This made me laugh--probably way more than it should have. I blame this nasty head cold (which has fried my brain a bit) and 75 minutes with an uncooperative class (which also fried said brain). And it's only Tuesday...
Via Andrew Sullivan.
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A great day for America...
...no matter who you voted for.
This is one of my favorite pictures of our President-elect. I know it's a bit of an anvil over the head as far as symbols go, but let's face it: it works. This guy works hard, gets results, and keeps his cool. And through it all, he just seems so genuine and authentic.
He's got my support because he's my President..or he will be in a few hours. I wish him nothing but success.
(By the way, the picture comes from a very cool collection you can find here.)
This is one of my favorite pictures of our President-elect. I know it's a bit of an anvil over the head as far as symbols go, but let's face it: it works. This guy works hard, gets results, and keeps his cool. And through it all, he just seems so genuine and authentic.
He's got my support because he's my President..or he will be in a few hours. I wish him nothing but success.
(By the way, the picture comes from a very cool collection you can find here.)
Monday, December 22, 2008
Poetry at the Inauguration
Over at The New Yorker, George Packer is being kind of cranky about poetry at the inauguration.
"Is it too late to convince the President-elect not to have a poem written for and read at his Inauguration? The event will be a great moment in the nation’s history. Three million people will be listening on the Mall. Many of them will be thinking of another great moment that took place forty-five years ago, at their backs, when Martin Luther King stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Such grandeur would seem to call for poetry. But in fact the opposite is true."
He explains, "For many decades American poetry has been a private activity, written by few people and read by few people, lacking the language, rhythm, emotion, and thought that could move large numbers of people in large public settings."
That is, I think, a definite overgeneralization about American poetry. Beyond that, it's faulty logic: since Frost, Angelou, and the rest wrote less-than-inspiring poems, then Alexander will do the same? Why not give the poet the benefit of the doubt? Also, what's with his claim that only Derek Walcott is up to the challenge? What a jerky claim to make. Plus, Walcott isn't even American...
At the very least, making poetry a part of the inauguration will remind us all how very important poetry is to our lives. Besides, we have a poetry-reading, poetry-quoting President-elect...
"Is it too late to convince the President-elect not to have a poem written for and read at his Inauguration? The event will be a great moment in the nation’s history. Three million people will be listening on the Mall. Many of them will be thinking of another great moment that took place forty-five years ago, at their backs, when Martin Luther King stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Such grandeur would seem to call for poetry. But in fact the opposite is true."
He explains, "For many decades American poetry has been a private activity, written by few people and read by few people, lacking the language, rhythm, emotion, and thought that could move large numbers of people in large public settings."
That is, I think, a definite overgeneralization about American poetry. Beyond that, it's faulty logic: since Frost, Angelou, and the rest wrote less-than-inspiring poems, then Alexander will do the same? Why not give the poet the benefit of the doubt? Also, what's with his claim that only Derek Walcott is up to the challenge? What a jerky claim to make. Plus, Walcott isn't even American...
At the very least, making poetry a part of the inauguration will remind us all how very important poetry is to our lives. Besides, we have a poetry-reading, poetry-quoting President-elect...
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Messiah Watch
Like lots of people, I've been a bit uncomfortable with the "Obama as Messiah" theme that is circulating among some of his supporters (although they would never call it that). This video does little to quell those fears:
Now I've blogged before (positively) about pro-Obama videos, but this one creeps me out. Look--the kids are cute and all, but doesn't this remind anyone of the kids who sing for Castro? (No, I won't go as far as those who are saying it reminds them of kids singing for Hitler--that's a bit much.) But still, the whole thing just a bit Orwellian, and that ain't a good thing, folks.
P.S. I do like this explanation that the video's producer provides: "What we accomplished in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon embodies the nature of the Obama campaign: its grassroots inspiration, its inclusiveness, its community building." That is something the grassroots Obama folks have been so good about from the start--organizing, uniting folks, getting things done, but still...
UPDATE: First of all, the video has been taken down now. However, you can read the lyrics from the song here. Also, check out what someone over at Gawker had to say about the video. Glad to know I am not the only one creeped out by it. (I understand that Hannity and Rush also ran it on their shows yesterday, which probably fired folks up all over the place. Not that I am at all excited about agreeing with those guys...)
UPDATE #2: Here's another link to the video.
Now I've blogged before (positively) about pro-Obama videos, but this one creeps me out. Look--the kids are cute and all, but doesn't this remind anyone of the kids who sing for Castro? (No, I won't go as far as those who are saying it reminds them of kids singing for Hitler--that's a bit much.) But still, the whole thing just a bit Orwellian, and that ain't a good thing, folks.
