I watched the President's address last night and thought it was pretty good. Then I heard liberal and progressive pundits basically savage the address. Stepping back from the fray I think there is an important reason why we had divergent views on the speech. I felt like the President had this address for average folks who want to know what the hell is going on with the oil spill and how is the government responding. Liberal and progressive pundits seemed to think the speech was for them and people like them to make the case for climate change legislation and push for carbon pricing.
Im sorry but I don't think average people give a shit about that right now. Maybe down the line when we aren't seeing pictures of marine animals dying covered in oil they will want to hear it. But at the moment they want to know specifically about the oil spill in my opinion. And in that realm I thought Pres Obama did an excellent job of laying it all out.
I wonder if some of those folks knocking him last night were to reorient their expectations then watch the speech again if they would change their critique even if only in private. Somehow I bet they would. Unfortunately pundits drive public opinion so for some folks who may have though the speech was just fine, they will end up changing their opinion about it because Ezra Klein or Rachel Maddow or Chris Matthews said it wasn't good enough.
But here is the video anyway. Try to make up your own mind about.
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I'm not a religious person but I was deeply offended by so called Progressives banging on Prez Obama for mentioning prayer for the people of the Gulf. I get that the Christianists=Taliban but those people are hurting and are angry and scared. How does prayer hurt? How does mentioning it not help to identify with their woes? Of course praying doesn't stop the leak but if it brings some small comfort, why be so mean about it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Maddow's Fake Prez speech was just disgusting. I lost a lot or respect for her with that little skit.