12 Ways Obama Smacked Down the Tea Party and the Right in Inauguration Speech

[Lakhota]

By Adele M. Stan

Reclaiming the language of patriotism, Obama then threw it back in the faces of right-wing Republicans to advance a liberal agenda.

With its elegant rendering of the liberal agenda before the eyes of the American people, President Barack Obama's second inaugural address was music to the ears of many a progressive. But to the ears of Tea Partiers and the Republican right, this inauguration speech, as well as the ceremony that surrounded it, was war -- not just a war of words, but a war of prayer, a war of poetry and even, perhaps, a war of song.

Driving the message home were the hands of the Fates, who conspired to see the second inauguration of the nation’s first African American president fall on Martin Luther King Day, the national holiday whose very creation was opposed by so many who still today comprise the Republican Party’s right wing.

Here we recount a dozen ways in which the president brought his fight to the right, in no uncertain terms, at his second inauguration.

1. Reminding the nation who won the Civil War.

2. Reminding the nation of the history of the civil rights movement.

3. Reclaiming the founding documents for liberalism.

4. Throwing right-wing rhetoric right back at ‘em.

5. Actually, you really didn’t build that.

6. Tearing von Mises to pieces.

7. Calling out the climate-change deniers with a call to action.

8. Spanish is the loving tongue, amigos.

9. Making the moral, patriotic case for the social safety net and against poverty.

10. Asserting the moral imperative of gay rights.

11. Calling for equal pay for women.

12. Shining a light on voter suppression.

It was a great speech. But rhetoric is easy, especially for a president so gifted in the art of oratory. Left on the table are questions, such as: What do you mean when you say you want to “save” Social Security? Or “reform” education? Or end the wars in which our nation has been mired for so long?

For all that the president had to say to the Tea Party and its allies in Congress and in the states, perhaps the most important thing is what he said to the rest of us. It amounted to the story about Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he told a progressive ally who wanted him to do something controversial: “Make me do it.”

What Obama said to progressives was this:

You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.​

Time to start shouting.

DETAILS: 12 Ways Obama Smacked Down the Tea Party and the Right in Inauguration Speech | Alternet

 

[bayoubill]

This libertarian conservative's response to President Obama's articulate inaugural speech:

BRING IT ON, ASSHOLE...!


eta: oops... forgot to add the smilie...

 

[Lakhota]

The old, dumb, fat, white racist teabaggers are a dying breed.

 

[Missourian]

Obama reads a great speech...

Great reader that Obama.

Wake me up when he becomes great at being president.

 

[Nole]

If anything Obama's speech was a reminder that liberal policies are okay. His speech echoed the fact that America is not a Ayn Rand conservative utopia. No, you are not all on your own. As a nation we can help one another and still be the greatest nation there ever was and will be.

Great speech, by far the best one since the Saint Ronny's second term.

 

[bayoubill]

The old, dumb, fat, white racist teabaggers are a dying breed.

leaving the way for the young, smart, fit, non-racist conservatives who make up the majority of the individual-rights movement anyhow... but who never get any air time from the main-stream media...

 

[bayoubill]

If anything Obama's speech was a reminder that liberal policies are okay. His speech echoed the fact that America is not a Ayn Rand conservative utopia. No, you are not all on your own. As a nation we can help one another and still be the greatest nation there ever was and will be.

Great speech, by far the best one since the Saint Ronny's second term.

gotta admit, even though my eyes are still sore from having rolled so many times, it was a great speech in terms of loftiness, delivered masterfully...

 

[Lakhota]

Democracy works best with ballots - not bullets.

 

[bayoubill]

Democracy works best with ballots - not bullets.

It would also help if dead people didn't vote multiple times in Democrat precincts...

 

[Lakhota]

Democracy works best with ballots - not bullets.

It would also help if dead people didn't vote multiple times in Democrat precincts...

Only in your mind.

Do Dead People Vote?

 

[bayoubill]

Democracy works best with ballots - not bullets.

It would also help if dead people didn't vote multiple times in Democrat precincts...

Only in your mind.

Do Dead People Vote?

I was being only slightly facetious, L-man...

as you were with your facile "ballots - not bullets" comment...

 

[Wicked Jester]

By Adele M. Stan

Reclaiming the language of patriotism, Obama then threw it back in the faces of right-wing Republicans to advance a liberal agenda.

With its elegant rendering of the liberal agenda before the eyes of the American people, President Barack Obama's second inaugural address was music to the ears of many a progressive. But to the ears of Tea Partiers and the Republican right, this inauguration speech, as well as the ceremony that surrounded it, was war -- not just a war of words, but a war of prayer, a war of poetry and even, perhaps, a war of song.

Driving the message home were the hands of the Fates, who conspired to see the second inauguration of the nation’s first African American president fall on Martin Luther King Day, the national holiday whose very creation was opposed by so many who still today comprise the Republican Party’s right wing.

Here we recount a dozen ways in which the president brought his fight to the right, in no uncertain terms, at his second inauguration.

1. Reminding the nation who won the Civil War.

2. Reminding the nation of the history of the civil rights movement.

3. Reclaiming the founding documents for liberalism.

4. Throwing right-wing rhetoric right back at ‘em.

5. Actually, you really didn’t build that.

6. Tearing von Mises to pieces.

7. Calling out the climate-change deniers with a call to action.

8. Spanish is the loving tongue, amigos.

9. Making the moral, patriotic case for the social safety net and against poverty.

10. Asserting the moral imperative of gay rights.

11. Calling for equal pay for women.

12. Shining a light on voter suppression.

It was a great speech. But rhetoric is easy, especially for a president so gifted in the art of oratory. Left on the table are questions, such as: What do you mean when you say you want to “save” Social Security? Or “reform” education? Or end the wars in which our nation has been mired for so long?

For all that the president had to say to the Tea Party and its allies in Congress and in the states, perhaps the most important thing is what he said to the rest of us. It amounted to the story about Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he told a progressive ally who wanted him to do something controversial: “Make me do it.”

What Obama said to progressives was this:

You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time – not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.​

Time to start shouting.

DETAILS: 12 Ways Obama Smacked Down the Tea Party and the Right in Inauguration Speech | Alternet

Alternet?.....Get back to us when you actually have an original thought, LactaterTot.

Until then......

 

[Claudette]

Oh
Brother.

Another speech in which he is the greatest. He's going to save America.

Anyone who doesn't agree with his lefty agenda is a racist or an idiot.

Yup. Words to live by.

What a maroon.