A new generation
The candidacy of Barack Obama has excited a whole new generation of previously disinterested young Americans. Though this large and swelling involvement of youth should set Democratic Party members singing “Happy Days Are Here Again, some regular and older members seem averse to joining in the dawning of a new age of America politics. Instead, they seem bent on demanding that these young people temper their idealism and switch allegiance to a candidate of their elders’ choosing.
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This wave of change is not going to happen if the incipient enthusiasm of these young people is squelched; the bulk of the newly involved will drift back into the dead center of an apathetic public that has little faith in any political party’s capacity to set this nation on a path that bodes a more promising and inclusive future for working and middle class, and destitute Americans.
Before many of us good old Democrats let this happen, best we remember John F. Kennedy’s inaugural charge to the American people of his time: “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”
Sam Osborne
West Branch, IA
What good's Obama's momentum if he's all bluster and no beef, as appears to be the case? As former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell once observed when asked if he was interested in a Senate seat, "they don't do [diddly-squat]." Last night, when Chris Matthews asked a Texas supporter of Obama what his legislative achievements were in the Senate, he couldn't name one, because there aren't any.
Osama is an idiot and if he or Clinton are elected (fat chance Hillary) this American is going to go down fast, wait and see!! GO McCain!!
Hopefully, rf, your namecalling isn't your strong suit. I do hope that your ability to see into the future will be able to tell me when the Steelers will win their next super bowl. Even if Hillary or Barrack became president and did a wonderful job I doubt you would be able to admit it.
Words, words and more words:
Yes words are what move people to action. In this, the pen is mightier than the sword and what a great leader has to say can move people to move mountains. Teddy Roosevelt aptly described the presidency as “a bully pulpit? With his “fireside chats,” FDR welded the people of this nation to great purpose.
Their’s were the kind of words our nation needed then and needs now---not some words stuck in one of those little campaign books that professes to the candidates “PLAN.” A supposed great plan that rolls off the tongue of a candidate that thinks that they themselves have all the answers. The folks standing up on the political platform are no smarter than most of the people in the audience and a heck of a lot dumber than many.
This great nation of people needs a leader that can mobilize our greatest resources, the imagination and ingenuity of a free people. FDR assembled around himself a group of remarkable people that came up with solutions to real problems---these folks were known as FDR’s Brain Trust.
As some World War II words had it: “The difficult we do right now, the impossible may take a bit longer.” And the people of this nation did!
As for passing sponsoring legislation in Congress, some of our noted presidents neither did nor even served in Congress, such as: George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR and Bill Clinton.