blind_html Re: Fwd: What say you?
- From: "Sarah Alawami" <marrie12@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blind_html@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:57:08 -0700
We shall see I guess.
-----Original Message-----
From: blind_html-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind_html-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Nimer Jaber
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 2:52 PM
To: blind_html@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: blind_html Re: Fwd: What say you?
I agree, I am not sure though if the agenda of Obama supports this.
Thanks
Nimer J
On 13/04/09 15:48, Sarah Alawami wrote:
> I think that the president should be one of us, a leader, a teacher, a
> person who makes mistakes and does not get chastised for them, a
> person who is a self starter and who is willing to research and is not
> afraid to ask questions if need be.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> *From:* blind_html-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:blind_html-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Nimer Jaber
> *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2009 12:13 PM
> *To:* blind_html@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* blind_html Fwd: What say you?
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: What say you?
> Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:39:12 -0700
> From: Edwin Cooney <edwincooney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <edwincooney@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
>
> Hi All,
> Do you have in your mind an image of the ideal President of the United
> States? Did you once have one but have found that time has blurred or
> obscured it? If so, why? Have you changed? Has America sufficiently
> changed thus bringing this mental distortion about?
> I confess that my image of an American president is that of a leader
> and teacher, much like the one described in early 1961 by the late
> Senator William J. Fullbright of Arkansas. He described our president
> (supposedly young Jack Kennedy) as being our teacher and moral leader.
> (I'm sure you can find the full quotation somewhere on google.) It
> just seems to me that leadership invariably involves teaching. It
> requires the teacher him or herself to be learning through observation
> and analysis and passing on that information to you and to me.
> Thus what's below. Your assignment, whether or not you ever turn in
> your homework, is to decide for yourself whether there is or should be
> an ideal presidential image. Has there always been and should their
> always be? Can it be avoided? If it's real because American citizens
> and people of other lands have one, how in your view does it effect
> our ability to get along in the world?
> Here's hoping that you'll enjoy what's below and consider doing your
> homeowrk assignment. Teacher will be waiting!
> Thanks for reading and considering what's below. I'm grateful for the
> time you take to do it.
> Warm Regards,
> E.C.
>
> MONDAY APRIL 13^TH , 2009
>
> THE PRESIDENT'S IMAGE
>
> BY EDWIN COONEY
>
> Just a few days ago, one of my readers sent me an interesting little
> article about President Obama's television watching habits. The
> president appears to be such a big SportsCenter fan -- favoring both
> college and professional basketball -- that he avoids the 24/7 news
> cycles. He never listens or watches reruns of his own news
> conferences, town hall meetings or speeches. Thus, one gets the idea
> that President Barack Hussein Obama is just a regular guy.
>
> It's often observed that modern Republicans prefer the presidential
> image of a Commander-In-Chief on foreign policy issues and a
> business-oriented Chief Executive Officer on domestic matters. Their
> memory of President Ronald Reagan's dignified eloquence and idealism
> makes him the GOP's modern presidential role model with additional
> kudos to Ike, Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
>
> Democrats, on the other hand, are said to favor a "Philosopher King",
> someone with just enough majesty to guide the people without appearing
> "above" them. FDR and Truman are the modern Democratic role models -
> different as they were.
>
> Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harvard-educated, possessed a Brahmin accent.
> Nevertheless, he spoke plainly and directly to the American people
> beginning that Sunday night of March 12^th 1933. He sat behind radio
> microphones and addressed the people from the Diplomatic Reception
> Room of the White House. His topic was the purpose and scope of the
> bank holiday. FDR's mostly Sunday night talks came to be known as
> Fireside chats. On the other hand, Harry Truman--short, trim and gray
> with wire-rimmed spectacles-spoke with a combined Southern and
> Midwestern accent. He addressed his country's foreign and domestic
> crises with his words often coming forth in a staccato rhythm.
>
> In 2000 and again in 2004, George W. Bush was the people's choice over
> the "wooden" Al Gore and the "rigid and aloof" John Kerry because he
> was "the kind of guy with whom anyone would enjoy sharing a beer".
> So, because we more readily identified with the image created by the
> plainspoken Texan, we chose him as our leader. He was one of us.
>
> Thus, as we approach the third month of a new presidency, the question
> is what is President Obama's overall image? He has just returned from
> his first trip abroad where he apparently impressed his G-20 heads of
> state brethren, wowed the intellectuals and media of Europe, and
> assured the Turks that Americans would never go to war against Islam.
> He reassured our troops in Iraq that he appreciated them for all of
> their accomplishments--insisting that a grateful nation owed them much
> in the way of education and health care--and told them that their
> Iraqi service time would soon be over.
>
> Conservatives insist that President Obama is everything from a Marxist
> to an Islamic-Fascist. Liberals and Progressives, for the most part
> (but with some exceptions on the part of populists who fear assistance
> to corporations), still consider the president as having the makings
> of a political messiah.
>
> As for this observer, I like him for his steadiness, his capacity for
> flexibility and for his overall outlook. I like his assertion that
> even with all of the vexing problems a president faces (such as AIG
> executive over-compensation, North Korean aggravation), he can't
> afford to govern from anger.
>
> Even more, President Obama seems to operate from understanding rather
> than judgment. Unlike his predecessor he doesn't confuse approval of
> an individual head of state or system of government with legitimacy.
> He seems to comprehend that behavior rather than propaganda or even
> outlook is what all governments, ours included, should be judged on.
>
> His critics will continue to paint him as an elitist, a spendthrift
> and a socialist -- and that will be the kind things they say! His
> supporters, for the most part, will cut him slack offering the benefit
> of the doubt, softer criticism for his inevitable mistakes and praise
> for his successes. Both of these perspectives, as Jimmy Carter used to
> point out, "go with the territory' of the presidency.
>
> Some of us, who invariably enjoy linking baseball to American
> political life (as well as with life in general), might get some
> perspective out of the following: A number of years ago, there was an
> infielder for the San Francisco Giants who boasted that he had seven
> given names. They
> were: Alan Michael Edward George Patrick Henry Gallagher. (He was also
> called "Dirty Al Gallagher-but we can generously put that aside.)
>
> Hence, my ideal presidential image is: Abraham Teddy Delano Kennedy
> Carter Reagan Obama. How's that for inter-political presidential image
> breeding?!
>
> RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
>
> EDWIN COONEY
>
> blind_html
> To unsubscribe, please send a blank email to
> blind_html-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with unsubscribe in the subject line.
> To access the archives, please visit:
> //www.freelists.org/archive/blind_html
>
> Thanks
>
blind_html
To unsubscribe, please send a blank email to
blind_html-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with unsubscribe in the subject line.
To access the archives, please visit:
//www.freelists.org/archive/blind_html
Thanks
blind_html
To unsubscribe, please send a blank email to
blind_html-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with unsubscribe in the subject line.
To access the archives, please visit:
//www.freelists.org/archive/blind_html
Thanks
Other related posts:
