On the empty rhetoric front:
One of those moments came on September 11, 2001. Whether you lived in Manhattan or thousands of miles away in Colorado, you felt the pain and loss of that day not just as an individual, but as an American. You also felt pride – pride in the firefighters who rushed up the stairs while workers rushed down; pride in the police who provided comfort, and the neighbors who lent a hand; pride in your citizenship, and the tattered flag that flew at Ground Zero. That’s why Americans lined up to give blood.
One of the clearest examples of the masses acting in a way that made no logical sense, but which Obama here applauds, was demonstrated by those who lined up to give blood in the days following 9-11, since early on it was clear that individuals either died as a result of 9-11, or escaped. There was little need for blood.
Talk about feel good nothingness.
Obama then moves on to solving "the nation's problems":
That is why I am running for President. That is why I’m determined to reach out – not just to Democrats, but to Independents and Republicans who want to move in a new direction. And that is why I won’t just ask for your vote as a candidate – I will ask for your service and your active citizenship when I am President of the United States.
This will not be a call issued in one speech or one program – this will be a central cause of my presidency. We will ask Americans to serve. We will create new opportunities for Americans to serve. And we will direct that service to our most pressing national challenges.
So much for free markets. When you think, government solutions, i.e., "service", think government cafeterias, a waste land of blandness with no creativity or incentive for creativity. Obama, truly, wants to turn the country into a government cafeteria, where everyone "serves". He doesn't get it, but his call "to serve" is simply dissing free markets. he doesn't understand how the free markets work, or how they solve problems:
As President, I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots, and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their efforts connected to a common purpose. People of all ages, stations, and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem – they are the answer.
We’ll send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We’ll call on Americans to join an Energy Corps to conduct renewable energy and environmental cleanup projects in their neighborhoods. We’ll enlist veterans to help other vets find jobs and support, and to be there for our military families. And we’ll also grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered, and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. And we’ll use technology to connect people to service. We’ll expand USA Freedom Corps to create an online network where Americans can browse opportunities to volunteer. You’ll be able to search by category, time commitment, and skill sets; you’ll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities. This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda, and make their own change from the bottom up.
And when, he does talk about entrepreneurship. It is not about the brand new entrepreneur putting every penny he has into a project and being creative to get a project off the ground with limited funds. No, it is another diss of the free market with a proposal for Big Brother to decide who gets funds in a mix of non-profit funding, funding of the "chosen" in the private sector:
We also need to invest in ideas that can help us meet our common challenges, because more often than not, the next great social innovation won’t be generated by the government.
The non-profit sector employs 1 in 12 Americans and 115 nonprofits are launched every day. Yet while the federal government invests $7 billion in research and development for the private sector, there is no similar effort to support non-profit innovation. Meanwhile, there are ideas across America – in our inner cities and small towns; from college graduates, to seniors getting ready to retire – that could benefit millions of Americans if they’re given the chance to grow
As President, I will launch a new Social Investment Fund Network. It’s time to get the grass roots, the foundations, the faith-based organizations, the private sector and the government at the table so that we can learn from our own success stories. We’ll invest in ideas that work; leverage private sector dollars to encourage innovation; and expand successful programs to scale. Take a program like the Harlem Children’s Zone, which helps thousands of kids in New York through after-school activities, mentoring, and family support. We need to make that model work in different cities across America.
And then, of course, there is the indoctrination of the children:
Finally, we need to integrate service into education, so that young Americans are called upon and prepared to be active citizens.
Just as we teach math and writing, arts and athletics, we need to teach young Americans to take citizenship seriously. Study after study shows that students who serve do better in school, are more likely to go to college, and more likely to maintain that service as adults. So when I’m President, I will set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year. This means that by the time you graduate college, you’ll have done 17 weeks of service.
The entire nauseating speech can be read here.
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