palin - one picture is worth a thousand rumors

Happy 4th to you Mr. Benen. Now, can you take the rest of the day off?

That's right, we make history. Unless, of course, our administration is owned by Goldman Sachs and our president's top advisors are afraid of gays. It gets harder and harder to find Obama's "positive" messaging compelling when his actions show him to be weakened and corrupted by the same naysayers he criticizes.

Empty rhetoric.

They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change.

If Bush were a Dem and giving this speech, he would have said, "did not get here by quitting". It would be hard to hear that and not have visions of Palin.

Re Goldman Sachs, see the fabulous butt-kicking Matt Taibbi at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine/print. Obama must do better and needs to disengage more from those interests.

(PS I'm NeiL not Neal)

"there are those who would have us try what has already failed; who would defend the status quo"

This formulation bugs me. Just say who they are. Republicans and Democratic opponents of health care reform.

Overall, I think his speechifying sucks. (I'm sure I'm in the minority). I don't remember Clinton always talking with such drama, such grandiloquent tone and verbiage.

In my memory, Bush I started this crap. His speechwriters treating us like we were idiots watching a dumb and bombastic Hollywood movie.

"Get your war on" characterized it as if we were trapped in a poorly written comic book, the forces of good and evil battling for humanity's destiny.

I hoped Obama would drop that nonsense after the campaign. I don't need a cheerleader, a motivational speaker, professor or preacher.

Meant Bush II.

Hey "am", where's the falsity in any of Obama's statements?

Back in the same rut. In 8 years, I only listened to 2 Bush speeches, right after 911. The man was such an unmitigated boob that not listening to him was like stopping banging your head against the wall; easy to do. He made me ashamed to be a American.

Giving up Obama speeches is like giving up ice cream. I don't eat it that often, but you would have to waterboard me(for .5 seconds) to make me take the vow.

I will not listen to an Obama speech again until he does one brave, heroic thing for the working class. Even mellifluous, inspirational talk is cheap. He speaks with the brilliance of MLK; now if he would only do something.

And yet, there are those who would have us try what has already failed; who would defend the status quo.

People who support the free markets never defend the "status quo". Free markets have their shortcomings (practically never corrected by government usurpation), but defending the "status quo" is not one of them.

Aside from that, Happy 4th of July. Remember the soldiers who died on our behalf in Afghanistan these last few days, and give thanks for their efforts and their lives.

Obama proposes that the US save the world by cutting down on the use of energy and paying more for what we use, while utopians search for a way to employ windmills and sun power to run what used to be our industries. In the meantime China is drilling for oil in Caribbean waters and is buying oil in the Middle East. If only his liberal followers were affected, no problem, but rational people will also be affected. All this from a bill that no Democrat who voted for it bothered to read. Fanaticism is a curious thing.

Like the sound of a dream.

The splendour
of the laughing
clouds appears
in the calm
of a quietness,
with delicate
breaths and a
restless seaside.

Francesco Sinibaldi

@mhr

I imagine yours is the same sort of rhetoric used by the horse and buggy salesmen when the automobile was introduced, or the pessimistic detractors opining the futility of going to the moon.

While the Republican Party of Failure (and quitters re: Palin) would like us to do nothing, thank God we have visionaries and leaders who will take us into the future.

So keep on spewing your debunked myths like China drilling for oil in the Caribbean. China is in fact moving boldly forward with alternative energy, and not merely because of environmental concerns. When their economy begins to match the American economy, there simply will not be enough natural resources in the world to support them. China maybe a lot of unsavory things, but its leaders are smart. They know that they absolutely MUST develop alternative energy for their own security and survival.

But it appears the only way you can maintain your 28% support among certain Americans is to fear monger, to peddle doom, and to preach pessimism. I thank God every day that I do not have your sad, frightened world veiw.

JWK: So keep on spewing your debunked myths like China drilling for oil in the Caribbean. China is in fact moving boldly forward with alternative energy, and not merely because of environmental concerns.

China is increasing all energy use: coal, oil (including in the Caribbean), natural gas, solar, bio, wind.

Happy 4th of July to everybody. Celebrate!

Although liberals will never admit it, the United States is the best country on the planet. Happy Birthday, United States.

The Constitution guarantees free speech for everyone including the Left. Is the Right the only opposing viewpoint to be given consideration? And on the Fourth at that.

Kinda appropriate for President Obama and family spending their Fourth at Camp David. As he pushes to rebuild our nation, I hope he reflected on the history of Camp David, as it was originally built as a WPA project. Shangri-La has a unique history.

Skippy up top, that pic. seems to be eight y.o. Piper and not 14 y.o. Willow anyway - so that's pretty creepy and not very insightful. This is something to beware of, so easy for critics to get in trouble for. It could even be a false flag like that infamous DKos diary about Sarah's own pregnancy issues may have been.