First came Barack H. Obama. Then came Donald J. Trump. A measure of these two men can be found in the manner in which each reflects on their own lives.
The measure of We the People, who elevated both men into power, demands a soul searching inquiry.
In an interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin, published in Vanity Fair magazine in November, 2016, then President Barack Obama reflected on the forces and influences that shaped his world view. This is a portion of what Mr. Obama said.
"(A)s I got older, my particular ambitions started cohering around creating a world in which people of different races or backgrounds or faiths can recognize each other’s humanity, or creating a world in which every kid, regardless of their background, can strive and achieve and fulfill their potential. And those particular ambitions end up being rooted not just in me wanting to prove myself, but they end up being rooted in a particular worldview, a recognition that the world only makes sense to me given my life and my background if, in fact, we’re not just an assortment of tribes that can never understand each other, but that we’re, rather, one common humanity that can meet and learn and love each other." - Barack Obama, November 2016
Verdict: Show me the man you honor, and I will know what kind of man you are" - Thomas Carlyle 1795 - 1881 (British historian and essayist).
In an interview with Time Magazine in March 23, 2017 Donald Trump expounded on himself.
"What am I going to tell you? I tend to be right. I’m an instinctual person, I happen to be a person that knows how life works. I said I was going to win the election, I won the election, in fact I was number one the entire route, in the primaries, from the day I announced, I was number one. And the New York Times and CNN and all of them, they did these polls, which were extremely bad and they turned out to be totally wrong, and my polls showed I was going to win. We thought we were going to win the night of the election. And then TIME magazine, which treats me horribly, but obviously I sell, I assume this is going to be a cover too, have I set the record? I guess, right? Covers, nobody’s had more covers. Hey look, in the mean time, I guess, I can’t be doing so badly, because I’m president, and you’re not." - Donald Trump March 23, 2017
Verdict: "They that have the least wit are the greatest babblers." - Plato
HL 3.24.17
HL 3.24.17
4 comments:
Every day he is still there takes my breath away.
One of my favorite songs is The Sounds of Silence
by Simon and Garfinkel. I feel a bit better without the cacophony that is unending
since The Thug came down his escalator from his crass building in NY.
Nearly two years(and an eternity, it seems) I feel the same way, only more so!
Reading this again, I feel much the same way. I feel it stronger now.
Post a Comment