http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3391367You know, I forgot.
Today is the 40th anniversary of something, but there aren't as many RFK bonfires on Skins's island as one anticipated there would be. This isn't one of them, but before I went up to this bonfire, I thought it was.
Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 02:21 PM
Original message
“The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.â€
John Kennedy spoke those words in his inaugural address on January 20th, 1961. For far too long, that “torch†of hope, goodwill and human decency of which John Kennedy spoke, has been all but been extinguished by venal people of ill will.
Barak Obama is now the presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. The torch has once again been passed to, hopefully, a newly enlightened generation of Americans. For almost 30 years now, far too many people have voted for the worst aspects of their own natures and against their own well being. They have suppressed their own instincts of decency, morality and justice and given rein to those who have invoked fear and hatred.
Fear and hatred are the most powerful weapons in the Republican arsenal. And now, that's all they have left to offer. Republicans can’t get you to vote for them based on sane, rational reasons. They're stuck scaring the hell out of you with racial hatred and fear of all the “THEMS†in the world.
So here’s my plea. Don’t buy the snake oil they’re selling. -- “Obama is black.†“He’s a Muslim.†“He’s inexperienced.†“He’s not one of us.†“He doesn’t wear a flag pin.†“He and his wife are too uppity.†“He sips wine and lattes.†-- How can any sane, rational, thinking human being buy this blatant bullshit as a reason for voting against their own self-interests?
For those who dwell on the word “patriot,†it’s time to be one. Our country has been pillaged and raped by those who hijacked the word "patriotism" and used it for their own profit and power. Think about your family, yourself, your community, your country, and the well-being of the planet on which you live. And then, please, please, do the right thing in that voting booth this November.
Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. THAT new generation had it shot from their hands
JFK - assassinated
RFK - assassinated
MLK Jr. - assassinated
Malcom X - assassinated
Reagan - wounded...
And oops, a generation gap occurs, between baby boomer Oscar Wilde and a much younger primitive:
Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 02:34 PM
Response to Original message
4. Obama is a baby boomer, so just exactly how is "the torch being passed to a new generation"?
"In 2006, the oldest of the baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964, will turn 60 years old."
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archiv...
Obama was born in 1961. He is a baby boomer.
He may act younger, but then what could be more boomerish behavior from a member of the generation which has coined "sixty is the new fifty," etc., etc., etc. ?
Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 02:41 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. And your point is....?
Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 02:52 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. My point: The torch can hardly be passed to a new generation if the recipient is a member of the same generation as those passing it.
The "torch will be passed," which is at best a rather trite bit of symbolism left over from the Kennedy era when there really was a generational change in leadership, will only be passed this election cycle is McCain wins, at which time it will be passed to a member of a generation preceding the baby boomers.
Obama is a baby boomer, and I trust he is comfortable with that truth, not trying to pretend he's something he's not. I wish more of his followers were.
The elder Oscar Wilde gets a little upset, like he got when his cat pissed on him.
Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 03:09 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. "... the torch will be passed," -- "... a rather trite bit of symbolism ..." ???
I have read your post four times and I really don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about.
"Baby boomers -- generation preceding baby boomers -- will only be passed if McCain wins." I didn't have a three martini lunch, but in all truth, I'm reading your post as though I had.
WTF are you talking about? What is your point?
And most of all, why do I get the feeling that your post implies that Obama does not represent "a new generation of Americans?" And by "generation," I'm not talking about age. I'm talking about attitude, intelligent thought, and moving on from the horrors that have been visited upon us since the day Ronald Reagan infected the White House.
Is this about the just passed primary campaign? If not, I once again ask, what are you talking about???
Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 03:32 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Your Kennedy era quote references a real generational change in leadership in American history. It has been over used -- and misused, as in this case-- so often as to have become trite.
McCain is not a baby boomer. If the leadership of this country is passed to him, the torch will be passed back to an earlier generation.
Obama is a baby boomer. There will be no generational change in leadership if he is elected.
If you feel this particular baby boomer represents the thoughts of another generation, fine. But HE is still a baby boomer.
If he is going to represent the thought of another generation, baby boomer though he may be, I personally would hope he'd go back to that of the founding fathers. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have been shredded, the so-called "Patriot" Act renewed and the balance of powers upon which the Republic was founded has been eroded, if not destroyed.
But then he voted for the renewal of the "Patriot" Act, so I guess that would be a bit much to hope for.
Cyrano Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 04:27 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. Kennedy's reference was to generations that spanned our country from founding fathers, civil war opponents, the Jim Crow era, the "Greatest Generation," and all the other landmark eras I left out.
He wasn't talking about Hippies, Yuppies, Baby Boomers, Generational Xers, or any other short-term snapshot of history. He was talking about America as it was, has been and will be over the long term.
And that's exactly what my original post was about.
Benhurst Donating Member (1000+ posts) Thu Jun-05-08 04:42 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. You'd better go back and read your history, assuming you weren't old enough to have lived during the Kennedy era. Kennedy was talking about HIS generation picking up the torch from the generation which had led us through the depression and WWII. It was a literal transition from the generation of Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower to his generation, the generation which as young men had fought WWII.
Oh my. One can see Oscar Wilde reaching inside his lace cuffs for a hand-embroidered handkerchief.
