First off - dear Russian readers, I have enabled transliteration to Russian on my blog. I'm not sure if it's going to work or not? But there seem to be a lot of you, so let me know what's what.
Obama gave his State of the Union address last night! I have so many links for you guys. So many.
First off, I got a tumblr recently and intended to live-blog it, but then my phone died. All the same, you can see so many interesting things that I did. (HA NOT REALLY. But follow me on tumblr if that's your jam. And you mainly enjoy reading reblogs of NPR.)
Also, I wish I had gotten this out beforehand, but clearly I was ILL-PREPARED.
And the New York Times has a full transcript that you can make scroll with the video that includes fact-checking: AWESOME.
So I guess you can do the drinking game after all?
ANYWAY.
So, there's obviously some things in there that I was not that into (hydrofracking: I'm not a fan) but there were other things that I was really into (public disclosure of hydrofracking chemicals! YAY) and I ultimately learned that I'm the biggest nerd!
But really what I wanted to talk about today was the execution of this speech. Guys, this was some serious, serious politicking. It was masterful. I spent twenty minutes ranting at my roommate about the wordplay. Think what you will about his views, that speech was energizing.
There was also an artful use of distancing language in the beginning, when he talked about Detroit, saying that jobs had been lost, rather than using the more active language found in the rest of the speech (i.e., "We're building x! I've created x!" etc.).
This is something that I think we've stopped expecting from our politicians, and that's TERRIBLE. We're so used to politics being a mud-slinging fest in the last dozen or so years that we've forgotten what made the really great politicians great. It wasn't their ability to make other people look bad, or even themselves look good. When we think about Lincoln or Kennedy or Roosevelt, we think of how they made the American people band together, how they made people believe in themselves. Well, with Roosevelt, we also think about how he was the biggest BAMF of all time and space, and how he (purportedly) snuck out of the White House and taught a woman how to skin a bear.
The point is, a good politician can get himself elected. A great politician will make you want to run for office.
Anyway dudebros, you should read it. The man took what I and many other progressives viewed as a really necessary and incredibly strong stand.
(and finally, this is completely unrelated, but hahahahahaha I LOVE THIS PICTURE SET.)
Obama gave his State of the Union address last night! I have so many links for you guys. So many.
First off, I got a tumblr recently and intended to live-blog it, but then my phone died. All the same, you can see so many interesting things that I did. (HA NOT REALLY. But follow me on tumblr if that's your jam. And you mainly enjoy reading reblogs of NPR.)
Also, I wish I had gotten this out beforehand, but clearly I was ILL-PREPARED.
And the New York Times has a full transcript that you can make scroll with the video that includes fact-checking: AWESOME.
So I guess you can do the drinking game after all?
ANYWAY.
So, there's obviously some things in there that I was not that into (hydrofracking: I'm not a fan) but there were other things that I was really into (public disclosure of hydrofracking chemicals! YAY) and I ultimately learned that I'm the biggest nerd!
But really what I wanted to talk about today was the execution of this speech. Guys, this was some serious, serious politicking. It was masterful. I spent twenty minutes ranting at my roommate about the wordplay. Think what you will about his views, that speech was energizing.
There was also an artful use of distancing language in the beginning, when he talked about Detroit, saying that jobs had been lost, rather than using the more active language found in the rest of the speech (i.e., "We're building x! I've created x!" etc.).
This is something that I think we've stopped expecting from our politicians, and that's TERRIBLE. We're so used to politics being a mud-slinging fest in the last dozen or so years that we've forgotten what made the really great politicians great. It wasn't their ability to make other people look bad, or even themselves look good. When we think about Lincoln or Kennedy or Roosevelt, we think of how they made the American people band together, how they made people believe in themselves. Well, with Roosevelt, we also think about how he was the biggest BAMF of all time and space, and how he (purportedly) snuck out of the White House and taught a woman how to skin a bear.
The point is, a good politician can get himself elected. A great politician will make you want to run for office.
Anyway dudebros, you should read it. The man took what I and many other progressives viewed as a really necessary and incredibly strong stand.
(and finally, this is completely unrelated, but hahahahahaha I LOVE THIS PICTURE SET.)
