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Monday, May 12, 2008

"The Change I Wish To Be"

I received this reply to my post: McCain for President; Obama for GQ Model.

I will be proudly voting for the candidate who inspires me to be the change I wish to be.

This was written by someone who announced they were an “Obama Republican” who posts on FreeRepublic.

A few thoughts on this brief reply.

“….inspires me to be the change…”? Change is not something you are, it’s a process. It a verb, not a noun. But it’s all of a piece with all of the other vacuous, meaningless slogans that come from the Obama camp like “We are the people we have been looking for” or “change we can believe in.”

On the Obama campaign website the headline says
“I’m asking you to believe…not just about my ability to bring about real change in Washington … I’m asking you to believe in yours.”
What does this mean? Really, what does this bit of sophomoric sloganeering mean?

“Change, hope and the future?” These are virtually classic slogans that mean nothing … and everything. It’s a fill-in-the-blanks slogan where anyone can superimpose their own meanings. But everyone is not running for president and only one person can be president, so it’s critically important to understand what changes Obama plans to make, what he hopes to do and what he sees the future to be.

But since we really don’t know, all the clues we have about Obama and his actual beliefs and plans are the ideas he has espoused and the people he has surrounded himself with. That is what is so disturbing about finding the Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers were important to him. If these are the people who helped shape Obama, I doubt that “Obama Republican” will be pleased when he or she finds that the future is not “…the change I wish to be.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it is that fill-in-the-blanks optimism that is so endearing to me.

I dunno, when I listen to Obama speak, I immediately think of Reagan, another man who inspired me to be the change I wish to see.

-Republican Freeper proudly supporting Obama

Moneyrunner said...

What in the world does it mean to "be" the "change I wish to see?"

Are you waiting to change yourself? Why wait on a Presidential election? Why are you unhappy with yourself?

Is change in and of itself good? Break a leg, get cancer or HIV, give away all your possessions and move to Haiti and eat cakes made of mud. These are all changes you can make but I suspect that you would reject them all.

All of the great revolutions of the 20th century promised change. The Russian revolution promised peace, bread and land to a war weary people. All changes that the people wanted. It's not what they got. Be careful what you wish for and for whose slogans you fall.

Was Reagan really a man who spoke in fill-in-the blanks slogans? Does wanting to defeat the Soviet Union really have so many interpretations? Does getting the government out of the way of people and letting them do their own thing equate with creating more government programs that fail?

There are other ways of treating mental and emotional problems than politics. Look within yourself and determine what changes you want to make and then go ahead; don't wait. You can get a head start and won't have to wait until January 2009.

Anonymous said...

Being the change I wish to see means I cannot wait for others to instill change in the community, I must be proactive.

I can pray every Sunday but I can only make a difference if I am doing the Lord's work Monday through Saturday.

Perhaps my support for Obama is borne from naivete of being a born-again Christian, but I was born-again when I supported Reagan as well.

I don't understand the last paragraph, it seems to be an unChristian insult that I think is inappropriate to use, and belittles the sacrifices of our troops and the toll this pointless war has taken on them physically and mentally.

They are my favorite example of being the change we wish to see!