The purpose of Obama's speech "was to evade, not face, the prime realities that confront our country

[Better Believe It]

The 'Sputnik Moment' That Wasn't
By Jonathan Schell
January 26, 2011

Now I haven’t noticed any surprising new satellites in the heavens recently. Why, then, does the president of the United States say that we are in a “sputnik moment?” Why has that moment, now more than a half century past, been dragged out of obscurity to define the present? And why was the associated theme of American competitiveness in the world market chosen as the theme of the President’s State of the Union speech? After all, no superpower is aiming terrifying new weapons at the United States, as the Soviet Union seemed to be doing with its ballistic rockets during the Cold War. As a matter of fact, even this was an illusion. The Soviet lead in rocketry almost immediately gave way to clear US superiority, although the mistaken belief in a “missile gap” persisted for years and was in fact instrumental in producing the Cuban missile crisis.

Neither does any economic event or trend seem to explain the use of this historical reference point. It’s true that the United States’s educational system is measurably slipping. It’s also true that the country’s infrastructure has decayed badly. And yes, the United States would benefit from whatever technical innovation it can bring off, just as any country would. But none of those problems, needful of attention as they are in their own right, is the chief cause of the United States’s economic doldrums—its stubborn high unemployment, its persisting housing bust, its galloping economic inequality. These were the fruit of an economic crash brought on by a misguided, corrupt, incompetent, larcenous, unregulated financial establishment. The relevant remedies are not better technology or some contemporary equivalent of sending a man to the moon. (In any case, although Obama insisted “We do big things,” he didn’t offer one.) The remedies needed are a re-regulation and reconstruction of the financial system, plus a major, Keynesian style stimulus program to create jobs and purchasing power, and so to jar the economy out of its stupor. But none of that was in Obama’s speech. On the contrary, his proposal to freeze spending for five years threatened more economic stagnation.

What Obama needed, if he was to continue on his chosen path, was a theme that would roll through the chamber without making any waves. He needed something that the new speaker of the house, John Boehner, sitting behind him, could regularly applaud, as he in fact did. Global warming? The Republicans are deniers. Growing inequality and outright poverty? A non-starter judged by this test. The two wars? Not really. But American competitive advantage in the world market filled the bill perfectly. Precisely because it was at best a secondary concern in the real world, it could produce, if only for a moment, the picture of America united, not at one another’s throats, that the administration wanted.

It was a boring speech. It did not contain a single elegant or memorable phrase—and this from the man who rose to eminence and then power very much on the basis of his remarkable eloquence. Where was our golden-tongued young man of a few years ago? Obama’s poll numbers are up, but his muse has turned her back on him. Neither did the speech have any of the excitement, the neural sparks that fly, when words get traction with reality, and you feel in your bones, though it hasn’t quite happened yet, that something is actually going to happen. The coda was especially bad—a pastiche of clichés. (“The spirit that has sustained this nation for more than two centuries lives on in you, its people.”) Taking off from such a launch pad, Obama’s rhetoric, unlike Sputnik all those years ago, could not soar. How could it when its apparent purpose was to evade, not face, the prime realities that confront—and divide—our country.

Read the full article at:

http://www.thenation.com/article/158067/sputnik-moment-wasnt

[xchrom]

1. It's the same Single Narrative that is really the root

Of the unrest in other parts of world.

The leaders evade while the rest experience the pain.

[trueblue2007]

2. Total bull

I don't agree with this statement at all --- Obama's speech was NOT made up of a bunch of cliches. This writer is nothing but an OBAMA BASHER.

THEY SAID: The purpose of Obama's speech "was to evade, not face, the prime realities that confront our country

[ananda]

3. I would agree with that assessment.

It doesn't look good for jobs or for any green agenda now that
Obama has gone so corporate and is preparing to "compromise"
with Reeps.

This is not good. Carol Browner resigned the day before the
speech, for godssake.

