GoldbergBlog

A Triumphant Call to Vague Places and Unknown Solutions

59 days after the explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the resulting spill into the gulf coast, Obama addressed the nation from the Oval Office on this crisis.  When The Huffington Post and MSNBC are saying Obama’s speech sucked, you know it sucked.  It was a bad speech that called for commissions and studies, cited statistics without sources, ignored the stalled energy bill in the Senate, and then just went straight for platitudes with not a single specific plan for the future.

Here are two portions of the speech worth calling out:

And yet, time and again, we have refused to settle for the paltry limits of conventional wisdom. Instead, what has defined us as a nation since our founding is our capacity to shape our destiny – our determination to fight for the America we want for our children. Even if we’re unsure exactly what that looks like. Even if we don’t yet know precisely how to get there. We know we’ll get there.

So to clarify: someday we’re going to get to a place even though we have no idea what that place looks like.  Tremendous.

Each year, at the beginning of shrimping season, the region’s fishermen take part in a tradition that was brought to America long ago by fishing immigrants from Europe. It’s called “The Blessing of the Fleet,” and today it’s a celebration where clergy from different religions gather to say a prayer for the safety and success of the men and women who will soon head out to sea – some for weeks at a time.

The ceremony goes on in good times and in bad. It took place after Katrina, and it took place a few weeks ago – at the beginning of the most difficult season these fishermen have ever faced.

And still, they came and they prayed. For as a priest and former fisherman once said of the tradition, “The blessing is not that God has promised to remove all obstacles and dangers. The blessing is that He is with us always,” a blessing that’s granted “…even in the midst of the storm.”

The oil spill is not the last crisis America will face. This nation has known hard times before and we will surely know them again. What sees us through – what has always seen us through – is our strength, our resilience, and our unyielding faith that something better awaits us if we summon the courage to reach for it. Tonight, we pray for that courage. We pray for the people of the Gulf. And we pray that a hand may guide us through the storm towards a brighter day. Thank you, God Bless You, and may God Bless the United States of America.

Well, if part of the plan called for reading excerpts from Chicken Soup for the Soul, then we’re on our way!  He called for prayer.  Prayer.  You know what?  I believe in God, but the guy I’m trusting to “guide us through the storm towards a brighter day” is the guy I voted into office 18 months ago.  Obama clearly doesn’t have much of a plan, but he’s got plenty of platitudes and corny anecdotes to go around.

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