Good Read: Obama and the Revival of Responsibility

[devilgrrl]

In his speech last night, Barack Obama symbolically turned the page on eight years of irresponsibility and recklessness and called on Americans to take responsibility for themselves, for others, and for the future of the planet.

The radical-conservative Republicans of the Bush era paraded around dressed in a cloak of oh so responsible "fiscal rectitude" -- berating progressives as "reckless tax-and-spenders." But in reality they were more like children playing dress up in adult clothes.

They pretended to be your sober, tight-fisted grandfather but all the while they behaved like rich teenagers who came into their inheritance to early and squandered it on fast cars, and wild parties.

Obama reminded America that his predecessors had squandered a fiscal surplus to enrich the wealthiest two percent of Americans with tax breaks. They refused to invest in the education and health care of our children. They endangered the future of our climate and planet to allow energy companies to engorge themselves with profit. And they jeopardized the peace of the world to satisfy their longing for empire.

They let Wall Street bankers create a speculative bubble of trillions of dollars of artificial wealth and drain away the buying power of ordinary Americans that is necessary to sustain long term economic growth.

They ignored the warning signs that the economic hour was late, and partied on like frat boys who decided to blow off the final exam. And when the final exam finally came, they failed.

Last night Barack Obama spoke to Americans as adults. He told America that responsibility for others is not just a stupid value for chumps -- but the definition of begin a grown-up. He told us that the era of "where's mine" -- where success is defined by seven-figures salaries and five-thousand dollar designer suits -- is over. He challenged America to once again take charge of our futures and fulfill our potential -- to invest in future generations. And he pledged to lead us there.

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As millions of people came to Washington to participate in Barack Obama's inaugural celebration the nation was swept by a rebirth of true patriotism -- not xenophobia but pride in what America could be once again.

Last night Barack Obama honored a bank president who gave his $60 million bonus to all of his employees and retirees. He honored a young woman who wrote Congress to ask them for help for her school so that she and here classmates could get a descent education and make a contribution to our society -- who said that she was not "a quitter."

After a long absence, America once again has national leadership that truly believes in responsibility. Historians will look back on Obama's speech last night as one of the founding documents of a new progressive era.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/obama-and-the-revival-of_b_169800.html

[devilgrrl]

1. kick.

Come now, this is good.