Three years ago today, on June 2, 2020, days after then–Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes, Martha Raddatz of ABC snapped the famous and chilling photograph of law enforcement officers in camouflage, their names and units hidden, standing in rows on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
This President is addressing a family, the family of Americans looking for guidance - quarrelsome, ignorant, frightened, misled, and those who grasp and support the concept of ideals - talking as a teacher, as a loving father. He's leading by example, showing that it's not necessary to inflict pain and distress to negotiate difficulties. He's describing these negotiations as if that's what took place - not thanks to him, but from a concerted effort - which as HCR says isn't entirely exact, but how can the enemy contradict it? How can they say that's not the way it should be?
Maybe we can sleep tonight. Sweet dreams, Heather. It is still a great hill to climb, but catching our breaths helps immensely. Thank you, as always, for all you do for us.
I have explained to many a friend, and even my husband and I differ on this. Other than the very first time when I voted at 18, and I voted idealistically, from then on my voting is always looking at what a person stands for and whether I think they can get done what they say they will do. I have many people close to me who insisted Bernie Sanders had to be president. I did not see that as very fruitful because the only people who would vote for his policies would be people who are more left in the Democratic Party. There would be no chance of reelection either. We are just not that progressive a nation. In fact, large pockets are downright rooted in centuries past. I felt that way about Ralph Nader when he ran for office too. I never felt that he would be a good leader. Ideas are one thing and governing is another thing. Biden has good ideas, very thoughtful ones and he also has ideas about getting things done. I am someone who wrote to him to compromise on the Build Back Better Bill and take the environmental things out, and pass them separately. I apparently was not the only one giving this advice. I know that there are environmental losses, but we are going to have them anyway. I see the wisdom of teaching Kevin McCarthy how to negotiate in a real way. The press has seemed baffled that Biden does not wear his every though on his sleeve, and most members of the mainstream press do not seem to have the intellectual tools to understand what Biden is about, and I cannot hear one more person harping on his age. I never hear that about Warren Buffet, and he is 92. No one is asking him to step down from leadership of Berkshire Hathaway. What I have to say to Biden is taken from a Loving Care hair color commercial from the 1970s. I really like the sentiment. https://youtu.be/jjYpv_yQ0qc
Thank you. Heather, for your inspiring words tonight. We all needed to hear what Biden has achieved and how he has brought some semblance of cooperation between the two political parties. He is so right. We must find some common ground in order for our great Country to keep flourishing. Biden's leadership has begun to do that. Thank you for presenting the daily happenings in a clear and fair way. Please keep it up. Hope you take a night off so you can continue your magnificent narratives.. We need it!
You're absolutely right. We aren't out of the woods just yet, but look how far we've come! It's quite a relief to realize that most people are really pretty decent, overall. Together we can bring back our focus on democracy.
Praising Mitch McConnell for his bipartisanship is like praising Attila the Hun for his love of kittens and puppies. McConnell doesn't have a bipartisan bone in his body, but he does understand realpolitik and right now, Joe Biden is the sharpest politician in Washington. Being magnanimous in his victory lap speech puts Biden in a better position for arm-twisting in future negotiations and certainly reinforces his image as an effective leader closing in on the 2024 elections.
“Government can’t solve our problems. Government is the problem.” Ronald Reagan started the Republican feeding frenzy. Donald Trump is a burp at the end of the meal.
What a difference an experienced, empathetic and kind leader in the White House has made. If only the media could get past their breathless handwringing and addiction to publishing gut-wrenching drama, and actually report accurately and dispassionately on all the good that this administration has accomplished since President Biden took office. Sure, there's been some compromises and Willow is a four letter word, but look at The Big Picture. He has been Steady at the helm, and has achieved much more than expected, despite obstruction and resistance from the Rethuglicans. We're all in this together, We the People.
Yes, Biden is a fantastic negotiator and president! What saddens me is the fact that so many of our people are being fed lies by the right wing and seem either incapable of or uninterested in seeking the truth. It seems to me that truth, above all else, is the sacred foundation of democracy.
Thank you, Heather. You have held many hands, including mine, through this very stressful historical moment. We had better all get busy and get the fascist repugnants out of office in 2024. For good.
