Clearly speaking to anyone who suspects his leadership vs terrorism, Obama declared, "To those who would tear this world down – we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security – we support you."Likewise, I think McCain was speaking not only to his hard-working supporters but to the next administration and to the world when he said, "Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history."
As I said, the statements came near the end of both addresses where speakers are wise to make the points they really want the audience to retain.
3 comments:
You're right--I do remember them both ending that way. Good point.
Thanks, John ... but I should have added that both statements, particularly McCain's, may reveal a US trait that has become painfully overbearing in recent years. That trait is arrogance.
So when Obama says "we will defeat" those who would "tear this world down," I hope he means, by "we," not just an all-powerful America but all right-thinking peoples and nations.
And when McCain says, "We never quit. We never surrender," it doesn't mean that we shouldn't change a disastrous strategy in order to win an ultimate victory. This is a man, after all, who himself once had to surrender, but who survived to fight another day.
I think the arrogance quotient in the Oval Office is due for a downward adjustment in coming weeks. Not all the way down to zero, mind you, but at least lower than it's been. At least Obama's people are unlikely to assert, as a Bush aide did once famously observe to a reporter, that "we're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
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