"Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual." - February 20, 2008

National Review ^ | February 20, 2008 | Jim Geraghty

[greyfoxx39]

Obama Approves New Team to Question Terror Suspects (CIA cut out: WH to supervise)

"President Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, part of a broader effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation, senior administration officials said Sunday."

FR thread HERE

 

 

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

BARACK OBAMA

"Barack Will Never Allow You to Go Back to Your Lives as Usual."

Last night I appeared on Hugh's show, and his producer Duane mentioned a Michelle Obama speech at UCLA. Captain Ed talked about this a bit, but I hadn't seen anyone transcribe the part of the speech where it gets a little... unnerving. It starts at about 8:41 in the audio.

Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

I'm sorry, nowhere in the Constitution does it authorize the President of the United States to demand anyone shed their cynicism. And I'm all for people pushing themselves to be better, but I don't think the President demanding it is the way to go about it.

And what if we kind of like our lives as usual? What about Americans' freedom to be uninvolved and uninformed?

Darleen at Protein Wisdom transcribed what follows:

"You have to stay at the seat at the table of democracy with a man like Barack Obama not just on Tuesday but in a year from now, in four years from now, in eights years from now, you will have to be engaged."

Ah. Apparently apathy will be criminalized, then?

Does anybody on the left side of the aisle find this rhetoric a little creepy? Isn't this describing an authoritarian presidency way beyond anything George W. Bush has done or proposed?

Do the powers of the presidency really encompass everything Michelle says Obama wants and plans to do? Based on this rhetoric, isn't he actually running for messiah?

UPDATE: A great line from reader Mike: "That tingle going up Chris Matthews' leg is a shiver going down my spine."

ANOTHER UPDATE: For a contrasting view, Dan Riehl thinks it's not creepy, just high-minded political rhetoric. "I don't think Lincoln was thinking term limits when he invoked the better angels of our nature."

I don't know. I know presidents don't like cynicism. I know they often urge us not to be cynical. But I don't know if I like talk of a president "demanding" citizens "shed their cynicism." Liberty isn't just about the good stuff; we ought to be free to be cynical. Our leaders demand enough as is in income taxes.

And while presidential candidates are always going on about building bridges to coming centuries and building a better tomorrow, etc., I think pledging to end "life as usual" ought to be sending up red flags. Barring us from going back to our "lives as usual" is not in the job description, and shouldn't be.

02/20 02:26 PMShare

[boxerblues]

Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

So we did what she told to do, all of us are getting informed about Obamacare, getting involved in protests and your still not happy. Make up your d@mn minds

[Quix]

Laz, I’ve screamed about that for a long time.

Have you read the quotes of our leaders the last 100 years on an FR thread, ref’d in my tagline?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81

He’s a stooge. I suspect they are going to even make him a fall guy in the midst of some great trauma . . .

However, he’s been trained to be and is by nature a very very very DESTRUCTIVE stooge shredding the USA as quickly and thoroughly as possible to enable overt establishment of the global tyranny that much easier and quicker.

“OThuga” is not a shallow term, to me.

[greyfoxx39]

Where did I miss the “Interrogation Unit” stuff?

Click on the hot link at the beginning of this article that says "FR Thread HERE"

[Quix]

The globalists have

not cared a gnat’s fart’s worth

about

WE THE PEOPLE

for a very long time . . .

At BEST we are seen as their serfs and slaves—quite literally.

One of their more deadly but calmly used labels is

“useless eaters”

for any who don’t produce what they want when they want as much as they want. And such are scheduled for literal extermination as soon as they can arrange it and get away with it.

It’s not a joke.
It’s not tinfoil hat stuff.
It’s not a theory.
It’s been in the very serious, very thought-out plan a very long time.

[mel]

Well, she was right what else can I say. I am certainly out of my comfort zone.

[johnnycap]

What I am most amazed about is how these decisions can be painted and understood as perfectly rational on one hand and incredibly dangerous on the other. The White House decision, seen through the most positive prism, is a response to poor oversight and an attempt to show the world that unbridled torture will not be tolerated. The White House decision, seen through the most negative prism, is a big leap forward into a totalitarian police state taking orders directly from the top in an effort to control public discourse or freedom of opinion and behavior.

