Wake Up, America

[filkertom]

Kucinich at the Democratic National Convention.

Comments

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Wow.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

Kucinich gave a rousing speech, but for me, the most effective so far was by the North Carolina textile worker whose employer shut down the plant without notice. Her story is the story of people all over the country, and she explained simply and straightforwardly why the Democrats are better for those people than the Republicans.

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Dang, he's peppy!

[aota.livejournal.com]

Great speech. I've been really surprised at how many good speeches I'm hearing from the DNC.

[hiddenriver.livejournal.com]

Great speech, but now I've got "Up, Up with People" stuck in my head...

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

The only issue I see here is that our speaker is a little off... but that's to blame the press, among others. The principal members (board members, executive officers) of big oil companies should get fried in court for the things they've done, but they are all protected by the Pres. So, they go after the speculators instead...

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Brian Schweitzer. Nothing but net.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

*sigh, grumble* Yeah, I wanted HIM for President.

Re: Thoughts

[tinrat.livejournal.com]

Dito. Cherry on top.

[lemmozine.livejournal.com]

The speech reminds me of story I heard from Reverend Ike, which was about a 10 minute story, but I'll make it much shorter, about a village in Africa on fire. The heaviest man in the village had eaten a large dinner and was asleep in a burning hut. Some of the villagers tried to carry him out, but he was too heavy and they couldn't lift him, so they went to the village wise man to ask what to do. The answer: wake him up! Of course, the moral is we're all in that same burning hut, trying to pretend it isn't happening, and, yes, the emperor is naked, our president is a drooling idiot, and corporations are large carnivores trying to eat us all alive. I've always liked what Abbie Hoffman had to say: freedom of speech is like yelling "theater" at a crowded fire.

I was prepared to be bored silly listening to Hillary tonight, but I have to admit the quote from Harriet Tubman kind of got to me just a little. That was really appropriate. I think she spoke well, and hope her followers take her advice.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

Well, there is the small point that if he were still the candidate he probably wouldn't be saying those things. I've noticed in my experience that the further away a politician is from any possibility of wielding power, the more sense they talk, and the more honestly they do it. Push them towards the top spot, and the vagueness creeps in and the compromises start and we're all suddenly on the same side working for our country and I have nothing but the greatest respect for the drug-addled, avaricious, morally bankrupt fat cat opposite, and ordinary people listening wonder vaguely what happened.

Obama isn't going to be Joan of Arc, and it's senseless to reproach him with the fact. But it's also true that if Kucinich were the candidate right now, Obama would be saying all this and more, and Kucinich would be waffling.

[kilbia.livejournal.com]

"Push them towards the top spot, and the vagueness creeps in and the compromises start..."
---
I know that look. Like a cat nailed to a tree. Like a piss-ant rookie legislator out to save the world getting his first lesson in how things REALLY work.

That's roughly a quote out of Frank Miller's graphic novel "That Yellow Bastard", and it sticks with me a lot during election years because it is so true.

I remember talking to people at my precinct caucus, and I hope a few of them listened when I said that it's going to take more than just electing Obama to the presidency. We also need to make sure there are Obama supporters in Congress and even in more local offices, or it's just going to be four years of quagmire and disillusionment.

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

I suspect that Kucinich's unwillingness to waffle is one of the reasons he didn't get nominated. Idealism is great from the outside, but politics is about compromise - particularly when it's politics on a national scale.

I'm glad we have Kucinich and others like him around to try to push and prod the Democrats towards progressive ideals, but I think he's most effective at doing that from the outside.

[fredhuggins.livejournal.com]

What he's saying is all true, and needs to be said. How he's saying it, however, sounds stilted and awkward, as though he's being fed the speech through headphones one syllable at a time. At the three minute mark, it feels like they're saying, "it's not working. Be LOUDER."

The psychological reaction to public speakers is always 70% how they look, 20% how they sound, and only 10% what they say. That's how JFK got away with saying "I am a donut" at the Berlin wall. And that's why Obama got chosen over more qualified candidates.

Sorry to be so cynical and pragmatic, but the last eight years have squashed most of my idealism out of me.

Also, that sounded like Larry "Bud" Melman introducing him.