FAREWELL TO ARMS

The president delivered a superb speech; an excellent piece of rhetoric and oratory that at times turned my eyes a bit teary. I saved the video for future references; and if one wants to remain objective there was little during these almost fifty minutes that we can disagree on in terms of the theory. Being a Republican I would advise all my fellow party affiliates to carefully study the content of Mr Obama's goodbye.

This piece should be interpreted in two different dimensions: the pure philosophical statement and the actual application of what the speech proposes. It is indeed accurate that exchange of ideas is the basis of the edifice that we call knowledge; this, however, is sadly contradicted by the lack of negotiating will shown by the president and his supporters being the nuclear option passed by Harry Reid the crown jewel of legislative bullying.

It is also true that one cannot fully understand "the other person" until one sees things from his or her perspective; but this has also been shamefully denied by the outright character assassination of anything anti Obama; the president was right when he claimed that despite gigantic steps towards racial integration a lot needs still to be done; once again the rhetoric is the right one, in actuality his eight years are the example of a wasted opportunity. With the authority of his office and his still high approval ratings Barack Hussein Obama was in a position, like no other individual on earth, not to make miracles, but to at least break the ice and initiate this famous "conversation" about race relations in America.

I can't agree more with our Commander in Chief when he says that participation in the political process is not in the least limited to mere election; I have more often than not complained about my fellow Republicans' lack of philosophical substance and absence of "activism"; which is in the main reason why we have lost academia to the left. I understand this weakness transcends partisanship and that we the people must be the protagonists of the political dynamics. To his point, the president stated that it is we the citizens and not anything else the foundations of our society; in practice once again his deeds go against his words as he is the de facto leader of the most elitist version of the Democrats we have seen in years and despite the backhanded self criticism and crocodile weeping just a few days ago they crushed the ambitions of the new blood by stubbornly keeping Nancy Pelosi as their leader in Congress.

His public conveyance of gratitude to his family was a touching moment; I can be on the opposite side of Obama's philosophical persuasion but I harbor no doubts about his devotion for his wife, his beautiful daughters and his ever loyal, ever the soldier Joe Biden, the human bond knows no limits nor is it defined by our political inclinations.

In the substance we disagree on one fundamental issue: whilst beautifully crafted, the speech tells us of a bonanza most people don't see; America is not more respected now than it was eight years ago, we haven't conjured the possibility of a nuclear Iran; we have repeatedly failed to observe the red lines that we ourselves have set. Our relations with Israel are at an all time low, and while we managed to return from "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression", we have compromised our children's future for generations to come and mortgaged our sovereignty by running into a record high debt. None of that started under his watch, but he has certainly done nothing to correct such dangerous route.  

On a personal note I felt reasonably optimistic when the president challenged all of us by saying "if you're tired of arguing with someone in the Internet; try talking to him (or her) in person" the quote is not literally accurate, but what matters is that I have this recipe as part of my life: putting people together; the human touch beyond all differences; although from a different perspective and with a different objective I fully support this statement.

An excellent speech indeed that unfortunately depicts all but the actual performance of our exiting president; to sum it up:

1- Lots of people loved America; millions hated us, but pretty much everyone feared us. After Obama's presidency the hatred shows no sign of diminishing, love for us has certainly not increased one bit and, what is most alarming: we are being frequently defied and challenged by third rate dictators and blood thirsty thugs.

2- The racial divide is now wider than 20 years ago.

3- The so-called economic recovery under his watch has triggered a $7.4 trillion (with T like tango) increase of our debt. I leave it to the experts to crunch a few numbers and define how much each "recovered" job has cost us.

4- To make matters worse; Mr Obama seems engaged in a very personal plan to make it as difficult as possible for the next president.

Speeches can be skillfully drafted, but they are useless if not based on substance. The president's goodbye was not a farewell to arms but the announcement of new and more lethal weapons to be wielded against anything and everything traditionally American.