Readers of this space will know I believe that our present political masters have abandoned the next generation. They say they don't want to saddle the young with impossible debts. But the truth is that they bear a deep seated animus against government.
It's government that is their enemy -- not the debt. And when you look at their records -- from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to Stephen Harper -- you discover that each of them has run up more debt than their predecessors. More tellingly, they never have a word of encouragement for the young. The only encouragement Mitt Romney offered was to borrow the money to go to school from their parents.
Here is a clip of Barack Obama addressing the young volunteers who helped him win on Tuesday. He says what should have been said a long time ago -- and needs to be said now.
And, for those who think that Obama is cold and distant -- well, watch the clip.
4 comments:
Thanks for posting this, Owen. I think your analysis of right-wing 'leaders' is spot-on, and though I am at best only guardedly optimistic about Obama, as I watched the clip I was hard-pressed to think of any political leader speaking from the heart, as opposed from a tightly-scripted 'performance,' in a long long time.
Let us hope that someone emerges on our political landscape who both thinks of the young and is able to truly motivate them.
Crosby, Stills and Nash got it right, Lorne. We have an obligation to teach our children well.
I too have been disappointed by Obama. But he's much better than the alternative.
And I think he has the attention of the young.
Obama has won (not earned, only won) the right to a second term to atone for his litany of failures and disappointments in his first term.
His biggest achievement in the election was to keep the neo-cons who had latched onto Romney out of the White House and, even there, it was a close call.
If Obama insists on repeating his role as conciliator, the Right will likewise repeat their performance as obstructionists. He has to show he can flex his muscles and bare his teeth now while he still has the public behind him.
I think Obama has been constrained by the American fear of the angry black man, Mound.
Now, however, he doesn't have to be re-elected.
In the debates, when Romney accused him of not taking responsibility for what happened in Libya, he showed justifiable and righteous anger. That anger knocked Romney off balance.
He'll have to pick his times and places. But to get things done, he will occasionally have to show that same anger.
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