Tuesday, December 06, 2011

President Obama gives an amazing speech in Kansas, where he invokes the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt, and takes the Republicans to task for failiing the American people. Updated!



In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt came here, to Osawatomie, and laid out his vision for what he called a New Nationalism. “Our country,” he said, “…means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy…of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him.” 

For this, Roosevelt was called a radical, a socialist, even a communist. But today, we are a richer nation and a stronger democracy because of what he fought for in his last campaign: an eight hour work day and a minimum wage for women; insurance for the unemployed, the elderly, and those with disabilities; political reform and a progressive income tax. 

You can read the entire speech by clicking here.

This is a truly great speech and I highly recommend that you read it all the way through.

I will post the video just as soon as I locate a good copy of it.

Update: As promised here is the video of the entire speech courtesy of MSNBC. Because as you know reading a speech, and hearing our President deliver a speech, are two entirely different experiences. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

24 comments:

  1. Excellent Speech! Thanks for posting this Gryphen!

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  2. Anonymous11:45 AM

    TEDDY Roosevelt?!

    WTF isn't Obama invoking FRANKLIN DELANO Roosevelt?!

    Oh, wait -- I got it!

    TEDDY Roosevelt was a REPUBLICAN.

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  3. Anonymous12:11 PM

    TEDDY Roosevelt?!

    WTF isn't Obama invoking FRANKLIN DELANO Roosevelt?!

    Oh, wait -- I got it!

    TEDDY Roosevelt was a REPUBLICAN.

    11:45 AM
    -----------

    This is why you should read the whole article before you comment. First line:
    "In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt came here, to Osawatomie..."
    Gee you think that's why he's invoking Teddy instead of FDR? Because President Obama is giving a speech in the same location as Teddy. I feel like Captain Obvious even having to explain this. Obama Derangement Syndrome is real and it's ugly. Sigh.

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  4. Anonymous12:24 PM

    Another great speech by President Obama, which the Repugs will ignore. If Obama doesn't win re-election in 2012 the 99% will be screwed. Vote!

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  5. Anonymous12:28 PM

    Unfortunately, once we give the tax cuts to the wealthy and allow them to become more wealthy, then they use their ill-gotten gains to purchase politicians. Once they have bought themselves a Congress then the chance of undoing the tax cuts and restoring a middle class is very unlikely.

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  6. Anonymous1:02 PM

    It was an excellent speech. Anxious to see the video, Gryphen. Maybe the transcript, too?

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  7. Anonymous1:12 PM

    This may come to be known as a landmark speech. We really are a turning point.

    Let's all be sure we get out to vote and out the vote so make sure the 1 percent doesn't win.

    Even if you are Republican or an Independent, you need to really take a hard look at the current crop of GOP presidential candidates and listen to their cruelty and disregard for the vast majority of Americans. Hold your nose if you must, but vote for President Obama and every Democrat who holds at least a moderate view on issues critical for the well-being and future of the middle class.

    This may truly be the most important election of our lives. Certainly, it is the most important election for the life of the middle class.

    Kudos to our President for his speech, and kudos and gratitude to Gryphen for having shared it with us.

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  8. Kimosabe1:44 PM

    Listened to the speech, and just love our president! I don't know if the audience was hand-picked or not, but they cheered the progressive principles championed by Pres Obama.

    And (brief history lesson), while Theodore (he hated being called Teddy) Roosevelt was a republican while president, after he left office he became disgusted by the big-business-screw-screw-the-people policies of Taft and his cronies, so founded the Progressive (Bull Moose) party, running, and almost winning, for pres on a third-party ticket in 1912.

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  9. Anonymous1:57 PM

    YAHOO!! O/T

    A Rethuglican has been convicted of conspiring to use Election Day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election in Maryland.

    Political aide Paul Schurick to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich, was found guilty of all four counts he faced, including conspiracy to influence or attempt to influence a voter's decision whether to go to the polls through the use of fraud and conspiracy to publish campaign material without an authority line.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/06/robert-ehrlich-paul-schurick-voter-suppression_n_1131852.html

    No surprise -- he's appealling.

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  10. That is a great speech! Thanks Gryphen for sharing it with us. Obama 2012! Biden too (I want trains).

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  11. Anonymous2:14 PM

    I hear that the repubs. are up-in-arms about our President's speeches. How DARE he tell people the truth??

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  12. Anonymous3:21 PM

    OT, but here's a great photo that ties into all of the meanings behind christmas; you have St Nick, Pagans, snow...all of it in one photo.

    http://www.linzerperchten.at/

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  13. Anonymous4:09 PM

    @3:21pm

    The last paragraph on that link translates from german to english to say:

    The primary objective of the association are the care, the proliferation and promotion of the pre-christmas and Christmas traditions on religious, artistic and folkloric basics.
    ---------

    see it looks really crazy from the photos but this is just another way to celebrate the season that happens to include the christian christmas. No right, no wrong, just different ways of thinking.

