we were tested we refused to let this journey end

Dear Chuck and other readers of the Dear Chuck blog. Dec. 20, 2008


AP News
Before a jubilant crowd of more than a million, Barack Hussein Obama claimed his place in history as America's first black president. Now it's ok to say Hussein. it's really too weird for me.


Dumb thought process of our new President.
"And it made me think, if everybody did their job - whatever that job was - as well as that pilot did his job, we'd be in pretty good shape." Dumb. Obviously if everyone were as brilliant and accomplished as that pilot, everything would be different.





BEFORE I BEGIN TO LAMBAST OBAMA, I ADMIT OF COURSE THAT THIS SPEECH MEANS NOTHING. NOTHING AT ALL. IN FACT, WHETHER NOT A PRESIDENT IS WELL SPOKEN OR CAN POETICIZE IS OF NO CONSEQUENCE. WE EXPECT OBAMA TO BE GOOD AT THAT, BECAUSE HE'S BLACK. BUT THE GIFT OF GAB HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH LEADERSHIP. NOTHING AT ALL. LEADERSHIP IS MANAGEMENT, AND IT'S PRETTY CUT AND DRIED. YOU NEED ENORMOUS STAMINA AND A FINE MIND, BUT EVEN THEN, HOW A COUNTRY OR A COMPANY WORKS, HOW EFFECTIVE IT IS WILL NOT DEPEND ALL THAT MUCH ON THE LEADER. AM I MISSING SOMETHING?

Joe pointed out that to his credit, Obama's body language seemed to indicate appropriate impatience with the ordeal, and that he wanted to get back to work asap.





AND THE $170 MILLION DOLLARS WASTED ON THE INAUGURATION, IT'S JUST PART OF A BAD HABIT OF CELEBRATING WHEN WE SHOULD BE LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS OR BELOW THEM. HOW I WISH HE HAD LEAD BY EXAMPLE ON THAT ONE. BUT HE DIDN'T.

(ANOTHER MOVIE NOT TO MISS. SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN. THE POPE SELLS THE WHOLE VATICAN AND GIVES IT TO THE POOR).

THE POETRY AND RHETORIC DEMANDED BY THESE INAUGURATION SPEECHES IS PURE CEREMONY. IT SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN APART OR TAKEN SERIOUSLY. I JUST COULDN'T RESIST BECAUSE THERE WAS SO MUCH EMPTY RHETORIC, SO MUCH INAUTHENTICITY. AND JUST A DASH OF POOR INTELLECTION.

MY VERSION OF THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS WOULD BE VERY SHORT.


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"IT'S VERY COLD, SO I WON'T SAY MUCH. THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE. THE WORK IS NOT BEGINNING HERE, IT IS CONTINUING. ANY NONSENSE ABOUT A NEW BEGINNING IS SIMPLY THAT, NONSENSE. EVERY CITIZEN HAS HIS TASKS. MANY ARE OVERWORKED, UNDEREMPLOYED, GIVEN SHORT VACATIONS, HAVE NEARLY UNSUPPORTABLE COMMUTES, COUPLES FORCED TO BOTH BE IN THE WORK PLACE, CAUSING A REDUCTION OF HOME LIFE ON A VAST AND VERY DESTRUCTIVE SCALE. TOO MANY ARE UNEMPLOYED OR UNDEREMPLOYED. OUR BIGGEST EMPLOYER IS WALMART. THIS HAS BEEN OUR LOT FOR A GENERATION AND EVERYONE'S HOPE IS THAT THIS CAN GRADUALLY SOMEHOW BE REVERSED. IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT IT IS FOR THE PRESENT, WORSENNING. BUT PREVIOUS GENERATIONS HAVE FARED EVEN WORSE. IN THE DUAL CATASTROPHIES OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WWII, EVERY FAMILY EXPERIENCED DEATH OR GREVIOUS INJURY. BEFORE THAT, JIM CROW WAS RAMPANT, THE FLU EPIDEMIC AND WWI DECIMATED OUR POPULATION. THERE HAVE BEEN FEW GOLDEN AGES, AND WE ARE STILL
IN ONE NOW.

OUR PARTY HAS A DIFFERENT, AND WE THINK MORE EFFECTIVE WAY OF SERVING AMERICA'S NEEDS. WISH ME LUCK. THAT'S ALL I'VE GOT FOR NOW."

"ONE LAST THING. I WILL BE JOINING THE MEET THE PRESS ROUND TABLE EVERY WEEK, SO YOU CAN FOLLOW OUR PROGRESS MORE CLOSELY. AT FIRST I PLANNED FOR MORE INTERNET COVERAGE, BUT THIS IS THE REAL DEAL, NOT WATCHED ALONE IN THE DEN OR ON THE LAPTOP BUT IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR SOFA, A SHARED EXPERIENCE. HOPEFULLY I CAN PERSUADE THEM TO REPEAT THE SUNDAY SHOW AT A PRIME TIME SPOT. THAT IS LONG OVERDUE. IF NOT, BE SURE TO RECORD IT. THANK YOU AND GOOD DAY."



HE'S THE PRESIDENT, NOT THE POET LAUREAT!

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HERE'S MY USELESS CRITICISM. IT SHOWS A POORER QUALITY OF INTELLECTION THAN I WOULD WANT. THE RIGHT THINKS OBAMA MIGHT BE FAR FROM BEING AS BRIGHT AS HIS CROWD OF ADULATORS WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE, EVEN THAT HE WAS ELEVATED THROUGH SOCIAL PROMOTION, AND HAS STILL NOT DISCLOSED HIS SCHOOL RECORDS, WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRAIGHT A's. COMPARED TO LINCOLN AND BILLY CRYSTAL, HE DOES NOT HAVE A MAGIC TOUCH FOR SPEECH AND PERSUASION. MORE ABOUT THAT IN MY LETTER NAMED MORE OBAMANATIONS.


1. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Wrong.

Everybody knows that unending increasing unemployment is a consequence of automation and competition from cheap labor abroad. And natural shifts in demand. And products that satisfy and last, causing lowered production. The badly weakened economy results from miriad causes; the natural cycles of the economy, the cost of the war on terror, changes in spending habits, (the paradoxial fact that frugality, normal good household economics impacts the economy negtively), and of course the inevitible irresponsible greed on the part of some. The rest is nonsense, Our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age? Don't patronize us. This is politically correct nonsense. What choices does that refer to? What are we supposed to do for our country anyway? You can ahsk not what you can do for your country until the cows come home, but what we do for our country is absolutely nothing. We go to our jobs to put
food on the table. The last thing anybody should ever think about is doing something for their country. It's never crossed my mind or come up in conversation.

2. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Wrong.

What happened to hope? The sapping of confidence is not less measurable but simply an intuition with no basis. Most people have no idea what will happen. This is garbage. What segment of the next generation is he talking about? Not our best and brightest? Gifted and energetic Americans will continue to prosper. Everyone else will muddle through as always their success depending on the economic climate.


3. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction..

wrong


Just a single word is wrong. They worked till their hands were raw so that THEY might live a better life. So they could eat every day and have a roof over their heads. And I am not being cynical. For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life? What does that mean? They didn't come to America. They fled poverty. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.?? Whom might that be? Who among us prefers drugery over self chosen endeavor and activity, and the leisure of rest after striving? Nobody seeks only the pleasure of riches and fame. Of course we all want to be big earners. To experience the joy of money, the joy of having a fortune. But we seek validation, acceptance admiration, prestiege, romance and very importantly, the joy of accomplishment, the sin of pride, of a job
well done.
Thomas Alva Edison got it right when he said, " I've never worked a day in my life,. It's all been fun". That's the ideal, work we enjoy. Obama was asked, during the heavy lifting of his campaign, if he was having a good time,. His answer, "Of course I am". He might have added, " that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone".

Why is everyone so accepting of this hypocrisy! !?

They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions?? NO THEY DIDN'T.

4. This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

NO!

This isn't even true. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began?? Three million new unemployed? The largest employers Walmart and MacDonalds? Our capacity remains undiminished??

Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

NO AND NO!!

Who is he kidding. What does he think "we" were doing a week ago? Trying to reverse the downward trend. Who'se been "standing pat??" Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America?? Who was lying down covered with dust a month ago? Newly unemployed workers reading the classifieds every day and taking in boarders, moving to cramped apartments?

This is stupid rhetoric. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. There's some college educated jobs right there, yess sirree!

We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.

Harness the sun and the winds. Not wind, not wind power, Nothing plain speaking here. Harness the sun and the winds. Forsooth! Harken ye! Balderdash. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do. Transform those colleges out of business. College is a rip off unless you plan to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

FINALLY, A TRUE AND BOLD STATEMENT. The question before us is not whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.


The reach of our prosperity. That's music to my ears. But there is a counter claim. A rising tide lifts all ships. The reach of our prosperity depends primarily on the degree of our prosperity. Think about it.

5. More balderdash. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine??? Scarcely imagine. How about people jumping out of the Twin Towers. Ben Franklin never imagined any perils on that scale. How about Hiroshima. Adolph Hitler. What in the hell kind of a sentence is that. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine??? Bullshit!!

6. Forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan?? When Hell freezes over!


7. The spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break?? The only bridge out of New Orleans was closed by police and citizens, to keep that mob out of their towns. One exit, blocked. Human beings forced back into that horror. The milk of human kindness is thin.
The selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours?? When did that happen?? Mostly never. A parent's willingness to nurture a child. What parent doesn't do that? Black ghetto parents? How did that reference get in there. It's nonsense.




8. Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths.


A return to these truths??? Who abandoned these truths? Hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism ... When were these abandoned??! How do we return to truths we never left??! It's empty rhetoric. It fills the heart but not the mind. And that is never right. In fact, it is always wrong.


6. To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect.

We pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish? I don't. Who is he talking about. Consume the world's resources without regard to effect. That won't stop. Give up our comforts? Not in a million years.


7. There is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

Not true. We all wish there were no war on terror, and no downward period in our economy, no lost income. No. Heavy lifting, drugery, sacrifice . If it's so good for us, how come almost nobody would choose it.

8. This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.


Hey, what about those unbelievers that shaped our country.

Price and promise. Off the mark again.


America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Great gift of freedom?? We just want to have incomes we can depend on, have security and leisure to pursue our interests and accomplishments. Just like anyone. What has that got to do with America. Or God's grace.


7. With eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.


WRONG!

Our eyes are not fixed on the horizon.

Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.


When we were tested we refused to let this journey end?

Who's talking about quitting. What does that MEAN?!

We carried forth that great gift of freedom?? This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. BULL CRAP . I JUST WANT MY JOB BACK, MY HOUSE BACK, MY SAVINGS BACK. WHAT THE FUCK GREAT GIFT OF FREEDOM DO I WANT TO DELIVER TO FUTURE GENERATIONS? YEAH, I'D LIKE MY KIDS TO SUCCEED AND HELP ME WHEN I GET OLD. THAT'S THE GIFT OF FREEDOM.