What actually constitutes a Promise

[Winterblues]

If I say "I will do such and such", could that be considered a Promise, or do I actually have to utter the words "I Promise I will do such and such"? If one actually has to utter the "Promise" word for it to be considered a real Promise can anyone recall Obama actually saying he "Promises" to do any given thing?

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Agreed. There is a world of difference between "I intend" and "I promise".

[kctim]

2. I think "I will" can be seen as a promise

[RaleighNCDUer]

7. I agree - and I don't recall Obama ever much saying "I will..."

Rather, he would say "I want to..." "We need to..." "I'm ready to..."

He's too smart to promise something that politics can stop from happening.

He DID say, "I will close Gitmo" - and that is still in the works. More and more people leave there on a regular basis, and so far as I've heard, nobody new is getting sent there. It's more of a timetable thing, than an abrogation of a promise.

I fully expect, anything that he has said "I will..." will wind up getting done, eventually.

[kctim]

9. I'm with you on that

Too bad so many believe he has failed because they think it has to be over and done with in the first freakin moments of his term.

[Echo In Light]

3. Anyone w/any experience w/American politics should be wary enough to not believe any politician's ..

... "promises."




Yet...

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Obama says I should not be an equal citizen because of some

words in his religion's Scriptures. Said Scriptures spend many more words commanding clear speech, honest and with no intention or even appearance of deception. So, in his case, I hold him to the standards he holds me to, those of his faith, and that means any lack of precision or open dishonesty, or even hyperbole in his speech is unacceptable. Being 'a politician' does not absolve him of the need to practice his faith, because you see, he brings that faith into politics and specifically uses it to explain his opposition to equal rights for all Americans. So if he wants any non hypocritical room to play spin and deflect games, he must drop his religious references and stand as a secular bigot if he wishes to oppose equal rights. His God is either in the mix, or not in the mix. He says God is in the mix, that he is a Christian, and that means he must speak with utter transparency or he is just a hypocrite. Period. Faith that does not affect how you yourself live is a worthless thing, a faith that is only used against others, well that is not a faith, but a weapon, a rhetorical device, and a lie.
He was commanded: let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no. He was told that anything more comes from evil. That is the faith he claims when he wants to score bigot points. Let him be judged by the standard he puts forth as his standard for others. Seems fair to me.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Bullshit.

[GodDamLiberal]

5. It depends upon what the meaning

of the word "is" is.

This is in the same class as that statement.

[Traveling_Home]

6. Yup - You got it nt