…It shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican to say we don’t target certain groups of people based on what they look like or how they pray. We are Americans. We’re supposed to stand up to bullies.
Not follow them.
We’re supposed to stand up to discrimination. And we’re sure as heck supposed to stand up, clearly and unequivocally, to Nazi sympathizers.
Unlike the ever winging-it Trump, the greatest President of the 21st century delivered a thoughtful, well-composed, and non-self-serving, other-oriented speech on democracy yesterday. If the doddering Trump had the stamina to stay awake for Obama’s remarks, he’d have heard this clear, cogent critique of Trumpism as only the latest manifestation of the “manufactured” backlash of the privileged trying to resist the realization of true, inclusive American greatness:
Of course, there’s always been another darker aspect to America’s story. Progress doesn’t just move in a straight line. There’s a reason why progress hasn’t been easy and why throughout our history every two steps forward seems to sometimes produce one step back. Each time we painstakingly pull ourselves closer to our founding ideals, that all of us are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights; the ideals that say every child should have opportunity and every man and woman in this country who’s willing to work hard should be able to find a job and support a family and pursue their small piece of the American Dream; our ideals that say we have a collective responsibility to care for the sick and the infirm, and we have a responsibility to conserve the amazing bounty, the natural resources of this country and of this planet for future generations, each time we’ve gotten closer to those ideals, somebody somewhere has pushed back. The status quo pushes back. Sometimes the backlash comes from people who are genuinely, if wrongly, fearful of change. More often it’s manufactured by the powerful and the privileged who want to keep us divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical because that helps them maintain the status quo and keep their power and keep their privilege. And you happen to be coming of age during one of those moments. It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause.
He’s just capitalizing on resentments that politicians have been fanning for years. A fear and anger that’s rooted in our past, but it’s also born out of the enormous upheavals that have taken place in your brief lifetimes [Barack Obama, speech at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, transcript provided by Obama’s office to USA Today, 2018.09.07].
Obama outlined the history of true American greatness that Trump is trying to reverse:
Out of the turmoil of the industrial revolution and the Great Depression, America adapted a new economy, a 20th century economy – guiding our free market with regulations to protect health and safety and fair competition, empowering workers with union movements; investing in science and infrastructure and educational institutions like U of I; strengthening our system of primary and secondary education, and stitching together a social safety net. And all of this led to unrivaled prosperity and the rise of a broad and deep middle class in the sense that if you worked hard, you could climb the ladder of success.
And not everyone was included in this prosperity. There was a lot more work to do. And so in response to the stain of slavery and segregation and the reality of racial discrimination, the civil rights movement not only opened new doors for African-Americans, it also opened up the floodgates of opportunity for women and Americans with disabilities and LGBT Americans and others to make their own claims to full and equal citizenship. And although discrimination remained a pernicious force in our society and continues to this day, and although there are controversies about how to best ensure genuine equality of opportunity, there’s been at least rough agreement among the overwhelming majority of Americans that our country is strongest when everybody’s treated fairly, when people are judged on the merits and the content of their character, and not the color of their skin or the way in which they worship God or their last names. And that consensus then extended beyond our borders. And from the wreckage of World War II, we built a postwar web, architecture, system of alliances and institutions to underwrite freedom and oppose Soviet totalitarianism and to help poorer countries develop.
This American leadership across the globe wasn’t perfect. We made mistakes. At times we lost sight of our ideals. We had fierce arguments about Vietnam, and we had fierce arguments about Iraq. But thanks to our leadership, a bipartisan leadership, and the efforts of diplomats and Peace Corps volunteers, and most of all thanks to the constant sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, we not only reduced the prospects of war between the world’s great powers, we not only won the Cold War, we helped spread a commitment to certain values and principles, like the rule of law and human rights and democracy and the notion of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. And even those countries that didn’t abide by those principles were still subject to shame and still had to at least give lip service for the idea. And that provided a lever to continually improve the prospects for people around the world.
That’s the story of America, a story of progress. Fitful progress, incomplete progress, but progress. And that progress wasn’t achieved by just a handful of famous leaders making speeches. It was won because of countless quiet acts of heroism and dedication by citizens, by ordinary people, many of them not much older than you. It was won because rather than be bystanders to history, ordinary people fought and marched and mobilized and built and, yes, voted to make history [Obama, 2018.09.07].
Donald Trump has likely forgotten what he said in Sioux Falls yesterday, as will history. Barack Obama continues to speak powerful, lasting truths. Keep the faith, and spread Obama’s word about the real greatness of America.
Hitler’s Playbook … “Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it weren’t for those who don’t look like us or don’t sound like us or don’t pray like we do — that’s an old playbook,” Obama said. “It’s as old as time. And in a healthy democracy, it doesn’t work. Our antibodies kick in and people of good will from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fear-mongers and work to compromise and get things done and promote the better angels of our nature.” – Pres. Obama
CIB vet
2018-09-08 11:54
Create some libel laws that when people say stuff bad about you, you could sue them.”
It probably has not occurred to trump that the laws would work both ways and he would be in court forever.
owen reitzel
2018-09-08 13:03
Did Trump fall asleep or pass out? Hmmmmm
Porter Lansing
2018-09-08 13:14
My “DeepState” friends are saying that Michelle wrote the op-ed for Melania.
Debbo
2018-09-08 21:57
“It was won because … ordinary people fought and marched and mobilized and built and, yes, voted to make history.”
That’s what we do. That’s what my grampa’s generation did when WW I vets such as him didn’t get their pay and bonus checks after the war. That’s what thousands of women kept doing until the 20th Amendment was passed. That’s what we did in the 60s to end Vietnam and have the vote as 18 year olds. That’s what Tiffany Campbell, the Women’s Marchers, the high school students March for Our Lives and hundreds of thousands more Americans are fighting and marching and mobilizing and building and voting for — to take 2 more steps forward to that bright, hopeful, progressive future for All Americans.
Hitler’s Playbook … “Appealing to tribe, appealing to fear, pitting one group against another, telling people that order and security will be restored if it weren’t for those who don’t look like us or don’t sound like us or don’t pray like we do — that’s an old playbook,” Obama said. “It’s as old as time. And in a healthy democracy, it doesn’t work. Our antibodies kick in and people of good will from across the political spectrum call out the bigots and the fear-mongers and work to compromise and get things done and promote the better angels of our nature.” – Pres. Obama
Create some libel laws that when people say stuff bad about you, you could sue them.”
It probably has not occurred to trump that the laws would work both ways and he would be in court forever.
Did Trump fall asleep or pass out? Hmmmmm
My “DeepState” friends are saying that Michelle wrote the op-ed for Melania.
“It was won because … ordinary people fought and marched and mobilized and built and, yes, voted to make history.”
That’s what we do. That’s what my grampa’s generation did when WW I vets such as him didn’t get their pay and bonus checks after the war. That’s what thousands of women kept doing until the 20th Amendment was passed. That’s what we did in the 60s to end Vietnam and have the vote as 18 year olds. That’s what Tiffany Campbell, the Women’s Marchers, the high school students March for Our Lives and hundreds of thousands more Americans are fighting and marching and mobilizing and building and voting for — to take 2 more steps forward to that bright, hopeful, progressive future for All Americans.