Then the Hopeful One said:
‘Tonight the state of our Union is strong - and together we will make it stronger.’
We have officially transitioned from an Ownership society to a Hopeful society. When most of us are not in a position to own anything, the next best thing is to hope to own something! Who said that the Hopeful One lives in a bubble and doesn’t understand reality?
Heavy hints from senior White House staffers had already alerted us not to expect too many specifics; they wanted to sell optimism as an American value and sell they did! It is always said that the tone is more important than substance. Senior advisor, Dan Bartlett had said earlier in a morning show: “He (Bush) is very optimistic about the future of our country. Because he’s optimistic about the American people.”
Do we dare ask how much of his characterization of the reality of the world matches with true reality? Does it actually matter, given the Hopeful One’s capacity to make such questions completely irrelevant. Don’t blame the bubble or the evil genius, Karl. When you are hopeful, how could anything look not rosy or at least, on its way to rosiness? Even with toned down rhetoric tempered by fiscal and political realities, there was plenty of rosiness to go around.
From the pulpit, the Hopeful One declared: ‘in recent years, America has become a more hopeful Nation’, signaling officially the transition to a hopeful society.
Then he went on to list features of a hopeful society.
A hopeful society depends on courts that deliver equal justice under law.
A hopeful society has institutions of science and medicine that do not cut ethical corners, and that recognize the matchless value of every life.
A hopeful society expects elected officials to uphold the public trust.
A hopeful society gives special attention to children who lack direction and love.
A hopeful society comes to the aid of fellow citizens in times of suffering and emergency - and stays at it until they are back on their feet.
A hopeful society acts boldly to fight diseases like HIV/AIDS, which can be prevented, and treated, and defeated.
This ain’t look like no country that I live in, but hey I am also hopeful!
While selling hope, the Woodrow Wilsonisque Hopeful One didn’t forget his core values. Freedom got its due and so did the virtue of making hard choices. But today, the Hopeful One also turned his attention to history and declared: Man makes history! Karl (Marx), take note of the pronouncement! The Hopeful One also wants to lead freedom’s advance and global economy; renew moral commitments and write history with his (and America’s) courage, so that historians shall merely reconstruct it.
And sometimes it can seem that history is turning in a wide arc, toward an unknown shore. Yet the destination of history is determined by human action, and every great movement of history comes to a point of choosing. …. No one can deny the success of freedom, but some men rage and fight against it. And one of the main sources of reaction and opposition is radical Islam - the perversion by a few of a noble faith into an ideology of terror and death.
Sure, there are those evil few and then there are challenges of keeping America secure, competitive and prosperous but, repeat after me, hope is a good thing:
As we look at these challenges, we must never give in to the belief that America is in decline, or that our culture is doomed to unravel. The American people know better than that. We have proven the pessimists wrong before - and we will do it again.
Not only is the Hopeful One hopeful of facing these challenges here at home but also spread some cheer and compassion abroad:
We show compassion abroad because Americans believe in the God-given dignity and worth of a villager with HIV/AIDS, or an infant with malaria, or a refugee fleeing genocide, or a young girl sold into slavery. We also show compassion abroad because regions overwhelmed by poverty, corruption, and despair are sources of terrorism, organized crime, human trafficking, and the drug trade.
So absorbed was the Hopeful One in his hope selling project, he just had time to lay out two new initiatives - the Tom Friedman solutions to solve all of America’s problems - energy independence initiative, to reduce dependence on Middle East oil and science and math initiative, to make American school kids do as well as Indian and Chinese kids in math and science.
Tonight I propose to train 70,000 high school teachers, to lead advanced-placement courses in math and science, bring 30,000 math and science professionals to teach in classrooms and give early help to students who struggle with math, so they have a better chance at good, high-wage jobs.
Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. …. So tonight I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative — a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy to push for breakthroughs in two vital areas. To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants; revolutionary solar and wind technologies; and clean, safe nuclear energy. …. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum- based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.
For all the speech writing talent at White House’s disposal, this address looked like a powerpoint speech, full of bullet points, easily reproduceable and digestable sound bytes. Perhaps appropriate for the audience that the Hopeful One addressed.
Yet one question remains: how do we get from applause lines and (powerpoint) bullet points to policy initiatives, that might actually make a difference in people’s lives?
It ain’t about what (or how) he said whatever he said. Is he gonna do a damn thing?
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