I'm listening to the speech with baited breath. We've seen the rebirth of populist Obama with his American Jobs Act speech, a verbal 2 x 4 which I'm sure many enjoyed. Listening to his speech at Osawatomie, he's now doing exactly what I feel many people, especially on this blog, had wished he had done before.
He's laying everything out on the line.
I wonder what all of those Kansans were wondering as they waited for hours to hear President Obama speak? I bet they weren't expecting this. He is no longer couching his terms, he is no longer playing Mr. Bipartisan, and he is no longer going to take much of the verbal jabbing and downright demeaning behavior that the right has spewed since he was elected. Using his professorial manner and measured hand gestures, the President is now starting to lay out a vision, and call out who it is that is in his way. He has called out the villains of our economic woes, and while it has been three years since the crash, at least OWS has put the wind at his back. He specifically cited deregulation and the myth of the free market as the main actors in our demise. He specifically cited that income inequality is egregious and shaking the foundation of what it means to be in America: "A land where everyone gets a fair shot at success." He is starting to explain things. He is starting to make philosophical differences between himself and the Republicans. He is making sure that people pick sides. He is giving a vision, and he is letting people understand that his vision is for stronger education, for greater emphasis on science and engineering.
"That's not politics. That's just math."
This Obama has much stronger language. He wields his veto like a broadsword. He actually EXPLAINS things, gives examples, and resists the revisionist history of the right wing with their mirage of welfare Negros in big, solid gold houses. He doesn't just blithely bring out the Buffet rule, he gives a reason why its fair and why it is he'll fight for it. I will be voting for Obama in 2012, and I don't really think he is as complicit with the oligarchs of the 1% as he is claimed to be. Working with the 1% is not the same as working for the 1%. Yes, I know you wanted him to come out against Scott Walker and Kasich, but he did send Biden to Ohio in his stead, someone I think who did a better job connecting with the voters. I am disappointed about him not speaking out about the police brutality that had went on during Occupy Wall Street, but to be honest, the outrage that those events sparked do not need a bully pulpit to have an effect. He is on message this time, and I was glad to hear it. He has skilfully taken an election where it could have been a referendum on his performance, and turned it into an election where we ask ourselves, "Do I agree with this vision or not?" From his perspective, that's a much better way to frame things.
Yes, I know. He has broken the bond of trust with many of you. We know that come the day after election day, he'll be pretending to be bipartisan and go back to being indistinguishable from a Republican. The 11th dimensional chess argument is dead to you, and even if you do get something out of his policies, it's nothing like the chance we could've had to demonstrate that progressivism works, and that Americans really do share our ideals despite the slander of the right. I don't necessarily disagree, but that time is over with. I'm for Obama. He's starting to take a chainsaw to voodoo economics. He deserves for me to vote for him, and to see if it's all just talk. Besides, there is plenty we can, and OWS has shown that we have plenty of social power outside of our leaders. I know there are a lot of Obamasuxx or Obamaroxx on this blog. That's fine. I can believe in him and like him if I want to, and let me tell you, if this is the Obama that will be in charge in 2012, if he means every word he says, if he is willing to carry through on this overall promise and start calling out the enemies of progress one by one, I will be that much more his fan.
Peace.