Possibly My Favorite Lines of the Speech

Posted on 01/28/2010 at 8:45 am by Bob Cesca

I campaigned on the promise of change – change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren’t sure if they still believe we can change – or at least, that I can deliver it.

But remember this – I never suggested that change would be easy, or that I can do it alone.

That’s right. He didn’t. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” I think was the line. But dovetailing with what I wrote yesterday, I think progressives were out-hustled this past year. It should’ve been the progressive movement barnstorming the town hall meetings in August — demanding a robust public option or even single-payer. We were caught off guard in Massachusetts, too.

We’re never going to win — we’re never going to move the country to the left unless we’re on the ground changing minds. Door to door if need be.

Having a friendly (or friendlier) government in place ought to empower us to be able to do more. Instead, we’re screaming at the friendly (or friendlier) government about relatively trivial things like Jon Gruber and whatever the hell we’re investigating Rahm Emanuel for. Sure, in a vacuum, they might warrant some attention. But not in the context of the serious challenges we’re confronting every day.

Ultimately, politicians go where the voters are, and we need those voters to be influenced by progressive ideas. And we missed out on some golden opportunities to influence that kind of change.

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  • http://politicalpartypooper.wordpress.com/ Political Party Pooper

    My favorite line was “I’m not walkin’ away” from health “insurance” reform.He threw down the gauntlet. He shamed Democrats. He shamed Republicans. And with that statement, he proved why he connects so well with Independents.It’s all about doing the right thing with this President. You see, we don’t really give a shit about your ideologies. Just do the right thing, no matter what, no matter how much it costs or whether you lose the next election.If Democrats were to hit their townhalls and campaign trails with this slogan alone, they would dominate the 2010 elections, because it speaks to Independents.”We’re going to do the right thing, no matter what. Even if it costs us an election, we are going to do the right thing for the American people”.Read your history. FDR won America with this kind of sloganeering, not necessarily in those exact words, but his moral high ground made him almost unassailable.

  • camel54

    PPP’s dead right. Instead of progressives attacking each other and attacking the president (like sadly they are doing in full force today regarding the speech), they (we) need to be creating a messaging onslaught repeating that point–we’re doing health care reform because it’s right. We’re spending on jobs because it’s right, etc.More than that, though, we need to show the images of the Republicans not even clapping for the things they support just because they won’t give Obama the satisfaction of agreeing. We need to point out the ludicrousness of things like McCain’s 12 trillion dollar budget snafu. The message needs to be repeated with breath from now until Obama is in his 2nd term.BTW, interesting tidbit, our ultra conservative, Republican congressman JJ Duncan from Knoxville, TN, stood and clapped for the president repeatedly last night. It made me proud even if I loathe everything he believes in.

  • Irish Girl

    More on this point, did you see John Stewart last night (or maybe night before)? His opening was about how Democrats are caving into Rethug pressure to move to the center….which, as John points out, is abandoning many of the most important Progressive legislative goals. Check it out….John’s use of “they’re never going to let you in the car” from Wonder Years and the new proposed symbol for the Dems (a dead possum) are CLASSIC

  • idabamaho

    What a love fest:”we’re doing health care reform because it’s right.”…and we’ll do this by letting the health industry write the reform bill. Um yeah.

  • Terypat

    He can’t do it alone says he. Well, maybe that’s why we elected a bunch of Democrats to help him. What else does HE want?????

  • eljefejeff

    well tery, when those democrats are siding with republicans, there isn’t a whole lot Obama can do about it.He also frequently spoke during the campaign that he will not get everything done in 1 year or even 1 term. He kept saying how hard this would be. We know how Washington works. And yet people are surprised that he hasn’t totally socialized us within 1 year.He could’ve done a better job leading. He admits that. At least he’s on our side.

  • DrMindcrime

    Please…. the public option was massively popular almost 70% at one point I believe. Almost half of those who show up as anti-healthcare in these polls when questioned more closely… feel that the current bill doesn’t go far enough. Yet the public option is the first thing sacrificed. Don’t tell me it’s raining when you’re simply… you know the rest.