Nitpick: the Oval Office didn’t exist when Jackson was president.
Getting him off the $20 was long overdue. I don’t think he should have been on in the first place. His crusade against the Second Bank of the US triggered the Panic of 1837 and the deep recession that followed. His Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears should disqualify him from being remembered in any positive manner and certainly merits disqualification from being on currency. His one accomplishment which propelled him to the White House was winning a major battle after a peace agreement had already been reached. Some hero.
The notion that Obama is divisive is ludicrous. He is the Jackie Robinson of politics, taking personal racial attacks with grace. He can’t be the Angry Black Man and he knows it. He is nowhere close to liberal, I’d say ideologically he is as close to Nixon than he is to anybody in the modern era. To say that Democrats have moved to the left is like swimming from the shallow end to the deep end of the pool and observing that people sitting in the deck chairs have moved to higher ground.
Well said. I can’t understand calling Obama “devicive” for being President while the Treasury decides to take Jackson off the front of the $20 bill. It seems to have united all factions of the SDMB.
I get the feeling DerekMichaels00 uses the word “but” in conversation a lot. As in:
[ul]
[li]I’m not a bigot, but…[/li][li]I don’t know where I heard this, but…[/li][li]I’m not saying it should be this way, but…[/li][li]I know it sounds crazy, but…[/li][li]Not that it matters what color he is, but…[/li][/ul]
FDR was a much, much more important figure than Jackson; he should be in line for the honor ahead of Jackson – and so should Teddy Roosevelt, for that matter – but all of them should be in line behind Tubman, who was not such an important figure but who embodied all that is the very best in the American character.
Until that song, I had never considered the artillery potential of the common Louisiana alligator. Too bad *Mythbusters *folded, would have been a good one.
Tried it once. The gator really did lose his mind, and so did PETA. Unfortunately, certain restraining orders render the results irreproducible, at least by this researcher.
Said the Dowager Duchess at tea,
“Young man, do you fart when you pee?”
I replied, "Not a bit!
“Do you belch when you shit?”
Which I’d say left the honours with me.
[off-topic] “I could care less” is a peculiar phrase. I wonder if OP knows its meaning?
FTR, I’ve excerpted Obama’s speech, bold-redding the phrase that DerekMichaels00 finds so offensive.
[QUOTE=Barack Obama, Cairo 2009]
Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed – more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, it is ignorant, and it is hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction – or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews – is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.
On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they’ve endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations – large and small – that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own.
[/QUOTE]
I think Obama struck a perfect balance — the speech I’d be proud to give if I were eloquent. What do others think?
I think Obama has done a good job in trying to be even handed in his concern both for the Israelis and Palestinians. Unfortunately, for too many the whole Middle Eastern foreign policy can be summed up as “Israel can do no wrong”.
