Quote Originally Posted by Banquo's Ghost View Post
It's odd. I heard a speech talking about sacrifice, hard work and community spirit, invoking the best of the US values of self-reliance. A speech that highlighted the recent "gimme" culture as being spoilt and oh-so-over.

I'd have called it a sober and conservative speech. He talked about taking a pay-cut to save your neighbour's job. He talked about recognising that a good life doesn't come easy, and never should have done (or appear to have done so). He talked about the best of America being her "never say die", never give up optimism. He offered peace with enemies as long as they unclench their fists and unbending enmity if they choose not to.

Apart from the fiscal bail-outs that pretty much every politician in the Western world seems to be bent on providing, I didn't catch much about hand-outs - but a lot about fixing things by hard work and personal responsibility. He eschewed the false partisanship about big/little government in favour of government that works.

Now all this is just a speech, but it struck me as a very conservative speech that if it had been given by a "Conservative" politician, might well have had that grouping swooning. But then US conservatism has me constantly baffled.



It had inspirational imagery, but lots of practicality too. A good speech for the times.
You see, that’s the point. All through out the campaign his vague rhetoric encourages people to pick out portions they like and use their mind to fill in the gaps. Barack Obama, the man, the president, teaches us a valuable lesson in cognitive biases.

Listen to his inaugural address! The man tried to cover the entire spectrum. Compare it to his statements on the stimulus package. Look at his nominees. Finally, look at how .org members are reacting in this thread. Think about their biases and make the determination yourself.

Perhaps some psychologist can explain it better than I but that is the essence of the man.