“…and I’ll know you aren’t thinking for yourself if you don’t reach the exact same conclusion I did.”
Hey, I’m a rebel who doesn’t listen to what other people say! The beer I drink and the truck I drive prove that!
So when you said “don’t listen to the media” you didn’t mean I should somehow absorb news of the world telepathically? Like, I should form my own opinions is what you meant? Heavy stuff, dude.
An important thing to remember about Barack Obama is that as good an orator as he is, not everything he says has any real meaning for him. It’s just something he says that sounds good and this is one example. He is in no way serious about the implications of his statement.
This post made my eyes roll like a slot machine.
This.
Americans need to learn that it’s not always about them.
Spend five minutes reading about the political history of Malaysia (and Singapore, and Indonesia where Obama once lived, and even China WRT Hong Kong) over the past forty years or so, then come back to this thread.
This type of facile rhetoric was even something Reagan employed. It did not actually imply a real worldvview in his case either.
Ooo, do another mindreading trick! What’s he thinking about now? Is it Dijon mustard?
Despite concerted efforts by some to denigrate Obama’s greatest strength - his rhetorical ability - he remains someone who chooses his words carefully in pretty much every occasion in which he is using prepared remarks, as this was. Given the actual context of the excerpted phrase, the “implications of the statement” are fairly straightforward as xenophon41 has already indicated. The inferences some prefer to draw instead…well, there’s nothing to be done about that.
He does choose his words carefully… to ingratiate himself to his audience. He’s a career politician. His words are designed to make it sounds like he’s saying something without actually committing himself to anything. If they do have actual meaning, then that actual meaning should be explained. If you don’t know what that meaning is, then it’s a toss off remark that wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
There’s nothing left for him to aspire to, politically. Is your personal hatred for this man really so deep that you think he’s purposefully dishonest even when there’s no possible political benefit for him?
This is just ridiculous. You should recognize that your personal feelings about Obama render you totally incapable of analyzing his actions with anything approaching objectivity.
My immediate reaction was to relate this to the Greta Thunberg situation
If he were asked, I am sure he would say that he didn’t mean those old men. He meant “there are good people on both sides”.
And of course he’s right. Many of the problems of the world are because old men won’t get out of the way. But not, in his view, Biden or Sanders, because they’re men and they’re old and they aren’t getting out of the way, but that isn’t causing any problem. They’re not what he meant.
Regards,
Shodan
Yes, yes. Everyone is a two faced hypocrite. Thanks.
You’re point is correct. I should have said “stop doing what the media, etc. tells you to do. Listen to what they say with skepticism and make up your own mind.”
Read recently the two of them had a lengthy conversation at Elijah Cumming’s funeral service.
Anyway with John Kerry endorsing + other alumni of the last administration it does seem folks who have been in power are gathering around Biden now.