What do you think of Obama's speech?

[FelipesMom]

What do you think of Obama's Nobel acceptance speech today in Oslo? He talked alot about "just wars," and said sometimes violence is necessary, and even said that there is evil in the world. Do you think this is a turning point for him, a signal that he is moving away from negotiations? Do you think this kind of talk was appropriate for a peace prize acceptance speech? Any other thoughts, from this stuff or from any other part of the speech?

**I am posting this in my journal so I don't have to deal with the vicious attacks that often occur in the answers section. PLEASE be respectful to each other. Of course we are all free to disagree with others, but do NOT make disrespectful remarks towards another mama. Thank you.**

[mb_dolphin]

Dec. 10, 2009 at 11:58 AM

hey mama, do you have a link where i could get the text or watch the speech? unfortunately, i missed it, but would love to discuss this topic!

[FelipesMom]

Dec. 10, 2009 at 12:27 PM

I heard a discussion about it on NPR. I am sure www.npr.org would have the story, and probably a link to the text.

(Original Poster)

[mb_dolphin]

Dec. 10, 2009 at 6:29 PM

listening to the npr story now. :D

[Imamom4sure]

Dec. 14, 2009 at 2:39 AM

Obama always said even while campaigning that he would declare war on afganastan

something I disagreed with, and almost didn't vote for him over.

I really wish that Kuchinich won the primary!

[mb_dolphin]

Dec. 14, 2009 at 1:40 PM

disappointing.... but i'm an idealist... i was surprised the npr folks didn't have more to say about it, seems like to them he can do no wrong... and i support obama big time, but it has been a misgiving the whole time, that he isn't more anti-war. i don't think war could ever be just, nor do i think evil is a good way to conceptualize any aspect of our world. violence should never be used, and just because it has doesn't mean we have to continue... idk i am an idealist again. but i do think it was a ballsy thing to say while accepting the nobel, wow. i think the thing that rankled me the most was how he quoted king and gandhi and then turned around and said "but". sorry, but i am a true believer in passive resistance, civil disobedience, i do not think that what obama said is true, that there are "just some things" that you can't deal with that way- we have never even tried!!! i thought that was in bad taste- i think of king and gandhi as prophets and i think it is awfully bold of someone (even if he is the president) to say that those men were wrong. what did you think, leticia?

[FelipesMom]

Dec. 15, 2009 at 11:53 AM

I agree about the King and Gandhi references. I think, from the point of view of a speech critic, maybe it was brilliant, b/c otherwise they might have been the elephant in the room. But really, I'm not interested in whether or not he did a good job, I'm interested in the content of what he said. I was pretty floored by the summary I hear on NPR - there is evil in the world, just war, etc?!?! One thing that I did think made sense was when an analyst said "Obama is not a pacifist. The president of the United States cannot be a pacifist." I can see that - but it doesn't change my ideals, ideals that I would like to see our country and our leader striving towards, and even if he can't be a pacifist, or feels he has to send in more troops to end an unjust war that he inherited, I still think there is room for a little more striving-for-peace than what I heard in his speech. *sigh* Honestly I haven't been paying as much attention, out of disillusionment, but I was kind of assuming Obama was hanging around NOT addressing certain things as much as he should - sort of a passive way of not being the best president he could be. Whereas this speech, like a slap in the face or a burts of cold water, has left me much more deeply disappointed in him as president.

(Original Poster)