Peaceful Resistance

This section of the speech was possibly my favorite.

Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America’s founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It’s a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That is not how moral authority is claimed; that is how it is surrendered.

No other president, so far, could make these words resonate quite like this president.

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  • http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/bird/flamingo/honolulu/flamingo01.jpg veralynn

    I haven’t heard the entire speech, nor have I read the entire speech. So far, I agree Bob. I cannot wait to read it this weekend.

  • http://homepage.mac.com/wildlifeweb/bird/flamingo/honolulu/flamingo01.jpg veralynn

    I haven’t heard the entire speech, nor have I read the entire speech. So far, I agree Bob. I cannot wait to read it this weekend.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    Yeah, I loved those lines. I watched it live as I was sweating my balls off on a treadmill.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    Yeah, I loved those lines. I watched it live as I was sweating my balls off on a treadmill.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    I want to add that I also watched Savannah Guthrie’s BRILLIANT post speech analysis.”It was a wonky policy speech.”Um, no. No, it wasn’t.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    I want to add that I also watched Savannah Guthrie’s BRILLIANT post speech analysis.”It was a wonky policy speech.”Um, no. No, it wasn’t.

  • thespacecowboy

    Almost seems the same logic could be used for the US attacking Iraq.(Damn you Lee Stranahan for making me make this type of connection!)

  • thespacecowboy

    Almost seems the same logic could be used for the US attacking Iraq.(Damn you Lee Stranahan for making me make this type of connection!)

  • shaddomagg

    This resonates because he is credible…whether from his own life experience, or the perception of the experiences of black people in the US. As, first a Canadian (ie: not an American), but secondly a “world citizen”, this has drawn a line. Like Bush’s “either your with us or against us” was fear and war mongering, this is the same message, but it points to the harder road of peace. Either Israel and the rest of the mid-East is for peace or its against it. I’m eagerly waiting to see how this plays out!

  • shaddomagg

    This resonates because he is credible…whether from his own life experience, or the perception of the experiences of black people in the US. As, first a Canadian (ie: not an American), but secondly a “world citizen”, this has drawn a line. Like Bush’s “either your with us or against us” was fear and war mongering, this is the same message, but it points to the harder road of peace. Either Israel and the rest of the mid-East is for peace or its against it. I’m eagerly waiting to see how this plays out!

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    I’m listening to Mike Malloy for the first time in months specifically because I knew he was going to be outraged that Obama wanted Arabs to regard Jews as human beings. He is killing me right now.FIGHT, KILL, FIGHT, BATHE IN THEIR BLOOD! ONWARD!What a fucking lunatic.

  • http://www.sigzone.blogspot.com MG

    I’m listening to Mike Malloy for the first time in months specifically because I knew he was going to be outraged that Obama wanted Arabs to regard Jews as human beings. He is killing me right now.FIGHT, KILL, FIGHT, BATHE IN THEIR BLOOD! ONWARD!What a fucking lunatic.

  • http://zirgar.blogspot.com ZIRGAR

    Mr. Obama’s background and personal history do lend some real gravitas and credence to this statement. This is a perfect example of how someone’s background informs what they see as relevant to the rule of law, kind a like what Ms. Sotomayor was really saying in her speech.

  • http://zirgar.blogspot.com ZIRGAR

    Mr. Obama’s background and personal history do lend some real gravitas and credence to this statement. This is a perfect example of how someone’s background informs what they see as relevant to the rule of law, kind a like what Ms. Sotomayor was really saying in her speech.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    I could hear Cheney muttering in the dark when Obama said that.

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    I could hear Cheney muttering in the dark when Obama said that.

  • http://www.carprepinc.com Oblio

    Jeez… you just gotta admire this president. Talk about slings and arrows — he keeps doing and saying the right things, and it puts up a force field, deflecting the crap. There’s (hopefully) going to be a point about a year from now when the bloviators are just going to shut the hell up and start clawing their own eyes out. What a country!

  • http://www.carprepinc.com Oblio

    Jeez… you just gotta admire this president. Talk about slings and arrows — he keeps doing and saying the right things, and it puts up a force field, deflecting the crap. There’s (hopefully) going to be a point about a year from now when the bloviators are just going to shut the hell up and start clawing their own eyes out. What a country!

  • http://manifestpolitics.com manifest

    Yeah, wow. That is profound. Thanks.

  • http://manifestpolitics.com manifest

    Yeah, wow. That is profound. Thanks.

  • http://www.aconsciousoutpost.blogspot.com Ron

    I must admit, I am one of those that have been quite disappointed in much so far in this administration. This speech however was spot on. Fantastic. This is the kind of stuff I voted for.

  • http://www.aconsciousoutpost.blogspot.com Ron

    I must admit, I am one of those that have been quite disappointed in much so far in this administration. This speech however was spot on. Fantastic. This is the kind of stuff I voted for.

  • Jay Dee

    I admit I would be more impressed if he had called upon BOTH SIDES in the conflict to renounce violence as a means to an end. Especially since the side not referred to commits by far the greater degree of violence. But I am still glad to hear new language coming from Washington on this topic.

  • Jay Dee

    I admit I would be more impressed if he had called upon BOTH SIDES in the conflict to renounce violence as a means to an end. Especially since the side not referred to commits by far the greater degree of violence. But I am still glad to hear new language coming from Washington on this topic.