Loads of Articles out there on Obama saying 'Stop complainin'

[PurgedVoter]

Everywhere I look I see more articles about Obama saying 'Stop Complaining!'

Gee wiz, from all the articles, it sure sounds like he is telling black people to shut up. Do journalists and pundits ever take the time to get the facts straight anymore? This is freaking disgusting. If any one of the numerous herd watched the speech, they might have a clue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swlaZJ2RbBw&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

He is not saying shut up. He is saying to quit complaining and do something. He is saying march, protest, work for what is right, and of course, support his jobs bill.

Was this his best speech? No, not by a long shot. Did he use the best words for the audience he was addressing? No, not by a long shot. Did he even slightly infer the meaning that all the articles are implying he meant? No, not by a long shot.

I miss good journalism. You know the type where a reporter or commenter or talking head, used to take the 30 freaking minutes it take to actually hear a speech, and then writing an article instead of just reading three other reporters article and regurgitating and somehow validating the nonsense spewed before them. Here they are, with a career in journalism and they can't be bothered to know that their source is lazy or lying just like they are. If you can't be bothered to get a clue then all you have is an opinion. Well apparently, there are a lot of opinionated bastards in journalism without any real basis to what they say. All these jerks want us to think Obama is telling blacks to shut up. Not one of them has taken the time to find out what Obama means, meant or is trying to do.

If you are going to attack Obama, do it with honesty. Don't twist his words.

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "He is saying march, protest, work for what is right"

Those are the actions you take in order to influence our elected leaders to do the right thing.

When those leaders turn around and say "make me" then all is lost.

[SixthSense]

4. He still doesn't seem to get it

when you are President of the United States of America, you are "The Man"

the fight-the-power meme doesn't really work all that well when the power is you

[emulatorloo]

7. Hate to break it too you, but there are lots of Republicans in Congress that need to be influenced

to do the right thing. For example, Republicans are obsessed with not raising taxes on the rich.

[proverbialwisdom]

2. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/26-3

Published on Monday, September 26, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

The Arc of the Moral Universe

Justice May Be Just Around the Bend

by Randall Amster

<...> Interestingly, this potent historical phrase referencing the moral arc has been described as “Barack Obama’s favorite quotation.” On April 4, 2008, the 40th anniversary of King’s assassination, then-Senator Obama declared: “Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. It bends towards justice, but here is the thing: it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice.” And in June of 2009, President Obama again invoked the phrase in support of the “universal rights to assembly and free speech” being exercised by demonstrators in Iran.

So now what? Obama seemingly gets it, at least rhetorically, yet still we find ourselves steadily descending into moral oblivion rather than ascending on the arc of justice. In a recent article asking “What Happened to Obama?” Drew Westen eloquently spells out the conundrum:

When Dr. King spoke of the great arc bending toward justice, he did not mean that we should wait for it to bend. He exhorted others to put their full weight behind it, and he gave his life speaking with a voice that cut through the blistering force of water cannons and the gnashing teeth of police dogs…. But the arc of history does not bend toward justice through capitulation cast as compromise. It does not bend when 400 people control more of the wealth than 150 million of their fellow Americans. It does not bend when the average middle-class family has seen its income stagnate over the last 30 years while the richest 1 percent has seen its income rise astronomically. It does not bend when we cut the fixed incomes of our parents and grandparents so hedge fund managers can keep their 15 percent tax rates. It does not bend when only one side in negotiations between workers and their bosses is allowed representation. And it does not bend when, as political scientists have shown, it is not public opinion but the opinions of the wealthy that predict the votes of the Senate. The arc of history can bend only so far before it breaks.

Westen’s stark prose is an effective statement of the tenor of these angst-ridden times. Yet while it rightly reflects the proactive sense in which we must be participants in destiny rather than mere observers, it also makes a strategic miscalculation in assuming that the force of the entrenched “powers that be” can somehow use economic coercion and political chicanery to forestall the advance of justice in the long run of human and/or natural affairs.

King (and Parker before him) did not promise immediate returns on our activist investment in the service of righteousness; indeed, things didn’t get to be this way overnight, and it will take a long time — even an eternity, perhaps — to set it right again. In this sense, justice is asymptotic, something to be forever and vigilantly pursued without regard for its ultimate realization. Still, as we continue to work toward it and increasingly approach its arc, we can see it begin to infuse our relationships with one another and with the balance of existence as a whole.

<...>

[OHdem10]

3. This is the MOST PERFECT EXAMPLE of how the Media operates:

Conflict is their watch word. Take any big or small story
and they go over it--seeking where there MIGHT BE a potential
for conflict. If or if not there is conflict they work
to create it. Of course, I did not hear the speech but
I will bet money there was an overall message that would
have been good for Americans to hear. They (Media) never
focus on the "meat and potatoes of the speech. They seek
points which if raised could potentially raise conflict.

This is an example of why the Media got such a sorry
rating in the recent polls. Can you believe more Americans
believe our Media hurts Democracy more than helps it. This
poll was reported in the last few days on MSNBC .

[loyalsister]

5. He was talking to leaders

who represent people. Not the people themselves. Big difference and I think appropriate coming from a boss to local leadership.

[emulatorloo]

6. Agreed, and I am wondering about all these desperate attempts to spin this negatively.

The CBC applauded the speech.

[mfcorey1]

8. eMuch ado about nothing. Nitpicking at its worse. nt