Friday Open Thread | 88 comments (88 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 8)

Thank you Melancthon for this link. I watched almost all of it (not having a life anymore since Anya's gone)... cutting out only the end of his formal speech. here's some random (self) uncensored thoughts...

While some of what he says really irked me, him having to continue with the USA leadership stuff, i think he represents some sanity, if only compared to the rest of the oligarchical world.
he did DoDo proud, by twice confirming his jealousy of yuropean hi speed rail. from an amurkan politician? wow
he didn't really address the question about Belarus, going off on Botswana and his reception in Kenya, but by talking about responsibility and mentioning that democracy doesn't mean people being swept off the streets, i guess it shows he does understand what the questioner was attempting.
He showed he's committed to fostering renewables and sustainability, at aleast as much as a (bought) preznit can be.
he managed to separate amurka from the bush era quite well, with very subtle digs and separations from his policies.
I'm not sure which of his names means peace in Hungarian, but if true that wins him points.
he really does have the rock star Town hall game down.
amurkan policy even under the holy one remains arrogant, but he does it well.
the man seems to understand sustainability... it's one thing to talk about doubling renewables, but it's completely other to actually address building insulation. point Obama.
He accented shutting down gitmo, and we don't torture, twice. there was another line distancing his policy from the previous, carefully crafted.
he was going to say "liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" but knew he would fuckitup, so he stopped with Liberte. (proper accents deleted because of time constraints.)
That on his first official visit to yurp he does a Town Hall, successfully like a rock star, will not be lost on yurpeen politicos, to our benefit.
Given the grand rhetoric about amurka against the reality of the last hundred twenty years or so, he's doing good at rehabilitation.
his acknowledgement of yurpeen health care bodes well.
for the purtposes of this comment, i will defer to a potential future all the impressions i've already forgotten, or which don't come immediately to mind, though there are some.

Endergebniss? Der hat gewonnen. Auch Heidelberg.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

by Crazy Horse on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 02:19:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (4.00 / 5)

I think he did go for the full, liberte, egalite, fraternite - after his initial hesitation.

Worst line "In America people doen't resent the rich, they want to become rich" - once true and still so to SOME extent - but a LOT of resentment has developed about rich bankers, obscene bonuses, etc. A lot more people in America now know they're never going to be rich and have lost what they did have - while fat cats are still ofetn doing very well. Hence there has been a lot of popular rejection of the bail-outs.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Fri Apr 3rd, 2009 at 05:00:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Friday Open Thread | 88 comments (88 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Top Diaries

Fiscal and Organizational Capacity of States and Sovereignty

Pentecost steam

A Nomad's Life (A Farewell)

Newspeak to English pocket dictionary

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - Europe and the Mongol...

Quantifying Utopia: A UBI Calculator for the USA

Simple Solar Principles

Rail News Blogging #24

Recent Diaries

Fiscal and Organizational Capacity of States and Sovereignty

Pentecost steam

Simple Solar Principles

Quantifying Utopia: A UBI Calculator for the USA

Newspeak to English pocket dictionary

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants - Europe and the Mongol...

Rail News Blogging #24

A Nomad's Life (A Farewell)

The Brussels Consensus: economic disaster in EU candidate...

Origins of German Neo-Austerianism

Ferguson hates on Keynes

Dionysian revels: Nice, May Day 2013:

Anglo Or Not, It's A Disease

The UK and the Euro

Free Energy: Solar and Dynamo LED Keychain Lights

Kruganomics 101

Gold

Corporate Profits and Aggregate Demand

VC Investment: Then and Now

An Ambush of Wishful thinking and Cargo Cult law.

Occasional Series