P.S. I do like this explanation that the video's producer provides: "What we accomplished in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon embodies the nature of the Obama campaign: its grassroots inspiration, its inclusiveness, its community building." That is something the grassroots Obama folks have been so good about from the start--organizing, uniting folks, getting things done, but still...
UPDATE: First of all, the video has been taken down now. However, you can read the lyrics from the song here. Also, check out what someone over at Gawker had to say about the video. Glad to know I am not the only one creeped out by it. (I understand that Hannity and Rush also ran it on their shows yesterday, which probably fired folks up all over the place. Not that I am at all excited about agreeing with those guys...)
UPDATE #2: Here's another link to the video.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
About last night...
No matter your party affiliation, you can't deny that a bit of history was made last night (despite Senator Clinton's destructive delusions that this thing isn't over yet). Over at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, readers have been sending in their responses. Here are two that I found particularly moving:
1) "Tomorrow I will go to the African American cemetery outside of Chicago where my great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, and my mother and father are buried. And I will tell them that they were right -- that if we studied hard, worked hard, kept the faith, fought for justice, prayed, that this day would come.
Grandpa drove a truck for over 50 years, and he told the story of how he drove with a team of drivers, 2 white (including him), and 4 black. When they stopped at the truck stops, the black drivers had to use separate restrooms and showers, and had to eat in a small room in the back of the kitchen. Grandpa and his co-driver would eat in the back with the rest of the team, and while they didn't speak of it at the time, they knew it was wrong yet felt powerless to change it, and believed that it would never change.
"The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. In the history of the earth hitherto the largest and most stirring appear tame and orderly to their ampler largeness and stir. Here at last is something in the doings of man that corresponds with the broadcast doings of the day and night. Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations. Here is action untied from strings necessarily blind to particulars and details magnificently moving in vast masses. Here is the hospitality which forever indicates heroes . . ."
Again, Republican, Democrat, whatever you are--you have reason to smile today and be extra proud to be an American.
1) "Tomorrow I will go to the African American cemetery outside of Chicago where my great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, and my mother and father are buried. And I will tell them that they were right -- that if we studied hard, worked hard, kept the faith, fought for justice, prayed, that this day would come.
And it has."
2) "My grandfather, 86 years old and a veteran of WWII, just gave me a call. He was calling all of his grandchildren to let them know what an important night this was in the history of our country.Grandpa drove a truck for over 50 years, and he told the story of how he drove with a team of drivers, 2 white (including him), and 4 black. When they stopped at the truck stops, the black drivers had to use separate restrooms and showers, and had to eat in a small room in the back of the kitchen. Grandpa and his co-driver would eat in the back with the rest of the team, and while they didn't speak of it at the time, they knew it was wrong yet felt powerless to change it, and believed that it would never change.
Tonight, he told me, we have come full-circle. Many people, especially the younger generation who supported Obama, will never fully realize the historical import of what happened tonight. But he wanted his grandchildren to know this story that he had never told us, and it was the second time in my 33 years that I have heard my grandpa cry."
Yesterday, I taught The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and selections from Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in English 204. What would they--especially Douglass--have to say about how far we've come in American politics? Today in class, we discussed that great American poet, Walt Whitman. How perfect, right? Consider what Whitman writes in the Preface to Leaves of Grass:"The Americans of all nations at any time upon the earth have probably the fullest poetical nature. The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem. In the history of the earth hitherto the largest and most stirring appear tame and orderly to their ampler largeness and stir. Here at last is something in the doings of man that corresponds with the broadcast doings of the day and night. Here is not merely a nation but a teeming nation of nations. Here is action untied from strings necessarily blind to particulars and details magnificently moving in vast masses. Here is the hospitality which forever indicates heroes . . ."
Again, Republican, Democrat, whatever you are--you have reason to smile today and be extra proud to be an American.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
"Yes We Can" Video
Again, I am staying as apolitical as possible on this blog, but this video some Obama supporters put together is pretty amazing. With rhetoric like this--messages of unity, hope, a promise for the future--it's hard to resist this candidate's appeal. And while celebrity endorsements usually leave me cold, the famous folks in this video somehow don't bother me.
As everyone else has been noting, this candidate is a force to be reckoned with--and if he's who the Republicans end up facing in November, they will have their work cut out for them.
As everyone else has been noting, this candidate is a force to be reckoned with--and if he's who the Republicans end up facing in November, they will have their work cut out for them.
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