Obama: "America is no longer what it could be, what it once was...."
- Thread starter Little-Acorn
- Start date
So, you like the Matrix version of "golden age" then. I think we could do better than that.
You're oversimplifying, to try to do your usual devil's advocate thing.
You know perfectly well what he is saying. There was a time that we were evolving & changing toward a better future; when, in political & real terms, we were on what most would have called "the right track."
We have veered, and everyone knows it. We've shown signs of decline, and of compromising our principles; our reputation has taken a beating, as well. Economically, this is the first generation that has not experienced general upward mobility, and around the globe, we are no longer looked to as we once were for leadership on a wide variety of issues.
Topspin
Verified User
says the minimum wage moron
I know that you are attempting to project again. Not all of my questions are political, very often they are philosophical in nature, based on questions I ask myself that are peaked in my interest by such statements.
In short, I am asking philosophical questions based on his statement relative to my interest.
I don't care what Obama thinks about the US, other than his statement that it isn't "what it once was" peaked my interest in this philosophical question.
As for the question for those on the board, it is (since I must repeat) can YOU pinpoint a time when you think the US was in its "golden era"?
Epicurus
Reasonable
How is stating that America "isn't what is once was" inconsistent with his message that we need change?
IMO, you are all trying to make a huge something out of nothing. Has acknowledging the obvious become unpalatable?
Again, what part of "philosophical question" means I ever said that Obama was "inconsistent"? Have you a one-track mind that cannot be any more complex than either "spin" or "rinse"?
I am not talking about him at all. I would ask him that question because I would be interested in the answer, not because I think his message has inconsistency issues. I think he would be comfortable in a discussion of ideas.
I would ask all of you the question I asked of you because I am interested in what people will say. If all you can do is go back to "Obama not inconsistent" then you are contributing nothing to the discussion at hand, are not answering questions, and are accusing in defense against nothing.
In short, you are using a baseball bat to defend against your shadow.
There was a question?
"As for the question for those on the board, it is (since I must repeat) can YOU pinpoint a time when you think the US was in its "golden era"?"
I think what Obama is referring to is not so much a time when things were "perfect," as you seem bent on, but when we were on what most would call the right track, and were respected around the world & looked to for leadership on a variety of issues. A time when the future looked brighter.
Let's face it; Bush has basically made us an outlaw state in the eyes of much of the world, one that invades with recklessness, debates the merits of torture, scorns anyone who won't join in our folly and reacts to everything with what is now known as cowboy diplomacy. Our economic standing blows, and we're falling behind other countries in areas like education, technology, medicine & crime, to name a few.
In short, we are currently on a "deline," when previously - the "golden era" you suggest - we were on an upswing. Obama wants to return us to an upswing.
I think what Obama is referring to is not so much a time when things were "perfect," as you seem bent on, but when we were on what most would call the right track, and were respected around the world & looked to for leadership on a variety of issues. A time when the future looked brighter.
Let's face it; Bush has basically made us an outlaw state in the eyes of much of the world, one that invades with recklessness, debates the merits of torture, scorns anyone who won't join in our folly and reacts to everything with what is now known as cowboy diplomacy. Our economic standing blows, and we're falling behind other countries in areas like education, technology, medicine & crime, to name a few.
In short, we are currently on a "deline," when previously - the "golden era" you suggest - we were on an upswing. Obama wants to return us to an upswing.
Socrtease
Verified User
I think this is a really good point. I think Obama would have been better off by saying that the US is now failing to live up to the image we once held out to the world and the image the world had of us. The City on the Hill. Really just a bunch of horseshit as well as I don't think we have EVER been what we project as our ideal, but honestly I think that is what he meant.
We now live in a country where waterboarding, once a war crime, is now acceptable. We live in a country where our own government tries to scare us with color coded terror warnings. We live in a country where the men who hold the highest offices give contracts to politically monied friends, and then we find out that those friends have engaged in ripping off the American people. We live in a country where a major US city can be dessimated by a hurricane, and our highest leader do nothing about it for days.
We also do a lot of good things. There are millions of Americans that donate their time, energy and money to helping people build houses, and feeding the poor and starting businesses and providing jobs for people that need them. Our country, through our military HAS built schools in Iraq and provided some medical services for people there that needed it. But just like a beautiful person, who when they look in the mirror, and notices that they have a pimple on their face, it clouds everything else they see in the mirror. And it clouds what everyone else that looks at them sees when they expect to see near perfection. The party in power for 6 of the last 7 years screwed us, and in doing so, clouded the image the rest of the world had of us , and even the image a large segment of our own society had of our country.
Socrtease
Verified User
Granted, and that is why the statement was so simplistic. But in being simplistic it got the ire of the simpletons in the republican party because they like 7 year olds cannot think as complexly as can others.