[ixion]

4. Our entire collective psyche is not facing the truth

We're ignoring it, and hoping it will go away. It won't.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. He is not my Cup of Tea but I think for his nation he is

A moderate for the NeoLiberal agenda and at fault
for continuing the economic system that perpetuated this mess.
I see no banksters in jail, now they say

Unemployment at 10 percent or more? Get used to it...... that's in LBNs

The trillions wasted not only in this country but by the world's financial bailout
of the banks

PUT the planet's citizens in debt and meanwhile bankers get bonuses and the world
is asked for austerity.

And now Egypt and Tunisia are
'revolting'

[jonnyblitz]

6. k & r. nt

[ProSense]

7. I heard a

different speech.

[Kolesar]

9. My take-away was "Begin withdrawal from Afghanistan in July"

That is an economic stimulus in itself--think of the savings!

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. I await his agenda.....

I find him moderating......

For a NeoLiberal, great speaker but this us against them thing
needs to stop..... He didn't talk about us the people but our corporations
against their corporations because that's his system he works with.
Ah yes.... the new soviets. Asian workers.

I would still vote for him over ANY REPUBLICAN
but the planet is waking up to how the international banking system
FUCKED THEM OVER.

And now we need Austerity......... give me a fucking break

[DeSwiss]

8. K&R n/t

[Autumn]

10. K/R He did a damn good job of it too.

That was the most insipid and delusional speech I have ever heard.

[jannyk]

11. Spot On! k&r

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. It, was however, sparkling in jejuneness.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Newest Reality]

15. Recommend!

We now have two worlds that are becoming more clearly defined in our collective Gestalt.

The first world, (if you will permit me to generalize intentionally) is concentrated on supporting and reiterating a Status Quo that wants to keep the power, economic and life-ground circumstances the way they are. Now, many may still debate this, but we are facing circumstances so dire and pervasive, (almost ubiquitous)concerning our species, other species, and our home planet, (as opposed to the divisive and ominous term, Homeland) that you can barely avoid hearing the trumps of warning circulating the globe right now. The Status Quo and PTB appear to be rather oblivious to this, but I doubt that ignorance is anything other than willful. In a paradigm that exists solely for profit and its partner power, then even our own, collective survival or the fate of our biosphere is going to sound like a terrorist manifesto simply because those vital issues are now proving to trump both profit and power. No profit? No power? No sale!

In the second world, there is a growing understanding amongst those who choose to open their eyes and minds to the rapidly building climax and the complex conglomeration of results that are inexorably spelling a perfect storm of global proportions not to be taken lightly or dismissed as theoretical trivia -- not when the stakes are that high. It is in this other world that ideas like cooperation, (which is pragmatically and demonstrably superior for a frail species like ourselves when it comes to survivability and sustainability) and a shift in our very ideas and foundations of economy, civilization and values. At this juncture, the luxury of being able to formulate, create and enact such a dramatic change is most assuredly, and rapidly slipping away.

In the first world, we will potentially shift, drift and then plunge into a dark, dismal, neo-Fascist, oligarchy hybrid where the power and profit are turned on us all and most of us find ourselves and our children in a world of deconstruction, violence, disease, hardship and bitter tears of regret. Meanwhile, we cannot assume that those who hold the wealth and claim ownership to OUR world, (the only one we come out of and have to live in) will necessarily reap the same fate, at least for a while.

In the second world, we find what is in our best interests and explore flexible options so that the human species and its fellow creatures can continue with well-being and a real form of prosperity as opposed to the kind presented by the Simulation of what we don't really need to make us happy ... we have had enough of that when it comes to choosing between consumerism, profit for its own sake, and our continuity, survival and success.

If you tried to post and document all the issues that are going critical, (and yet we get silly indicators of terror threats deemed more important) around us and that demand our attention as a Global people, that information would be too voluminous to present here and I trust that those who have an inkling of the catastrophic nature of our dilemma know that this is no time for being placated or dissuaded from what is most vital.

[emilyg]

16. k/r