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  14. Scruffer6:11 PM

    Yeah, a great speech. Like the great speeches he gave when he was running for President and which mobilized MILLIONS.
    Now, however, he has a track record.
    The track record of not caring too much about the 99%, but caring A LOT about the 1%.
    I assume this comment is going to be 'censored' by you - you've done it before.
    Palin rules rule in Alaska, I guess.
    No dissent tolerated.
    Don't get me wrong - I LOVED Obama and did all I could to get him elected.
    Then everything fell out from underneath me and he, as President, did NOTHING for me or millions like me.
    Only NOW, now that he's back on the campaign trail, does he say he cares. I don't know.

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  15. Scruffer6:16 PM

    You can just hear the GOP's mind rumbling....OSAWA-WHAT????? OSAWATOMIE?????

    That sure sounds like a village in Kenya!!! Whattaya mean, Kansas?
    NOOOOOOO - KENYA!!!!!

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  16. Anonymous6:37 PM

    Thank You! Saw this on television and was blown away. Rachael did a great segment on it as well.

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  17. Anonymous7:43 PM

    Any of the opposition who are posting here care to comment on the specific content of the president's speech and compare it to ANY proposal suggested by any of the politicians currently running for the republican nomination?

    I know you'all want to win, but just how low are you willing to go before you admit your party is bankrupt?

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  18. Just for curiosity's sake, Scruffer @6:11 PM, just how much help do you think you would have gotten from President Bush if "everything fell out from underneath [you]" in 2006 instead of, I'm presuming, in the past 3 years?

    and he, as President, did NOTHING for me or millions like me -- this makes me wonder just what problems you had, since President Obama has done much for many more millions of Americans than Bush and his cronies ever did.

    http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html

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  19. Also, regarding Obama Derangement Syndrome and the speech itself, which I thought was excellent and challenging -- and which I fully expect the Republicans will take out of context and whine about:

    The twit who Tweets from @WHPressCorps reTweeted an observation from @ron_fournier that BHO had a "57 states" moment, as if that overshadowed the total import of his excellent speech.

    Namely, "It is great to be back in the state of Tex--," Obama said, before cutting himself off and correcting himself with a smile. "State of Kansas."

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/06/obama-texas-kansas_n_1132676.html

    Ron Fournier, to his credit, mostly praised Obama's speech in his article at The National Journal.

    http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2011/12/obama.php

    I can't say the same for whoever Tweets for @WHPressCorps, who is nearly always snidely right-leaning in reporting POTUS' doings.

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  20. notafaux10:09 PM

    KaJo@8:12PM said, "Also, regarding Obama Derangement Syndrome and the speech itself, which I thought was excellent and challenging -- and which I fully expect the Republicans will take out of context and whine about..."

    Have you noticed that the Obama Derangement Syndrome is not the exclusive domain of Republicans? Such a knee-jerk reaction can be expected from them: They want this particular president to fail. Simple as that.

    I'm concerned about so-called progressives on the far-left fringe, who likewise seize every conceivable opportunity to indict Obama as a closet G. W. Bush (war criminal, Wall Street shill, despoiler of the environment, etc.), who's betrayed his base and who's thus a traitor to "the cause." Sometimes I think these people do far more damage to the national discourse than run-of-the-mill, know-nothing Republicans/Teabaggers.

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  21. Anonymous10:41 PM

    It is SO sad that so many Foxheads will not hear anything of this speech, or if they do, a slanted line of bullshit about it.

    Its also beyond sad that (I learned only recently) the Fox network constantly reinforces its dittohead fans, by chanting how ONLY their news is to be trusted...that every other place one can hear news, is dripping with propaganda.

    If I heard anyone on MSNBC say anything remotely like that, my first impulse would be to distrust the person and the network, and hurriedly go find a new source for news...one that like religion, doesn't claim to be the ONLY true one, and how everyone not going to their church, is on a beeline straight to Hell.

    But such LOGIC never enters the mind of the papsucking Fox viewers, obviously.

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  22. Anonymous4:49 AM

    President Obama's speech was outstanding as was Hillary Clinton's yesterday about gay rights around the world. I'm so happy President Obama was elected and I will vote for him again.

    Folks, remember to get out and vote. We need to move as many Repubs out of office as possible (on all levels of our government). They fight President Obama every step of the way and could care less about the "American people"!!

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  23. Now that's what I'm talkin bout.

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  24. Anonymous10:10 AM

    This is a youtube video about the Federal Reserve that relates to the President's speech. I'm ashamed to say that I had no idea what the Federal Reserve was all about and that it's not a government agency at all until I watched this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPWH5TlbloU

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