Liberty enjoys and promote diverse, responsible choices, or it is meaningless. A society in which one group is afforded impunity and another is oppressed is tyrannical, not free. So with a diversity of choices and agendas, there has to be peaceful means of managing legitimate agendas that will sometimes inevitably clash. The pooled interactions of our differing agendas and skills is central to our species' creativity and resilience, and overly concentrated power naturally tends to corrupt, so yay for competing agendas, so long as we maintain bottom line solidarity on human rights, and interact in good faith. Things can go sideways though, when one element decides to seize total control, especially if they use lies and treachery, and even violence to work their will.
Think of a domestic relationship in which one party is seriously abusive. Trying to placate abuse is no solution. Yes we had to save the hostage in this instance, and yes, initiatives to promote and reward truly bipartisan behavior should be pursued. But it seems to me that we got to this position of peril, Trump in the White House, pandemic management madness, insurrectionists summoned by a major political party, and and now a threat of violence against the US economy and world standing as a tool of extortion by being too passive while "GOP" behavior worsened. We can't keep putting band aids on growing wounds.
Yes, as in the first Civil War, we are all Americans and we are all human beings, and we have to find ways of living peacefully, even cooperatively together. And yet we cannot function as a healthy democracy and fail to say "No" to bullies. We cannot tolerate consequential lies from persons in positions of trust. We cannot tolerate racism. We cannot tolerate sabotage, such as schemes to illegally overturn a fair and free election by sore losers.
Yes to bipartisanship, but the price of admission has to be that you park abuses behavior at the door, or the deal is off. We really, really have to raise the bar lest we lose the plot.
Thank you, Professor for emphasizing the importance of an agreement between political parties: President Biden: “No matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans.” Every president must govern for the People, not the party. It’s a relief and exciting to see President Biden, day after day, of his presidency, governing for the United States of America, knowing that compromise is also part of the process. I hope the needs of America, more attention to environment, and a lower military budget will be in the stars. And that voters in this country, both parties, see what a President of the United States is not only required to do, and carries out that mandate, but also what real governing looks like. And remember this in the next presidential election. Not perfect, but knowing what the job requires and how to do it.
“What a difference three years can make.” And what a difference one decent human being can make!
This President is addressing a family, the family of Americans looking for guidance - quarrelsome, ignorant, frightened, misled, and those who grasp and support the concept of ideals - talking as a teacher, as a loving father. He's leading by example, showing that it's not necessary to inflict pain and distress to negotiate difficulties. He's describing these negotiations as if that's what took place - not thanks to him, but from a concerted effort - which as HCR says isn't entirely exact, but how can the enemy contradict it? How can they say that's not the way it should be?
Maybe we can sleep tonight. Sweet dreams, Heather. It is still a great hill to climb, but catching our breaths helps immensely. Thank you, as always, for all you do for us.
I have explained to many a friend, and even my husband and I differ on this. Other than the very first time when I voted at 18, and I voted idealistically, from then on my voting is always looking at what a person stands for and whether I think they can get done what they say they will do. I have many people close to me who insisted Bernie Sanders had to be president. I did not see that as very fruitful because the only people who would vote for his policies would be people who are more left in the Democratic Party. There would be no chance of reelection either. We are just not that progressive a nation. In fact, large pockets are downright rooted in centuries past. I felt that way about Ralph Nader when he ran for office too. I never felt that he would be a good leader. Ideas are one thing and governing is another thing. Biden has good ideas, very thoughtful ones and he also has ideas about getting things done. I am someone who wrote to him to compromise on the Build Back Better Bill and take the environmental things out, and pass them separately. I apparently was not the only one giving this advice. I know that there are environmental losses, but we are going to have them anyway. I see the wisdom of teaching Kevin McCarthy how to negotiate in a real way. The press has seemed baffled that Biden does not wear his every though on his sleeve, and most members of the mainstream press do not seem to have the intellectual tools to understand what Biden is about, and I cannot hear one more person harping on his age. I never hear that about Warren Buffet, and he is 92. No one is asking him to step down from leadership of Berkshire Hathaway. What I have to say to Biden is taken from a Loving Care hair color commercial from the 1970s. I really like the sentiment. https://youtu.be/jjYpv_yQ0qc
Thank you. Heather, for your inspiring words tonight. We all needed to hear what Biden has achieved and how he has brought some semblance of cooperation between the two political parties. He is so right. We must find some common ground in order for our great Country to keep flourishing. Biden's leadership has begun to do that. Thank you for presenting the daily happenings in a clear and fair way. Please keep it up. Hope you take a night off so you can continue your magnificent narratives.. We need it!
