Feeling down today?
Feel embarrassed for your country?
Think the nation is sliding down a chute toward oblivion?
Here's something to cheer you up.
Try this mind game.
Below are photos of some Americans.
How many of these men can you identify?
How many of these men mattered?
So who are these guys? Presidents of the United States, one and all.
Did any of these guys really matter? If I gave you a list of their names, could you match any to their photos?
Can you name a single act or law or principle for which any of these men can be remembered?
And the big question, from all this, should be, how much does the President really matter?
Obama mattered to people because he was a symbol.
For some people, he was, like Kennedy, urbane enough, cerebral enough to allow them to say, "See this is what our country is capable of."
But are you any better because Tom Brady, a great quarterback, plays for your team?
Where does this sense of identification come from?
He's just a President, this Donald. He doesn't really matter.
I'll give you a hint, one of these guys is Warren Harding, who was, by his own admission completely unqualified to be President and a dissolute failure in office.
One of these guys is Zachary Taylor, who was a decent general. I bet you can guess who he is. But can you say anything about anything that actually happened during his Presidency?
Here are some names: James Polk, Millard Fillmore. These are names you wouldn't want to visit upon any relative or descendant of yours.
Then there are the names which sound very "American" which is to say, white bread: Andrew Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Harrison.
Tell me what you know about any of them.
Will you even be able to remember, 10 years from now who the guy who replaced Barack Obama was?
Feel embarrassed for your country?
Think the nation is sliding down a chute toward oblivion?
Here's something to cheer you up.
Try this mind game.
Below are photos of some Americans.
How many of these men can you identify?
How many of these men mattered?
Did any of these guys really matter? If I gave you a list of their names, could you match any to their photos?
And the big question, from all this, should be, how much does the President really matter?
Obama mattered to people because he was a symbol.
For some people, he was, like Kennedy, urbane enough, cerebral enough to allow them to say, "See this is what our country is capable of."
But are you any better because Tom Brady, a great quarterback, plays for your team?
Where does this sense of identification come from?
He's just a President, this Donald. He doesn't really matter.
One of these guys is Zachary Taylor, who was a decent general. I bet you can guess who he is. But can you say anything about anything that actually happened during his Presidency? Here are some names: James Polk, Millard Fillmore. These are names you wouldn't want to visit upon any relative or descendant of yours.
Then there are the names which sound very "American" which is to say, white bread: Andrew Johnson, Rutherford B. Hayes, William Harrison.
Tell me what you know about any of them.
Will you even be able to remember, 10 years from now who the guy who replaced Barack Obama was?
No comments:
Post a Comment