Just Words, Part 2

What is the value of words?

Sen. Barack Obama defended the value of words recently with a "line" given to him by Gov. Deval Patrick: “Don’t tell me words don’t matter. ‘I have a dream’—just words? ‘We the people hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’—just words? ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’—just words? Just speeches?”

Sen. Obama often quotes great men, giants of humanity like Martin Luther King, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, men like our nation's founding fathers. Were their words, just words? Oh no, not hardly, these are the words of men, who risked their very lives for the ideals and principles their words represented. Men who faced down tyranny and hatred, faced down muskets and Japanese destroyers in the horror of bloody war and battle, faced down firehoses and billy clubs, with the courage and conviction to not only speak those words but heroically defend the principles they espoused, principles such as freedom and equality. Their words have value and meaning and resonance because of who they were, what they'd risked, what they sacrificed, what they'd achieved, and what they fought for. No those men, their words weren't merely eloquent and inspiring. They weren't merely words. Sen. Obama is correct about that. Those men's words were the embodiment of all that is fine and noble in the human species. Their words are as heavy and as solid the as freedom they represented.

When John F. Kennedy wrote Profiles In Courage, it wasn't fine merely because of the eloquence of the words, but because of the valor and sacrifices he'd made on behalf of the ideas his words embodied. When Dr. King made speeches, those speeches were anchored with the mighty weight of unflinching courage, in bold defiance of oppression and prejudice. The very speaking of these words subjected him to jeapordy, as did the founding fathers' words.

These men's words Sen. Obama quotes weren't vague or manipulative or self-serving or hollow, and quoting the words of great men, doesn't make one great, or right, or noble, or worthy by association. Those things must be earned, as they earned them.

So yes, words matter, but not merely the words themselves, but the men who speak them matter just as much. Perhaps one day Sen. Obama's words will have earned that stature, but not yet.

I don't know why this is such a big deal. Obama and Patrick are old friends. Heck, if my best friend used a joke I made up (original not repeated), I would feel flattered.

Now, if he had done this with someone he did not know, and did not give credit, then I would be miffed. Friends copy each other all the time. It demonstrates that they have things in common.

He could have qualified it with, "As my good friend from Mass. pointed out,..." and we wouldn't even be talking about it. Besides, legally plagiarism only applies if the originator of the intellectual property does not give permission, as Patrick obviously did.

ohhh i see so Obama thinks its no big deal to use Patricks words because he has been using them for years now...huh..
and his economic plan in which he lifted the 5 million green jobs from Hillary Clinton ? and his WI win speech last night in which he refd MLK and then riffed the we cannot afford to wait from the Letter from the Birmingham Jail, so basically his candidacy is based on his ability to lift useful ideas from other successful people..why not just elect an actual thinker, Clinton 08

Wait a minute. Are we really about to give Barack Hussein Obama access to nuclear weapons?

Obama is a Socialist and a Marxist. His Houston Office has a cuban flag with Che imposed on it. I think that should worry people even Democrats.

Obama was and is a social worker, who worked for the poorest and more important motivated others to do so. That is his energy, to motivate others to do something for the better. If you really read his record you would realize that he's a cool dude. Before Obama was on the scene nearly everybody was for Hillary.
To switch to Obama, you have to change your mind. The more education you have, the more you realize that you have to change your mind very often, because thats a major part in the learning process. So, you are more open to consider another path, but only after getting the facts.

Heck, Mike, I can't let that one pass. Most because working class stiffs like me know crap when we hear it. Sometimes its hard to pay the bills for people like me so we tend to look for substance over rhetoric because it affects us here in the real world. BTW I've been a fighter pilot on good nights at various watering holes. So I do recognize crap when I hear it as I've used it ofter enough.

Really, if I type they squeak so much, it's horrible. bye bye to may Hillabot counterimages. Oil Oil

I was an Edwards supporter first...lol

See ya Mike. I've got to go too. I like arguing politics so I'm glad someone was actually willing to do a little back and forth. You were a formidable foe. LOL I still think you need to put down the Obama Kool Aid but I can see thats not going to happen. LOL Later man.

Harley, maybe some of these votes would have been Edwards.

See ya Will! Keep the Obamabots on their toes!

Actually I have to get some oil to grease my joints.

Obamabots need oil.

Michigan could be settled by giving Obama the 300,000 undecided voters that voted that way because Obama didn't want to put his name on the ballet to avoid it looking like a loose.

Muzza, Harley, Wil : Why do the better educated voters go more for Obama ? Are they also "empty suits" ?

Sorry, Harley, Mike, I have to get moving. Talk to you all later.

But yeah I agree that there should be some kinda solution so the delegates are seated. I think Hillary wins the state in a PRIMARY re-do but in caucuses, I think all the college students with no jobs that have been winning caucus states for Obama shouldn't speak for a whole state. I hope Hillary goes to all the caucus states conventions and steals delegates away from Obama like he stole the caucuses with his non working supporters. And don't say thats not what they did. It's a fact that it was all young voters for Obama in those states.

I wouldn't mind a public election, but you can't vote for that, whoever the REAL candidate is. And in MI only Hill and Kucinic were on the Ballot, and thats really a bit unfair.

Harley, you are indeed a man of principle. I share your feelings.

Sorry Will....I can't vote for Obama. If he's the nominee I'm looking for a Bloomberg or gambling on McCain to get back on the real Straight Talk Express. I just can't vote for an empty suit.