This morning, I overheard a co-worker (a Republican, I assume) liken Obama to Caesar. He said that at tonight's speech, he should come out in a toga and sandals. In some ways, he's right. The fervor for Obama is surprisingly, scarily strong. (Hint hint people, he's still a human being.) I'm sure most of you remember that 80s song "Cult of Personality." Caesar got to where he did with a cult of personality.
The irony? Caesar wanted to change a republic into a monarchy. Who else do we know who tried to do that (or rather what vice president do we know who thinks we have a monarchy instead of a republic). Only he tried to force it on us through fear, rather than through popularity, like Caesar did (though I'm sure a little fear was included in his game plan).
No conclusions here, just an observation.
BTW, I did watch The Speech. The first half of it was pretty standard Democrat-speak. The parts I disagreed with were the same parts that make me an Independent and not a Democrat. The part I really enjoyed was where he got into the specifics of his plan. A good speech, not great.
11 comments:
FAIL: delaying the moon and Mars missions? That's intolerable for me.
Belsum's comment on the space missions was a surprise to me so I looked up the issue on Google. Obama seems to have responded to outcries against his previous stance and stated that he would provide additional funding to NASA for another mission. Of course, the Republicans contend that "Obama's shifting positions indicates that he can not be counted on to support NASA programs".
What I find fascinating is how the political process really turns into a game of "Would you rather . . ." From what I've read, Obama would rather pump money into the education program than send another mission to Mars (though, now he says he can find the money elsewhere). I can't say that I disagree with him - even though I think that space exploration is extremely important. I can't help but feel like we (the US) are going to keep sliding into a deeper and deeper chasm of poorly educated citizens which takes jobs away, harms the economy, and ultimately hurts the future of the space program anyway if we don't find a way to fix our educational system. It's a much greater investment in the future in my mind. Of course, if he can find a way to do both that would be ideal.
Which leads me to the question, what would your political "would you rather . . ." statement look like?
On a side note - interestingly, McCain has selected a female as his running mate. I'll be extremely interested to watch the RNC speeches.
Thanks for doing the research, Aileen! I was also surprised by Belsum's comment, but didn't have time to look it up.
One thing that I found extremely encouraging was Obama's vision that the future of US industry can be the emerging technologies of sustainablity. That good ol' "American Ingenuity" is something we really do have in our box of tricks (something that can't be outsourced to India).
PS - Jeri had some interesting and positive comments on Palin. If she posts about it, I'll point you to them. She sounds like an interesting woman.
I'm actually really glad to hear there's been an outcry. Good. While I agree that it's sort of a negative feedback loop if you don't have educated citizenry who can go into the space program, it's just as bad to have nothing to strive for. Humans need inspiration and goals and room to spread out and dream their dreams. Looking forward to a chance to go into space is more likely to inspire kids to learn than being forced to meet some arbitrary testing standards. (But there I'm parroting my dad the retired teacher so I'll leave off.)
I'm still voting Chris Hill for President. Heh.
Which reminds me, have you gone down to check out the DNC madness? What's the word on the street? The mister plans to head over to the RNC next week, just to wander around and see what trouble he can get into! :-)
Bel - actually, I almost made that comment myself, that it would be ideal to have both because I think they are very cyclical in nature. One contributing to the other. But I thought I might have made my comment too long already. :-)
I would love to be a fly on the wall at the RNC, one comment Obama made that I LOVE is that Dems and Republicans alike are ALL patriots! And all are trying to do what they think best for the country. We just choose based on who we agree with more.
I'm very interested in learning more about Palin. I saw a brief press conference with her and McCain with the announcement. One thing I was struck by is her decided lack of even national experience. I wonder at their selection because of this - but for also the same reason, I look forward to learning more. It is clear the vote they are after with that selection and with the speech made at the press conference.
I did not wander around the DNC, actually. I was tempted, but not only was I very busy during work hours, I don't really like crowds much. If I could have (like with WorldCon) gone with someone, I probably would have been more likely to do so.
There's also the issue that I actually want to *like* the Dems on election day and usually means staying away from the more extreme elements and their antics until election day.
Jeri has some thoughts out over at the Whatever.
One hilarious comment I heard from Jon Stewart is that Obama often looks like he's posing for a coin. Hail, Caesar. ;)
Thanks, MWT (and Jeri).
Looks like Jim's a fan too.
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