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In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr referred to the "fierce urgency of now" in his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
But since then, Barack Obama has co-opted the phrase for use in his presidential campaign, for tactical advice to foreign leaders and, presumably, when waiters are taking too long to bring his arugula salads.
The problem is that when the phrase is taken out of context and used indiscriminately, it makes no sense...and reveals that the president is a man who cares more about how words sound than what they mean.
We expect such nonsense during campaigns, but not during wartime. Which, Mr president, happens to be "now."
So Obama does another public scolding and the White House says this signals "his willingness...sense of shared destiny...commitment to partnership." Huh? Reminds me of today's Doonesbury cartoon (which continues to spend its time bashing all things Bush) now commenting on tea parties. The tea party person with a Bozo the clown nose explains, "We're all about choice! And Freedom! And the freedom to choose between choice and freedom! It's YOUR choice!" All I could think of was Obama-speak. The tea party people I know talk about real things and speak directly, i.e debt too big, taxes too high, how will we pay for this new entitlement?, etc. They don't speak out of both sides of their mouths. And they don't have to keep revising what they REALLY meant to say.
ReplyDeletejust picking nits, but I thought a 'rim shot' was typically 'ba-dum CHING'?
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, as always Stilton
Obama is like some third-rate magic act you might have to endure while dining someplace in the Catskills. Remember how the libtards were moaning about what the rest of the world thought of us? Whatever the price of admission is to this "act" it is far too much, let alone the taxes we will have to endure from his other sideshows of stimulus and health-care.
ReplyDeleteObama reminds me of an act that Ed Sullivan used to have on where the guy spin plates on top of sticks and the man went about the stage putting up more and more while keeping the other going. Sooner or later all those plates are going to come crashing down but sadly this is no act it is our country and our lives he has set spinning and sooner or later he will exit the stage and we will have to clean up the broken pieces.
Anonymous- As is true in the general media, Doonesbury is inventing its own idea of Tea Partiers in order to make it easy to mock them. And Garry Trudeau pretty much has to do something like this; being a big liberal strip, Doonesbury can only attack conservatives or praise liberal accomplishments...but since Obama's election, there haven't been any positive liberal accomplishments, leaving Trudeau very little to write about.
ReplyDeletePete(Detroit)- We spent a foolish amount of time weighing the best onomatopoeic alternatives for a rimshot before settling on "Ba-da Boomp!" But we must admit that "Ba-dum CHING!" is better. We stand corrected.
Buzz- To take your analogy a step farther, the plate-spinning guy would frequently break quite a few dishes while trying to get the required number spinning at the same time. His beautiful (and scantily clad) assistant would quickly hand him a replacement dish and sashay away, hopefully distracting the audience long enough for the plate-spinner to cover up his failings. Substitute "mainstream media" for "scantily clad assistant," and we've got an act ready to play in Washington.
Helen Thomas in a tight skirt...eeeesh!
ReplyDeleteRasmussen: 63% Say Likely The Next President Will Be a Republican, 46% "Very Likely"
ReplyDeleteBuzz - Brain Bleach, STAT!!!
ReplyDelete