Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Inaugural Awe

Well he is the first president to lay it out that way, so, good for him.

I really don't see any commonality between Obama and Carter, perhaps someone would care to enlighten me.

Obama is a lot smarter than he's getting credit for, at least that's what I'm starting to think.

I'd love to do a side by side comparison of Obama and JFK and would if I had time.

I'm going to put it on my to do list.

KMOM- you make a good point. I just think it may turn out to be a positve thing vs. a negative thing.

Yes, he's human. I do think that his potential is tremendous, though. Perception, especially mass perception, is an extremely powerful thing. When perception contradicts reality, ofter perception trumps!

Hm. You sure you haven't been ease dropping on me Kriston? I say this all the time.

JB

LOL! Me, too. I guess there might be a reason our kids seem so much alike, huh?

Ditto...Nailed it in one sentence...sums up my beliefs quite nicely.

I suspect that's a lot of people in this country, actually. We don't like to see our money wasted, regardless of our other beliefs.

Just saw this thread.

Shouldn't it be titled "In-AWE-gural?"

The more I read his inaugural address, the more it moves me. I hope it will move us collectively as a nation. This was my favorite part:

What I hope this means: "We will make sure schools and colleges educate our talented students to their potential so we can continue to be leaders in technology".

What I hope this doesn't mean: "We will make sure schools prepare every child for college and transform our colleges to accomodate the influx of underprepared students who only know how to fill out bubbles on a test".

Only time will tell..

But is this whole idea of what 'we' can do going to be judged on what 'he' is able to direct? I think no matter how you slice it 'he' is part of the equation. And if the 'we' of the country can learn to make sacrifices and pull together than who will be acknowledged for this? Obama. And on the other realm if 'we' fail in his request and through the new laws and mandates that come down 'we' were not willing to bend then Obama will be blamed for that. So I hope incogneato is right that perception trumps reality. And don't get me wrong. I applaud Obama for saying it. My comments that prefixed everything had nothing to do with Obama.

And okay I can't let it go... the idea that Reagan was an amazing president escapes me especially since we are now living in the mess that he created, okay I will be fair it wasn't completely all him but he started it. One of my favorite historians Fukuyama published an article that I think is worth reading:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/162401