Remember, American presidents must be men of the people, it is OUR union; even though it is a message from the president to Congress, who do not own the country. Darn that populace watching…oh wait, I’m one of them too. Anyways…
Over the years I have watch’d some of the 42nd and 43rd Presidents’ addresses, and so the 44th President deserv’d the same treatment. This nation is egalitarian! Correct? Much the analyses are made elsewhere, but this part stuck out to mine ears:
Abroad, America’s greatest source of strength has always been our ideals. The same is true at home. We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal, that no matter who you are or what you look like, if you abide by the law you should be protected by it; that if you adhere to our common values you should be treated no different than anyone else.
We must continually renew this promise. My Administration has a Civil Rights Division that is once again prosecuting civil rights violations[...]
To me, this passage is fascinating; it is near the conclusion mind you. Is the president a ‘Fifties’ conformist? You know, the stereotype from those films time-line wise that run into the early 1960s; believing that everyone should wear similar hats & ties, supports modified capitalism, prosecuting Communist party members, with thick glasses, slick’d hair, and believing in a rigid code of morality. Writers from the Conservative bent from Dinesh D’Souza towards David Brooks have seen America before the 1970s as having a collective morality to which all adher’d. It was in other words external; whereas to-day, publick ethics are internal, growing out from every singular conscience. That was the revolution of the Psychadelic Sixties, if it feels good, ‘I’ can do such, so long as no one else gets hurt, and past generations cannot tell ‘me’ to stop. But the current president wants to set up a universal standard for persons all to heed.
Garry Wills in Nixon Agonistes writes well about America’s supposèd covenent; to wit, freedom domestic and abroad exists because of an allegèd ought between the American state and peoples, to provide for existence. By this model, providèd that one goes along with the general path. International states, get in line, or else…just as citizens in the Unitèd States need to come quietly. This scheme was toss’d out by the radicals of the last fifty years. But the notions of the New Left seem to be falling away. Remember, this statement was made in the context of civil rights, it was not just in the context of eulogizing hard working Americans. Keep an eye looking for such Old Left paradigms.
Addendum: President Barack Obama seems to be proverbially drinking from the whole wine of the previous administration, all the way to the dregs metaphorically. Foreign intervention, is still on the table, so states this quotation also from near the end:
Even as we prosecute two wars, we are also confronting perhaps the greatest danger to the American people – the threat of nuclear weapons. I have embraced the vision of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan through a strategy that reverses the spread of these weapons, and seeks a world without them. To reduce our stockpiles and launchers, while ensuring our deterrent, the United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms control treaty in nearly two decades. And at April’s Nuclear Security Summit, we will bring forty-four nations together behind a clear goal: securing all vulnerable nuclear materials around the world in four years, so that they never fall into the hands of terrorists.
These diplomatic efforts have also strengthened our hand in dealing with those nations that insist on violating international agreements in pursuit of these weapons. That is why North Korea now faces increased isolation, and stronger sanctions – sanctions that are being vigorously enforced. That is why the international community is more united, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is more isolated. And as Iran’s leaders continue to ignore their obligations, there should be no doubt: they, too, will face growing consequences.
That is the leadership that we are providing – engagement that advances the common security and prosperity of all people. We are working through the G-20 to sustain a lasting global recovery. We are working with Muslim communities around the world to promote science, education and innovation. We have gone from a bystander to a leader in the fight against climate change. We are helping developing countries to feed themselves, and continuing the fight against HIV/AIDS. And we are launching a new initiative that will give us the capacity to respond faster and more effectively to bio-terrorism or an infectious disease – a plan that will counter threats at home, and strengthen public health abroad.
As we have for over sixty years, America takes these actions because our destiny is connected to those beyond our shores. But we also do it because it is right.[..]
