Obama Echoes JFK’s ‘ask not what your country can do for you’ Challenge
By Michael Lang on Nov 9, 2008 in Political Commentary
On January 20, 1961, John Fitzgerald Kennedy gave his now famous inaugural speech which gave birth to the often quoted phrase:
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Few would deny that Americas is in dire need for its citizen’s support and sincere effort to restore her to its former glory and “not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution,”
JFK was a young president elected at the dawn of a decade that proved to be world-changing and the beginning of a new optimism.
Many Americans of that time are experiencing a chilling deja vu as we witnessed history being made this past Tuesday; a feeling amplified by President-elect Obama’s call to action articulated on the appropriately named website, change.gov
One that website, Barack Obama continues President Kennedy’s challenge in the following passage;
"When you choose to serve — whether it’s your nation, your community or simply your neighborhood — you are connected to that fundamental American ideal that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness not just for ourselves, but for all Americans. That’s why it’s called the American dream."
The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in undeserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.
If you, as a citizen of the United States, have ever asked yourself, “what can I possibly do to make any bit of a difference,” the answer lies in the above statement.
REMEMBER: In order for Democracy to "work" you have to PARTICIPATE, you cannot simply be an OBSERVER
26 Comment(s)
By Dan on Jan 24, 2009 | Reply
Do people actually believe this garbage? What I especially like is this sudden shift by leftists who now pretend they didn’t spend the last 8 years whining about everything Bush did and undermining America to promote their own pathetic power grab. So when your empty suit president attempts to echo the last great democrat leader, it rings more than hollow. If you believe this, you have deluded yourself.
On a more factual level, President Zero’s empty campaign and political rhetoric also echoes the last all-style/no-form democrat president’s attempt to resurrect Americorps and others. It failed totally because while leftists love talking about “service”, what they really mean is service by other people. The expense of the proposed programs, the lack of real depth of interest, and the fact that Zero doesn’t really mean anything he says should suggest to any conscious and breathing person that he’s just yanking your chain.
By Michael Lang on Jan 24, 2009 | Reply
Dan, your pessimism is overwhelming! I have no problem with you saying that the hype has not matched the present reality…how could it, he just took office. So on that account why don’t we just all wait and see.
I am curious…. you use the term, “factual level”…did you vote for Bush? Because if President Obama is to be designated as “zero” then what negative number must President “Fuckup” be?
Listen, I am an American and assume you are too so putting aside political persuasions, do you not want YOUR PRESIDENT to deliver the goods as promised or are you like Rush Limbaugh who is on record as wishing Obama to fail? Seems to me that there is something “un”patriotic about that statement.
Mike Lang
Publisher
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