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| That's How You Play Defense |
But I think the more appropriate framing is to see the speech as, yes, eloquent and inspiring from a liberal perspective, but not radical at all. Look at this passage, for example:
We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. (Applause.) For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn.
We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. (Applause.) They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great. (Applause.)This isn't a clarion call for some new program to expand the welfare state! It's just a ringing defense of the welfare state we already have. The fact is that the Republican party has decided that they want to fundamentally change the welfare state in America, rolling back the New Deal of the 1930s and the Great Society of the 1960s. They believe that the safety net has become too generous, and that we need to return to a time when those at the bottom have nowhere else to turn.
Making Social Security and Medicare into voucherized or means-tested programs is a pretty radical agenda. Obama is just opposing that change- he's for the status quo. I wish people would stop calling that radical.
The Cost of Obamanomics.
ReplyDeleteThe national debt represents both an immediate and a long-term threat to the United States’ status as the world’s premier economy. Not only is it a painful burden on future generations, but a very real damper today on economic confidence, stability, and job creation. Its consequences are felt most keenly by millions of everyday Americans. But as dangerous as the debt is now, it is on track to grow twice as large as the nation’s entire economy by 2035. Absent meaningful reforms to change the U.S.’ debt trajectory, the consequences of uncontrolled federal borrowing—and the associated interest costs—will only worsen.
The national Debt on this day is above $16,470,000,000,000.00 Trillion dollars.
For Example: If you were 30 years old today, your lifetime share of the national debt is: $511,112.00. You, your children and their children will bear the brunt of massive tax increases needed to pay off the Debt we have allowed our elected officials in Washington to pass on to us. The goal of re-election to the elite Political club in Washington has been so intoxicating, they spend $ Trillions of our money to achieve it. There is no (good) end in sight.