Pundits have been asserting that Obama's speeches have lacked vision this time around. His speeches have been missing something they say, and maybe it's a fair criticism, perhaps because we've been weaned on the president's great oratory, often called "soaring," or inspirational. Today the president's Wisconsin speech soared.
It was WHAT he said, not how he said it, though it was heartfelt, serious, and direct. I don't know about you but I loved hearing he was going to be my champion in Washington! Listen to this, the most beautiful and inspiring part to me:
All those kids in inner cities and small farm towns, in the valleys of Ohio or rolling Virginia hills or right here in Green Bay; kids dreaming of becoming scientists or doctors, engineers or entrepreneurs, diplomats or even a president –- they need a champion in Washington. They need a champion. They need a champion because the future will never have as many lobbyists as the past, but it’s the dreams of those children that will be our saving grace.
Obama framed all this with examples of real working and aspiring middle class people and their situations.
Follow below the orange hope for more.
It's hope versus cynicism.
It's about his being champion of the average American, not those at the top.
It's about having your voice heard in Washington.
It's about more change or surrender to the status quo.
It's doing the right thing by our kids and youth and veterans.
It's about a common shared load.
Obama framed all this with examples of real working and aspiring middle class people and their situations:
The people who need a champion are the Americans whose letters I read late at night; the men and women I meet on the campaign trail every day. The laid off furniture worker who is retraining at age 55 for a career in biotechnology -– she needs a champion.
The small restaurant owner who needs a loan to expand after the bank turned him down -– he needs a champion. The cooks and the waiters and the cleaning staff working overtime at a Vegas hotel, trying to save enough to buy a first home or send their kid to college -– they need a champion.
The autoworker who’s back on the job, filled with pride and dignity because he’s building a great car –- he needs a champion. The young teacher doing her best in an overcrowded classroom with outdated textbooks –- she needs a champion.
The future we expect if we all pull together in hope is that we can share our common load, with a quote from FDR during the Great Depression.
He outlined what he believes in, jobs for Americans through using education and skills. He contrasted Romney's salesman version of "change" -- change of president and party--with his own. His talk of change in 2008 was not, he said, about changing presidents or parties, no, not that, but something much more profound. Why did he run in 2008?
I ran because the voices of the American people –- your voices -– had been shut out of our democracy for way too long –- by lobbyists and special interests, and politicians who believe that compromise is somehow a dirty word; by folks who would say anything to win office, and do anything to stay there.
He acknowleged the powerful forces seeking to maintain the status quo in DC:
....over the last four years, every time we’ve tried to make a change, they’ve fought back with everything they’ve got.... And their strategy from the start was to engineer pure gridlock in Congress, refusing to compromise on ideas that both Democrats and Republicans had supported in the past.
I hope the president doesn't mind a couple of lengthy quotes, and somehow don't think he would.
Now what is Romney hoping for? For Americans to be so worn down by things that they would vote for him.
.... worn down by all the squabbling, so tired of all the dysfunction, that you’ll actually reward obstruction, and put people back in charge who advocate the very policies that got us into this mess. In other words, their bet is on cynicism.
And I’ve never lost sight of the vision we share that you would have a voice; that there would be somebody at the table fighting every single day for middle-class Americans who work hard.
But if the price of peace in Washington is cutting deals that will kick students off of financial aid, or get rid of funding for Planned Parenthood, or eliminate health care for millions on Medicaid who are poor, or elderly, or disabled, just to give a millionaire a tax cut, I’m not having it. That’s not a deal worth having. That’s not bipartisanship. That’s not change. That’s surrender to the same status quo that has hurt middle-class families for way too long. And I’m not ready to give up on that fight.
Transcript here.
Video at CSpan here.