Another example of this was the exchange between Sen. McCain and George Stephanopoulos yesterday. It was regarding Gov. Palin’s remarks on her blog about the “Death Panels”. Stephanopoulos, actively acting as a democratic shill, tried to pin McCain down on Palin’s comment. Stephanopoulos was insistent that Palin’s comment was ungrounded and out of line. However, if you look at what Stephanopoulos was saying, the only way you can arrive at his argument was to see everything that the White House and the democrats on capital hill are attempting, in the most positive of lights. What Stephanopoulos and I fear the great masses of Obama supporters are doing, is dangerous. By not allowing themselves to see the world both through the prism of best intentions and through the prism of darkest intentions together, they are doing themselves a disservice. More importantly, they are doing the republic a disservice in that they are allowing an infrastructure that will afford the execution of the darkest of intentions and that execution could be the death of us all.

[greyfoxx39]

In 2010 we will witness voter fraud and intimidation on a breathtaking scale. Thugs will surround polling places like bacterium and the MSM will say nothing about it. Of course, should some actual Americans protest the intimidation of voters, they will be portrayed as trouble makers—paid by the radical RIGHT. I’m afraid WE AIN’T SEEN NOTHIN’ YET when it comes to the gangland fascism of Hussein and his thug associates and underlings.

I have been saying this for some time.

IMO, the reason that the democrats and Obama are so arrogant is that they think they KNOW that there will not be an honest election in this country for decades, if ever. Why else is there such silence from the DBM and dem congressmen about the flagrant treasonous acts by Obama?

[almcbean]

That video makes me nauseous. I’m going to email Eva Longoria and ask her how many of those 500 trees has she planted, and did she break any of her nails.

[muawiyah]

Well, maybe not the death of all of us ~ the Leftwingtards in world history, men and women just like Obama and his running dog lackeys, do usually PURGE their own followers first!

Axelroad may well find Obama's axe in his skull should he ever visit Mexico (for example).

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

LOL!

[mrmeyer]

The “Civilian National Security Force” speech was the major red flag for me. That moment left a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and confirmed my suspicions about this egomaniac.

[almcbean]

Do you also remember the “American Prayer” video? It’s even more nausea inducing

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

No! Thank goodness I missed THAT one. Blech.

[IYAS9YAS]

BFLR - Thanks Greyfoxx39

[greyfoxx39]

More importantly, they are doing the republic a disservice in that they are allowing an infrastructure that will afford the execution of the darkest of intentions and that execution could be the death of us all.

Well, you see, Stephanopoulos and the rest of the complicit press believe that they will be part of the ruling class.

[ejonesie22]

On would of course have to assume that Baracky Obamay has the power to get me to leave my “life as usual” to start with, much less have it to keep me from returning to it.

Sorry, he does not hold that much sway over me. He is just a man and looks like he is rapidly becoming a failure.

Just send me the damn bill for everything he has screwed up to date so I can start to negotiate paying it off and put some new managers in charge who can clean up the mess.

[driftless2]

I regard the words spoken by Michelle Obama as sheer nonsense. First of all what percentage of the population actually heard her say that, and what percentage actually thought it was anything but campaign rhetoric? Most probably nodded their heads as she was saying the nonsense, and then thought to themselves “what the heck did she say?” I mean how many of the intended people who were supposed to be motivated by Obama were actually motivated out of their usual liberal stupor. I’d say next to none. The whole speech was a load of hooey. He doesn’t have the authority, and even if he did, there’s nothing he could do short of bullwhips to make people who are cynical and lazy become uncynical and unlazy.

[Tennessee Nana]

The article: Isn’t this describing an authoritarian presidency way beyond anything George (Washington) has done or proposed?

GF: Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual,

TLI: Interestingly, I do not recall asking his ( ) permission.
_________________________________________________

Isn’t this describing an authoritarian presidency way beyond anything George W. Bush has done or proposed?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I seem to recall a little skirmish back in 1774-1884...

Now what was that all about ???

[Lancey Howard]

Does anybody on the left side of the aisle find this rhetoric a little creepy?

Absolutely not. The left doesn't find anything creepy. It's the left.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Related thread:
What Good Can a Handgun Do Against an Army.....?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2312894/posts