Just Words.

[berni_mccoy]

From http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/JFK+Pre-Pres/Announcement+of+Candidacy+for+the+Presidency.htm

I am announcing today my candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.

The Presidency is the most powerful office in the Free World. Through its leadership can come a more vital life for our people. In it are centered the hopes of the globe around us for freedom and a more secure life. For it is in the Executive Branch that the most crucial decisions of this century must be made in the next four years--how to end or alter the burdensome arms race, where Soviet gains already threaten our very existence--how to maintain freedom and order in the newly emerging nations--how to rebuild the stature of American science and education--how to prevent the collapse of our farm economy and the decay of our cities--how to achieve, without further inflation or unemployment, expanded economic growth benefiting all Americans--and how to give direction to our traditional moral purpose, awakening every American to the dangers and opportunities that confront us.

From http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/JFK+Pre-Pres/002PREPRES12SPEECHES_60FEB16A.htm

So I see no further reason to discuss the new change in the Wisconsin delegate formula. Even if it should prevent that majority of voters from being represented by a majority of the delegation, it is nevertheless clear that it will be the voice of the people - their votes, not the delegate count - that really matters.
I regret, too, that Mr. Hoffa and others are coming into Wisconsin to challenge my legislative record, my integrity, and my competence for the Presidency. But I prefer to leave that judgment, too, to the people of Wisconsin - and I shall accept their decision on April 5.

From http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset+Tree/Asset+Viewers/Audio+Video+Asset+Viewer.htm?guid={98A70DC5-1114-498C-B637-D0C441B57E0B}&type=Audio

We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom--symbolizing an end as well as a beginning--signifying renewal as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forbears prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.
We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
This much we pledge--and more.

[jackson_dem]

1. Let's compare JFK's decade and a half of experience in Congress to Obama's 3

JFK had also traveled around the world, met with world leaders and spent years learning what it would take to be president. Let's compare that to Obama who, despite being the chair of the subcommittee on Europe has never been to Europe and has held 0 hearings.
JFK=Obama. Please. When will the hero worship stop? Obama, for better or worse, is Obama. That is all he will ever be.

[berni_mccoy]

4. Who said anything about Obama? This is a reflection on Clinton's statement

That you can't put your trust in "just words."

[Blue State Bandit]

5. Never been to Europe?

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he co-sponsored bipartisan legislation for controlling conventional weapons and for promoting greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In the current 110th Congress, he has sponsored legislation on lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.

As a state legislator, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.<39> He sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.<40> Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped.<40> During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Nope, no experience here.

[berni_mccoy]

6. Why do you Clinton-crazies keep brining up Obama? This is about Clinton's point about "just words"

[Blue State Bandit]

11. I agree.

I was just going to rec and go, till I felt the need to correct a misstatment made in the above response.

Barack Obama is not JFK, nor is he RFK.

Thank you for showing us that "Just Words" aren't alway "Just Words".

[jackson_dem]

10. Ok so he has been o Europe and that frequently mentioned "fact" was wrong. thanks

Has he been to Western Europe, the vital part of Europe?

He has experience. So do you and I and every adult in the country. That is not the test. The test is whether he has enough experience to do successfully the toughest job in the world.

[berni_mccoy]

16. So, facts don't matter? Just like Clinton to have a hard time admitting when she's wrong (Iraq)

[saltpoint]

2. John Kennedy spoke to the moment with the force of the ages long past.

Anybody who was young then (of any chronological age at all) listened, because the history of the long-ago past plus the beautiful gift of language for the moment equalled the Future.

And who doesn't want to be part of that?

Thank you for these passages.

[tandem5]

3. but when organized in certain ways they create meaningful expressions...

for instance take the words: "kitty-cat," "man," "boil," "don't," "my," and "hey" - alone they mean their respective definitions only, but together as: "hey man, don't boil my kitty-cat," one is immediately struck with a certain sense of foreboding toward a, as of yet, unnamed feline.

[Major Hogwash]

7. When Bush took an oath to his office - they were just words!! They're attacking the wrong guy!

We ain't the enemy! Somebody give Bubba that memo!

