Feeds: 
symbol identifies content for paid subscribers only.
AMERICAN ADULTHOOD.
From the beginning, the power of Obama's speeches has come from his effortless blending of black and white American history, from his ability to twine together experiences we have come to think of as separate.Today's speech was about something different. It was about maturity. "We remain a young nation," Obama said, "but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things." After September 11, 2001, there was a lot of commentary to the effect that America had "entered adulthood" as we were introduced to the kind of harsh realities that other countries live with every day.
But we didn't react like adults. We lashed out like adolescents. We sought to banish our anxieties by making those who attacked us suffer, but when we couldn't find them, those who shared their language or religion would do. We played at adulthood, eschewing the hard choices that freedom and the rule of law demanded that we make. We were too grown for courts and trials, the pursuit and promise of those rights and ideals that make us who we are. Instead of putting away childish things, we embraced our least sophisticated, fearful impulses.
Today, Obama sought to provide a vision of our adulthood; an attitude that rejects the impulsiveness, painted as toughness, of the Bush years. It is no longer a time to put "leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame." While rejecting "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals," Obama nevertheless promised that "we will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense." This is not "Bring it on." This is not "Dead or Alive." It is time to put away the cowboy hats and pop guns, for "the world has changed, and we must change with it."
-- A. Serwer
-- A. Serwer
COMMENTS (8)
Funny how different people hear the same speech but get entirely different interpretations.
I found the speech to be rather boring that pretty much promised "more of the same".
Don't forget the part where Obama promised "no surrender" for the war on terror and arguably set himself up for a walkback on universal healthcare.
Nothing surprising there either. That's politics as usual and Obama doesn't seem to like to rock the boat.
Posted by: Michael | January 20, 2009 1:30 PM
I was moved by "put aside childish things" too, although I agree with Michael that the proof will be in the pudding. I thought that Obama was signalling, in a fairly characteristically low key and non confrontational manner, that in fact he was going to push for dramatic changes that might (I pray) include universal health care--certainly he signalled that he wouldn't be dissuaded by the "cynics" and the "naysayers" who say that we can't dare a lot in a dangerous time. I was pleased not to have the DFH's rebuked, for example. And as for our international policies for a soft spoken guy I'd say Obama pretty much blasted bush's hair back with that statement (paraphrasing) that we would no longer sacrifice our ideals and our laws to get a little fake safety. When the cameras cut to Bush on that line you could tell *he* knew he'd been called out and the kids in my children's school sure knew because they all burst out laughing.
I'm satisfied with the speech. It was workmanlike, not all that uplifting, but he made each word count. Now, lets see how we help him and push him to do the things we want him to do.
aimai
Posted by: aimai | January 20, 2009 1:40 PM
To Michael and aimai - childish things include, believe it or not, ennui and unyielding cynicism. We like to think they are more "adult" in nature because they express a world-weariness, but a jaundiced eye expresses dis-ease, not wisdom.
Posted by: Dan | January 20, 2009 5:21 PM
Thank you, Dan.
Posted by: Zandru | January 20, 2009 8:01 PM
And I second Zandru's thank you, Dan.
Posted by: Ducktape | January 20, 2009 9:20 PM
Michael's post (#1) registering boredom with Obama's speech shows again that solid speechmaking also requires sufficient critical intelligence to hear, really hear what's being said. Let those who have ears hear.
A friend sent me A. Serwer's insight which was recorded elsewhere. I'm thankful. Michael's observation, with its sophomoric announcement that everyone hears a speech differently, speaks for those whose ears and minds have been deadened for the last eight years by the Bush-Roveian sophistry from which Obama has awaken us.
Posted by: George T. Karnezis | January 21, 2009 12:52 PM
Anybody tell Rahmbo Emanuel that it was time to put away childish things? Maybe he was just reacting to the deaths of 400 Palestinian children:
news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090120/ids_photos_ts/r2310073519.jpg/
Posted by: Weep for Gaza | January 21, 2009 3:46 PM
That is one ugly mug.
Maybe Obambam was saying "now it is time to put away the children in their graves." After all, I read in the UK press that Obambam referenced Tom Paine on Washington in the forests in the middle of the war. If you're going to quote Tom Paine, why the war?
Oh, you mean put away Rahmbo. No, I think Rahmbo is going to bring Obambam down to his level.
Just like that moron playboy, Bush.
It will be a cinch, I bet.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 22, 2009 8:57 PM