...well, that was interesting

[burntcopper]

Dinner tonight, dad asked me about what I thought about Obama. I squeed in a cautious kind of way about mostly it being hope, and he and I talked about presidents and america and also the way he speaks and delivers a speech (dad thinks of him as mostly resembling Sundanese rather than how he knew americans - he has a habit of attributing half my behaviour to being raised Sundanese - I was 0-5, Obama was 5-11. Words don't mean shit, actions do, personal responsibility, and some more stuff). Much Lyndon Baines Johnson, a bit of Nixon, mocking of whoever decided on Palin as a good running mate and then... um...

Dad let rip about how much he hated Bush for what he did to America, and what he's essentially been bottling up for the past 8 years. Seriously. Full-on rant and rage. And he'd never said anything before because he couldn't do anything. He hates the man (him and Cheney - seriously, dad admires Nixon for how good a politician he was - crooked as hell, but good at politics and achieved some stuff - but I think he would seriously dance on Bush's grave, and not spit on Cheney if he were on fire) partly for who he is, partly for what he's done, but mostly because of how he turned America from a place of hope that stuff could be done into this ... thing. Ending it with 'Why do you think we've not been back in the past 8 years?'

Oh, and he really likes Obama. Mostly for the hope, and the fact that he's already doing stuff on day one. Closing Guantanamo Bay, and just how important that is to the rest of the world, taking one step furhter from removing that stain. Also fully approves of having a ridiculously good-looking family in the White House. And said an interesting thing - that Obama wasn't a natural speaker in the way Clinton was, but the way he speaks in choppy stilted phrases mean you remember the damn speeches, and him and Favreau together have a real gift for evoking images.

Comments

[dario006.livejournal.com]

He is a great speaker but I agree with your Dad that he doesn’t speak in the more natural way Clinton did. His speeches are more ‘powerful speeches’ than ‘friendly chats’ which is how a lot of the Clinton stuff came across. He is very sound-bite friendly and uses key phrases that hit home. Randomly he actually reminds me of Morgan Freeman playing the president in some old movie, and having that ‘movie written’ feel to the speeches.

I’m a firm believer that actions speak louder than words though, and while his inaugural speech was very moving, what hit home with me was the closing of that sadistic evil hell hole by the bay, and the other venue’s on the CIA’s list. I am very curious about the details of what is going to happen to the people there over the next year. It’s such a difficult issue because they can’t really face trails - any evidence already obtained is meaningless because of the methods used, so proper trails aren’t going to work. Just sending these people out seems equally dangerous because they’ve been so mentally f**ked by what they been through even if they weren’t involved with terrorists before they went in a few of them will want to be now. They are going to need years of help to re-adjust to the world outside. Apparently a couple of countries have stepped up and said they will accept detainee’s who can’t be returned to their own countries without fear of more torture/death penalties. I will be very interested to see the details of the ‘decommission’ strategy.

It’s also nice to see a leader over there who won’t re-define ‘torture’ and ‘prisoners’ to evade legislation specifically set down to prevent what they were doing. I really loved the soundbite in the inaugural speech of "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals"

I only live in hope that our own country might produce someone with potential before the next election comes up over here and we’re faced with a choice between the interchangeable t**ts Brown and Cameron.


Oh there’s an MP3 version here. It’s not the best quality though.

http://www.h4x3d.com/obama-presidential-inaugural-speech/