I actually agree with something Obama said. Granted, it isn’t profound, or anything, but I agree with him, which is new.
Which is part of the reason I read The Progressive, and I know Phil bravely engages FireDogLake. Also, it’s always good to see what arguments the other side is dreaming up, so you can test your own positions against them. Not only does it build good mental debate skills, you may (if you are honest with yourself) find a flaw in your own logic that needs to be addressed.
I disagree. Spending your energies finding ever more clever ways to PROVE that the earth is not flat is a waste of time. Instead, lets listen to classical music and read “A Step Farther Out”.
Sure, if it were as simple as proving that the Earth is not flat, you’d be right. Rest those laurels and go do something else. Convincing people that something like, “just one more law and it’ll be better”, is a poor philosophy requires constant vigilance and adjustment of debate, because the illogical make a habit of shifting the goalposts, and far too many people are unable to see that as a problem.
I don’t see this as an encouraging sign, nor should anyone else. Certain of Obama’s promises (transparency in the healthcare debate, lower health insurance rates, lowering unemployment, etc) lead to the opposite results. So when he says we need to listen to the opposition, he’ll be sticking his fingers in his ears to everything Republicans/conservatives/the Tea party/etc has to say.
ETA: this is an empty platitude; nothing more.
Just because O read it off the teleprompter doesn’t mean he actually does it. I doubt very much he has any regard or even knowledge of how an actual conservative thinks.
We’ll see how he and his administration act. To date, they have not been living up to his speech (lots of labelling and generalizing from those parts of his staff who are allowed to speak publicly). If he enforces a shift is behavior & attitude, then it would be more than platitudes.
If not, it’s just one more empty promise to rake him over the coals with (not like we need more from Mr. Transparency).