Saturday, February 12, 2011

Meanwhile....


That's the boardwalk at Atlantic City where I spent an evening and crisp winter day unintentionally gathering material for a new blogpost. There's nothing quite like watching a bit of the now at least partially successful Egyptian revolution on a hotel TV set. More on what I learned in Atlantic City later, but meanwhile here's a brief paragraph from the Lenin's Tomb blog about Obama's latest speech on the events unfolding in Egypt:

"Obama is speechifying in his classically elevated, sonorous fashion. He should shut up. He has nothing to say. He spent weeks first backing Mubarak, then the torturer Suleiman. He thought his man, Suleiman, had been put in charge last night. It never once crossed his mind that he would stop aid to the regime, even stop sending the bullets and tear gas that have been used against protesters. The US has been handed its arse by the Egyptian people, the vanguard of global democracy, and should at this point be feigning humility." As much as I can enjoy a good Obama speech, I think Lenin's Tomb's Richard Seymour has, sadly, nailed this one.

5 comments:

  1. Sometimes we need to pause and look back... Your post from election night:

    "I'm speechless. A very emotional night last night. There will be time to talk about all the limitations of his presidency, all the dangers ahead, and all the ugly realities this election may not actually change. I(n) time to discuss how the brave citizens of California think chickens have more rights than gay couples. But for now, it's time to celebrate."

    While I too am disappointed in the President's action from time to time.... I pause to think the unthinkable...what if McCain had won? And then I think of election night and how filled with hope I was (am)...I don't want to give up hope.

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  2. Annie of course you are right. It's very funny actually...as our mutual friend Casey could tell you on a certain other blog I have the reputation of being Obama's biggest defender.

    Our world is so much more complex than the teabaggers understand it to be: in the real world correct choices like enthusiastically voting for Obama doesn't mean giving up our own absolute values and morals though. I think it's so important to recognize the moments when choices must be made from the reality we actually live in. I'm still gonna wish for a better reality!

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  3. And your are absolutely correct, ish.

    Reminds me of a song...."I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
    I can see all obstacles in my way
    Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright)
    Sun-Shiny day"

    We do need to see clearly in order to see the reality...

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  4. You may have heard this story but if not I pass it along to you. It came to me from my old friend who was at the University of Texas Austin the same time as Barbara Smith Conrad:

    http://txtell.lib.utexas.edu/stories/c0006-full.html

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  5. Annie I think I have heard her name before but never her story. Thanks for sharing that.

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