If you didn’t get a chance to see or hear it all, here is a video for you (approx. 20 minutes long):
The Washington Post has the transcript of the remarks as they were to be delivered. I’ve been thinking about alot of this (and this speech *is* more progressive than the 2009 one), but the piece that really speaks to me is this one:
It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.
It is tough to object to what looks like a goal of a more perfect freedom for all of us.
The conservative reaction seems to be that the President didn’t extend an olive branch to them or somehow boost their self-esteem (especially since they are not subject to the Disarray stories that so vex Democrats). But I say get your self-esteem the old-fashioned way — earn it. And I think that this President spent damn near 4 years extending an olive branch to Republicans only to have them snatch the football away like Lucy each time.
What do you think of the President’s speech today?