Sunday, December 07, 2008
Refreshing
Listening to Obama's news conferences and TV appearances this week... Plain talk is extremely refreshing.
For the last twenty years we've had atrocious communication by our national leaders.
Bush Junior, of course, is brain-damaged and can't speak English at all; worse, he apparently told his spokesmen to avoid speaking English. We've heard nothing understandable from any of them, no evidence that anyone in DC grasps reality.
Bill Clinton is an excellent communicator when he chooses, but he chose instead to play cutesy word games. As a fan of grammar and semantics, I enjoyed his parsing exercises, enjoyed finding the seven hidden meanings under each phrase, but as a citizen I hated the lack of believable information.
Bush Senior could speak English but lacked basic teaching and selling talents. He treated us like children who couldn't be trusted to hear the truth; treated us as low-level subordinates who had no "need to know".
Polistra has been begging and pleading from the start: Just tell us what you're doing and why. We're smart enough and mature enough to understand, and to sacrifice when needed. But we are also mature enough to need a reason for the sacrifice. Treat us as adults, and we'll respond like adults.
Obama is finally doing what any good leader should do, and it's damned fine. ¶ 3:16 PM
For the last twenty years we've had atrocious communication by our national leaders.
Bush Junior, of course, is brain-damaged and can't speak English at all; worse, he apparently told his spokesmen to avoid speaking English. We've heard nothing understandable from any of them, no evidence that anyone in DC grasps reality.
Bill Clinton is an excellent communicator when he chooses, but he chose instead to play cutesy word games. As a fan of grammar and semantics, I enjoyed his parsing exercises, enjoyed finding the seven hidden meanings under each phrase, but as a citizen I hated the lack of believable information.
Bush Senior could speak English but lacked basic teaching and selling talents. He treated us like children who couldn't be trusted to hear the truth; treated us as low-level subordinates who had no "need to know".
Polistra has been begging and pleading from the start: Just tell us what you're doing and why. We're smart enough and mature enough to understand, and to sacrifice when needed. But we are also mature enough to need a reason for the sacrifice. Treat us as adults, and we'll respond like adults.
Obama is finally doing what any good leader should do, and it's damned fine. ¶ 3:16 PM
