tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post8474354822145455652..comments2024-03-10T13:59:19.230-04:00Comments on xpostfactoid: Capitulate, Chait! Succumb, Drum! Obama's rhetoric is a force for changeAndrew Sprunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601269968798865106noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-12138625755070866662012-11-04T19:17:22.605-05:002012-11-04T19:17:22.605-05:00Terrific post, yeah. I had the same response to Ch...Terrific post, yeah. I had the same response to Chait and Drum's deflation of the power of rhetoric. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have teared up listening to the President speak, or that I cried neither in ecstatic transport, nor in mystical union, nor from overpowering delight, but the same tears that a delicately profound novel or movie squeezes: tears of honest humility, of human connection, tears of fear and doubt embraced and cynicism repelled that I could not have embraced and repelled on my own. I cried during "A More Perfect Union" (at which point in the campaign I was still a Hillary supporter, and rather an Obama skeptic!) and I've cried listening to the President speak about how he lives and understands his religion. What can I say? I guess I'm just a sucker for the technically proficient weaving together of principled argument and practical commitment; direct empathy and critical distance; localized and specific contributions to a particular debate, and broader argument that locates that debate within a larger historical, political, and ethical framework. I guess I should excuse myself from rational adult conversation and go sit in the back of the room with Speaker Boehner and that girl in "A Hard Day's Night."the classicisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08691196845661570282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-21448238331747991582012-11-03T04:22:46.358-04:002012-11-03T04:22:46.358-04:00Excellent post. Most of the people who only got th...Excellent post. Most of the people who only got the "hope" during 2008 did so only because they were listening to half of what he was saying and ignoring the pragmatism.MinneapolisPipenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-72168270015034402132012-11-02T21:11:25.456-04:002012-11-02T21:11:25.456-04:00Exactlly right. Mr. Obama's soaring speeches m...Exactlly right. Mr. Obama's soaring speeches motivate me to get off the sofa and do something important. Like you, I usually agree with Messrs. Chait and Drum and couldn't disagree more about the importance of motivating good people to action. Like you, I am not above it all--sometimes I am moved to tears by Mr. Obama's speeches. But this gets me off the sofa with a feeling that we're all in this together and good can prevail. I hope and believe that the rightward swing of the pendulum reached its apex 4 years ago and the American people will cause a more perfect union for all of us. k1352https://www.blogger.com/profile/09284150747086785695noreply@blogger.com