katallison: (Default)
katallison ([personal profile] katallison) wrote2009-01-20 05:33 pm

Just really briefly ...

What I loved about Obama's speech was that, while eloquent, it didn't seem to me to be beautiful speechifying for its own sake, or overly fascinated by its own rhetorical flourishes, or trying to blow sunshine up our collective asses, but was rather on the bleak and harsh side, speaking plainly about hard work and responsibility, buckling down and getting real, setting aside childish things and growing up. I've seen it described by others as "wintery" and "muscular", and yeah, I'd agree with that. More to the point, though, I was struck by the fact that ... well --

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."

...by the fact that Benton Fraser would have found this speech entirely admirable. Yup.

(And, on an entirely different and far lower note, the crowd singing the "Na na na na, hey heeeyyyy, goodbye" song to Bush's departing helicopter cracked me the fuck up. Because I am not Benton Fraser, yo.)

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