(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Stating the Obvious Does Not a Statesman Make [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-08-18

America has come a long way since Lincoln said a “house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free, ” or when John Kennedy, with communism—literally—just over the wall, said to West Berliners in 1963, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” loosely translated into I am a Berliner. In 1961 Dwight Eisenhower's farewell speech warned of the “Military Industrial Complex.” After the assassination of President Kennedy, his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, took up the cudgel of equity in a speech before Congress on March 15, 1965, repeating the refrain of the civil rights movement, “We shall overcome.” Although those words coming from a Southern Democrat lingered in the minds of Americans and especially the hearts of black America, the beginning of his speech was more poignant when he said, “I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy.”

Those passages of speech are still studied, repeated, and revered as articles of faith and statesmanship. Most of all, they were sometimes not popular or feasible for the time. America has lost the art and skill of statesmanship, giving over to praise of the obvious. Moreover, statesmanship calls for leadership ahead of the dissenting mob. Abraham Lincoln, many believe, signed his death warrant by affixing his name to the Emancipation Proclamation. Lyndon Johnson flipped the Southern Democrats into a permanent Republican majority with the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Whether you believe Mr. Johnson saw into his legacy’s future, did it for expedience, or was struck by moral clarity, he overcame his critics mainly from his southern flank.

Comic Chris Rock has a famous tagline from one of his routines that ends, “That’s what you supposed to do!” Unfortunately, the country has gotten to a point where the mere truth is hailed as brave and bold. When John McCain told an audience member at one of his stump speeches in response to a slight of Barack Obama, “No, ma’am,” he said. “He’s a decent family man [and a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about. He’s not [an Arab]. Thank you.” Setting aside the backhanded insult to Arabs, nothing McCain said was remarkable, but it is held up as a moment of bravery instead of common sense. Yes, it went against the grain of Republican orthodoxy, but not bowing to the growing hysteria over the possibility of a black president, the speaker should not be praised, but the woman pitied,

The so-called mainstream media and even some liberal media could not wait to worship conservative Congresspeople Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Not because they have revised their core policies that have in the past thrown America into war and financial chaos but because they told the truth Donald Trump is not fit to be president. Mike Pence has been reduced to defending himself by citing the certainty of the Constitution while being both praised and booed. What is always lost in the fawning praise of Mr. Pence is that he wanted to cheat and even called another former Vice President, Dan Quayle, for advice on accomplishing it.

I understand that the advent of social media and instantaneous mass communications has made diplomacy and statesmanship its chief victim. The U.S. and the world have become sycophants of the sound bite, GIFs, and 140 characters. Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg cannot solve the fractures in America’s divided house, and if we continue to mistake the obvious for statesmanship, we will get what we deserve. Remember: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”—Abraham Lincoln

What group of people are you in?

Vote Against Guns

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/18/2187930/-Stating-the-Obvious-Does-Not-a-Statesman-Make

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/