I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.Compare and contrast.
That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
- President Barack Obama, 1/12/11
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1 comment:
At least half of what Palin said was decent and supportive, but of course a big chunk of what she said was a somewhat silly defence of her behavior, or an attack on other groups.
The contrast is Obama spent his whole speech eulogizing the dead and praising the heroes in this incident. He did not even suggest any sort of policy that I heard for national mental health policy or limited gun control, such as bringing back the assault weapon ban. It made Obama seem less political, but he may be risking missing an opportunity (right, Rahm?).
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