[NastyRiffraff]

8. Well, we've had a rousing round of very good speeches quoted...

...all in defense of Obama, none of them his. Unfortunately the speeches that people have chosen to quote to "prove" that words are important (when Obama says them, of course...no one else living today) are backed by experience, courage, and sometimes blood.

Among those who were quoted, and compared to Obama were: MLK, JFK (as the above OP), Abraham Lincoln, Churchill, Patrick Henry, and Elie Weisel. Ponder, for a moment, those names, and ask if Barack Obama has earned the right to be among them. Every one of them said great, stirring words, but they weren't about words alone.

Nobody is saying it's wrong to give a good speech. But the thrill is gone once people find out that the words are empty, unrelated to anything at all but "hope" and "change." Nobody is, or should be, against "hope," but it should be backed by more than words.

[berni_mccoy]

9. Why are you bringing up Obama? This is more about Clinton being dead wrong.

She says not to put your trust in just words. Well, that's completely idiotic.

[NastyRiffraff]

12. And she said JUST words...

She didn't say everyone should stop talking, for crying out loud! Her point was that words unbacked by actions or any plan aren't to be trusted. And they aren't.

As for Obama, Clinton was referencing the same thing that many people here on DU have mentioned...that Obama's speeches, while well-written and often well-delivered, are basically content-free.

[berni_mccoy]

13. Did you read ANY of JFK's speeches? By your standards, they are "content free" then.

[NastyRiffraff]

14. I agree..."content free" was the wrong term to use

I should have said "not backed by solid experience." I don't mean just government experience. Comparing Barack Obama to JFK is laughable. Besides his seven years in the Senate, he was extraordinarily well traveled, learning as he did about military and political situations in many parts of the world. He was a decorated veteran of WWII. He gave those speeches with THAT background behind him. He was, above all, a realist, although he certainly could stir the crowds with his speeches. The point is, those stirring words had something to back them up.

[berni_mccoy]

15. You and all the other Clintonians are the only ones to compare Obama to JFK. I never mentioned him.

[Maribelle]

17. Are you serious? Caroline Kennedy, and the big Teddy and their JFK morphs into Obama ad?

And the pomp that JFK and Jackie's grandchildren need the hollow Obama for inspiration.

The mere mention of JFK congers images of the morphing they presented. You don't really need to mention it.

[berni_mccoy]

18. That's not what this post was about. Of course, Clintonians only see what they want to see.

[berni_mccoy]

19. TO THE CLINTONIANS:

Do not make this post about Obama. It is about Clinton's recent statement on the meaningless of speeches. She obviously will SAY ANYTHING, even statements she does not believe herself, to WIN. She has proven that she is made of nothing but false hope and two-faced language. She is a true politician allright, I will give her that. But she is NOTHING about HOPE, NOTHING about the Democratic party, and NOTHING about solving the problems that America faces.

[bigtree]

20. words have to be followed by ACTION if they're to be meaningful

[berni_mccoy]

21. And Clinton has proved her actions don't follow her words

She wants to bring the soldiers home, but her votes (actions) indicate otherwise.
She talks about Universal Healthcare, when she intends to enforce Mandatory Insurance (to pay back the health insurance companies for all their support)
She talks about Helping the Poor, when she screwed them over by voting for the new Bankruptcy Laws

When the opposite actions follow her words, it's a strong inidicator she is not really for the people.

[bigtree]

22. that's just rhetoric. And, there's not going to be any FORCED insurance

That's a despicable lie that Obama and his supporters are spreading. Are payments for Social Security FORCED on you? Medicare? Medicaid? Stop with the bullshit.

[berni_mccoy]

23. No, that's reality and it's her plan.

You just can't face the facts.

[bigtree]

24. I can't stomach these hypocritical attacks from the candidate who's promising

a "different kind of politics"

"Hope and Unity" . . . with a few despicable lies thrown in.

[berni_mccoy]

25. You mean Clinton's use of race-baiting

And incendiary tactics to destroy the party just so she can win? I totally agree.