're not saying "I believe ..." Are they trying to sneak what "those" people believe into the conversation without admitting they believe it themselves? Possibly. But more likely not.
J. Farmer writes: "Anyone remember when Republican bobble-heads were wailing that Obama 'doesn't believe in American exceptionalism' and would quote his about British and Greek exceptionalism as evidence of this?"
I don't, but then I'm not a Republican bobble head (most of the bobble heads I see are kneeling "liberals" and other collectivists "doing the Lewinsky"* to their beloved State). Again, the exceptionalism that most concerns me--as a liberty addict--is the idea that "geniuses" such as Obama are somehow going to allow us to avoid the consequences of State cultism. please tell me how Mensans like Obama and and Biden are going to avoid them. The way Biden is going to defeat the Kung Flu, by waving a magic wand?
*Perhaps that reference should be updated to "doing a Kamela."
" a racial caste system and rapacious capitalism"
Obama certainly wouldn't want anything to do with any system of racial preferences, and he has made well known his belief that "At some point, you've made enough money."
He is one of the very few Americans who may have reached that point. Though he could need a couple dozen additional millions if it turns out the seas haven't quite finished rising.
Again, the exceptionalism that most concerns me--as a liberty addict--is the idea that "geniuses" such as Obama are somehow going to allow us to avoid the consequences of State cultism.
Fair enough, but if your opposition is to statism, then no president, political party, or country can be acceptable to you. I think there's a lot of good material in anarchist and libertarian writing even if I don't find their arguments ultimately persuasive. I think states are unavoidable, and I don't think minarchism is a viable alternative.
Now if you're an anti-statist that supports Trump, that doesn't make much sense to me.
J. Farmer said:
As I said, "American exceptionalism" is invariably invoked on foreign policy matters to defend American global "leadership" (i.e. domination).
*************
Oh sure. Invariably.
Never mind that most conservatives who have invoked the term over the years use it to refer to the US being the first nation ever to publicly proclaim that it has a "government of the people, by the people and for the people."
THAT's what exceptional. No monarchy, no hereditary ruling class (that's looking more iffy, given the rise of snotty coastal types masquerading as "elites"), religious liberty, and mechanisms built into the Constitution to allow change through amendment etc.
Obama's lame-o response that other national think of themselves as exceptional was revealed him to be a historical ignoramus.
You may say that the idea has changed or been weakened by events the past fifty years or so.
But c'mon: you said "invariably". How about some invariable quotes?
Context matters. When somebody says "There are those who believe ..." they're not saying "I believe ..." Are they trying to sneak what "those" people believe into the conversation without admitting they believe it themselves? Possibly. But more likely not.
...............
I recognize that there are those who believe that it’s time to discard the myth
I’m not even sure what he thinks “the myth” is. Then speaking of context how about the broader context of action? Consider the DNC convention it looked like it was produced by “those who believe”..... The protesters who they honored at the convention sure look like “those who believe”....
Obama as the elder statesman of the Democrat party who is worshipped has put “those who believe” in a very prominent position during the DNC convention, if he wanted it differently they would have listened to him.
I’m hoping Elon invites Obama to create his perfection on Mars since the United States has never been quite good enough.
Fuck Obama.
Sorry if this is a repeat comment.
Obama remains the most admired man in America. Interesting to see if/when Biden replaces him.
I hope he fails. Prescient words, and worth repeating every time Obama surfaces.
wholelottasplainin':
THAT's what exceptional. No monarchy, no hereditary ruling class (that's looking more iffy, given the rise of snotty coastal types masquerading as "elites"), religious liberty, and mechanisms built into the Constitution to allow change through amendment etc.
As I argued earlier, "This aspect of American exceptionalism is certainly true.". Obama himself said, " And I think that we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional."
The question is why is it invoked. What is the purpose of making reference to it. The reporter Obama was responding to asked, "as many of your predecessors have, to the school of American exceptionalism that sees America as uniquely qualified to lead the world, or do you have a slightly different philosophy? And if so, would you be able to elaborate on it?"
But c'mon: you said "invariably". How about some invariable quotes?
I'll start by repeating the two I already mentioned.
Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America by Dick Cheney
"If we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us." -Madeleine Albright
"The attack on freedom in our world has reaffirmed our confidence in freedom's power to change the world. We are all part of a great venture: To extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew the values that sustain our liberty, and to spread the peace that freedom brings." -George W. Bush, 2005 SOTU
"America is not the world’s policeman. Terrible things happen across the globe, and it is beyond our means to right every wrong. But when, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death, and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional. With humility, but with resolve, let us never lose sight of that essential truth." -Barack Obama, 2013 speech on Syria
"We are the party of peace through strength. Professing American exceptionalism—the conviction that our country holds a unique place and role in human history—we proudly associate ourselves with those Americans of all political stripes who, more than three decades ago in a world as dangerous as today's, came together to advance the cause of freedom. " -GOP platform, 2012
"When he criticizes the president for using the term ‘American exceptionalism,’ if you’re in Russia, you don’t want to hear that America is exceptional. And if you’re in many other countries, whether it’s Germany or other places, you don’t want to hear about American exceptionalism because you think you’re exceptional. So I can see that being very insulting to the world,” Trump told Piers Morgan, “Other nations and other countries don’t want hear about American exceptionalism. They’re insulted by it. And that’s what Putin was saying.”
"We believe that American exceptionalism — the notion that our ideas and principles as a nation give us a unique place of moral leadership in the world — requires the United States to retake its natural position as leader of the free world." -GOP platform, 2016
"I don't like the term." -Donald J. Trump to TexasPatriots PAC, 2015
"Obama likes to use that term, some others like to use that term. And you know, you think of the term is being find but all of a sudden you say, "Well, what if you're in Germany or what if you're in Japan or what if you're in any one of 100 different countries, your not going to like that term. And it's very insulting. And Putin really put it to him on that." -Donald J. Trump, Piers Morgan Tonight, 2013
p.s. In fact, while the notion is quite old in American history, the actual phrase "American excpetionalism" only became commonly used after Obama was asked about it, and Republicans made hay of his response.
@ Farmer: you said "invariably".
I said
"You may say that the idea has changed or been weakened by events the past fifty years or so."
You offered modern quotes.
QED
Obama is, and always was, one-half con man and one-half street hustler.
@wholelottasplainin':
I said
"You may say that the idea has changed or been weakened by events the past fifty years or so."
You offered modern quotes.
This is a modern concept. As I said, "This aspect of "American exceptionalism" is certainly true. Tocqueville commented on it in the mid-19th century. But then ask yourself, when does "American exceptionalism" come up in political discourse or get invoked? Invariably, it's to defend or justify some foreign adventurism, some unilateral action, some excuse for why the "rules-based order" doesn't apply to us, yada yada yada."
Nonetheless, there are some antecedents. For example:
"We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world." -John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address
"America will come into the full light of the day when all shall know that she puts human rights above all other rights and that her flag is the flag not only of America but of humanity." -Woodrow Wilson, Meaning of Liberty speech
"We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy." -Woodrow Wilson's request to Congress for a Declaration of War
"Barbarism has and can have no place in a civilized world. It is our duty toward the people living in barbarism to see that they are freed from their chains, and we can only free them by destroying barbarism itself. The missionary, the merchant and the soldier may each have to play a part in this destruction, and in the consequent uplifting of the people. Exactly as it is the duty of a civilized power scrupulously to respect the rights of all weaker civilized powers and gladly to help those who are struggling towards civilization, so it is its duty to put down savagery and barbarism." -Theodore Roosevelt's "Big Stick" speech
I remember as a kid I once asked my father," What's so great about America?" "Because here, you're future belongs to you." It took awhile before that sank in. I wouldn't have to take a test in middle school to determine if I became a plumber or would go to college.
The people that came here later. My grandparents parents. One of them was a barber in the old country. That was because his father was a barber. And his father. And their shop was the shop they apprenticed in. It wasn't owned by them. It never could be. They would never own land. They would never go any further in school than was necessary for them to be barbers. The chances were, even in the 1880s. They would never travel more than ten miles from where they lived. But, to quote my grandmother," Here it was different.
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