In his first address to a joint session of Congress last night, President Barack Obama showed a craftsmanship with words that is possible only by political leaders who possess a unique appreciation for the promise of language and a rare gift for writing the ideas that have historically transformed civilizations. America finally has an architect for its recovery, restoration and renewal.
There are fewer constants in the long brow of history than the power of words. Politicians from the times of Pericles and Cicero down through the ages have known that the right mixture of words and ideas, of cadence and drama, can yield a magic elixir that captivates and moves people to accomplish astonishing feats. That skill was persuasively evident in President Barack Obama’s first address before a joint session of Congress last night. (more…)
He was a man who knew the virtues of humility and the vices of partisanship. He was a president who understood that the greatest deeds spring from the most resonant words. And as president, he actually wrote his own speeches. One of these gave voice to some of the most cogently eloquent ideas about governance and democracy ever penned. It is the idea of government of the people, by the people and for the people.
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12th 200 years ago. The home he once inhabited during the most fateful days of the Republic is now filled by a youthful president and a first family who are a living testimony to the “proposition that all men are created equal,” as Mr. Lincoln proclaimed and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned. Color has never determined the music of a child’s laughter or a father’s dream for a better life. And character is often measured by the extent to which individuals bring tolerance, opportunity and fairness to the quarters of society where they are forgotten.
A government of the people, by the people and for the people. Not a bad idea to bear in mind during times of testing, whether in the bitter winter of a civil war long ago or in the cold storms of financial turmoil today.
Leaders and ideas make a difference. Mr. Lincoln provided a towering model for both. He casts a long shadow over history, but perhaps not so long that someone cannot someday fill a similar role and step into the sunlight that will bring hope and opportunity to many again.
Happy Birthday, Mr. President.
The Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States
And so America begins a new chapter in the experiment conceived by an unlikely collection of farmers, soldiers and gentlemen who placed everything they had on the line for the liberty they cherished above all. The inauguration of the first African-American as the 44th President of the United States is one of those rare sea-changing events that has managed to capture the imagination of so many in America and around the world. Where the flight of history and its more fickle companion called fate will ultimately take Mr. Obama and the nation he will head is, at this point, unknowable to us. But a remarkable surge of events that could not have been thought of, much less predicted, even a year ago, appears underway that is carrying America and beyond to a very different place in the history of modern governance. Few presidents have arrived in office on the wings of such goodwill and cheerfulness. Fewer still have stood to take their oath at such a defining moment of profound economic unease.
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When Canada’s Parliament is reconvened on January 26th and gets down to any meaningful business, it will have met for a total of 13 days over the past half year. By that time, a new President and Congress will be in place in the United States along with the most comprehensive program to restart the economy since the 1930s.
Canada and the United States share a number of common attributes, which include family members, extensive trade, a similar culture -even David Frum- (more…)
Observing the day the First World War ended, and honoring the sacrifice of freedom’s heroes today.
On November 11th, ninety years ago today, the guns that began their unrelenting shattering of Europe in August of 1914 fell silent. The Great War –as it was first called- that claimed some 20 million lives, was over. Could the young men who fought on those muddy fields, where the names Vimy Ridge, Ypres, and the Somme live through history in a thousand monuments and in bronzed rolls of names, ever have imagined that, nearly a century later, their great, great-grandchildren would once more be fighting against tyranny and intolerance?
Much has changed in the world since 1918, but the willingness of the sons and daughters of democracy to serve when called has not. We remember their heroism and their sacrifice and that of their families who so many years ago, and still today, have been called upon to give in the ultimate sacrifice that freedom can demand.
We will remember them.
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. –President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965
At a time when the first African-American has just been elected President of the United States, it is worthwhile to look at some of the other leaders who contributed to President-Elect Obama’s historic journey.
In March, 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress to urge the passage of landmark voting rights legislation. While language in parts of the speech is antiquated by today’s standards, it was groundbreaking at the time. It had an eloquence that foreshadowed some of the thoughts in the victory speech of his successor in Chicago, 43 years later. The Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965. Without this single piece of legislation, it is doubtful that Mr. Obama could have been elected. Without it, Johnson believed, America would not endure.
Here is a clip from President Johnson’s historic speech. His courageous, and controversial, determination to tear down the barriers between the races and bring the African-American community into the governance of their nation can never be overstated. He would have been very proud to see an African-American member of his great Democratic party elected to the Presidency yesterday. And Americans can be very proud of President Johnson’s role in the soon-to-be 44th President’s success.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxEauRq1WxQ