You're absolutely right. We aren't out of the woods just yet, but look how far we've come! It's quite a relief to realize that most people are really pretty decent, overall. Together we can bring back our focus on democracy.
Praising Mitch McConnell for his bipartisanship is like praising Attila the Hun for his love of kittens and puppies. McConnell doesn't have a bipartisan bone in his body, but he does understand realpolitik and right now, Joe Biden is the sharpest politician in Washington. Being magnanimous in his victory lap speech puts Biden in a better position for arm-twisting in future negotiations and certainly reinforces his image as an effective leader closing in on the 2024 elections.
“Government can’t solve our problems. Government is the problem.” Ronald Reagan started the Republican feeding frenzy. Donald Trump is a burp at the end of the meal.
"What a difference three years can make."
What a difference an experienced, empathetic and kind leader in the White House has made. If only the media could get past their breathless handwringing and addiction to publishing gut-wrenching drama, and actually report accurately and dispassionately on all the good that this administration has accomplished since President Biden took office. Sure, there's been some compromises and Willow is a four letter word, but look at The Big Picture. He has been Steady at the helm, and has achieved much more than expected, despite obstruction and resistance from the Rethuglicans. We're all in this together, We the People.
Yes, Biden is a fantastic negotiator and president! What saddens me is the fact that so many of our people are being fed lies by the right wing and seem either incapable of or uninterested in seeking the truth. It seems to me that truth, above all else, is the sacred foundation of democracy.
So nice to NOT have the whiny, tantrum driven toddler in the White House. So nice to have a sane, patient, intelligent person in the White House.
“This was not entirely true” certainly brought me a smile!
Thank you, Heather. You have held many hands, including mine, through this very stressful historical moment. We had better all get busy and get the fascist repugnants out of office in 2024. For good.
Liberty enjoys and promote diverse, responsible choices, or it is meaningless. A society in which one group is afforded impunity and another is oppressed is tyrannical, not free. So with a diversity of choices and agendas, there has to be peaceful means of managing legitimate agendas that will sometimes inevitably clash. The pooled interactions of our differing agendas and skills is central to our species' creativity and resilience, and overly concentrated power naturally tends to corrupt, so yay for competing agendas, so long as we maintain bottom line solidarity on human rights, and interact in good faith. Things can go sideways though, when one element decides to seize total control, especially if they use lies and treachery, and even violence to work their will.
Think of a domestic relationship in which one party is seriously abusive. Trying to placate abuse is no solution. Yes we had to save the hostage in this instance, and yes, initiatives to promote and reward truly bipartisan behavior should be pursued. But it seems to me that we got to this position of peril, Trump in the White House, pandemic management madness, insurrectionists summoned by a major political party, and and now a threat of violence against the US economy and world standing as a tool of extortion by being too passive while "GOP" behavior worsened. We can't keep putting band aids on growing wounds.
Yes, as in the first Civil War, we are all Americans and we are all human beings, and we have to find ways of living peacefully, even cooperatively together. And yet we cannot function as a healthy democracy and fail to say "No" to bullies. We cannot tolerate consequential lies from persons in positions of trust. We cannot tolerate racism. We cannot tolerate sabotage, such as schemes to illegally overturn a fair and free election by sore losers.
Yes to bipartisanship, but the price of admission has to be that you park abuses behavior at the door, or the deal is off. We really, really have to raise the bar lest we lose the plot.
Hear hear. And to have your voice echo it to all that listen intently. Thank you Professor, you make a difference also, yes one person can.
Thank you, Professor for emphasizing the importance of an agreement between political parties: President Biden: “No matter how tough our politics gets, we need to see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans.” Every president must govern for the People, not the party. It’s a relief and exciting to see President Biden, day after day, of his presidency, governing for the United States of America, knowing that compromise is also part of the process. I hope the needs of America, more attention to environment, and a lower military budget will be in the stars. And that voters in this country, both parties, see what a President of the United States is not only required to do, and carries out that mandate, but also what real governing looks like. And remember this in the next presidential election. Not perfect, but knowing what the job requires and how to do it.