Obama has trouble quoting the Declaration of Independence.

reply to post by FortAnthem


Rightous you are !


i297.photobucket.com...

reply to post by FortAnthem


It looks like the part you are referring to was not part of his speech, but an off the cuff addition at the last minute. For those who are intrested, The text of the Presidents speech is usually provided to news outlets for anlaysis and so the media can discuss the issue before the event to draw more people in.

Here is the text of his speech from the video.

America.Gov - Obama addresses National Hispanic Caucus - 9/17/10

God forbid the guy being human and make an error, right?

2nd line.

Eh the only thing I heard wrong was he left out "Creator" .. but he's a Democrat so I'm not exactly surprised.

reply to post by CynicalM

Honestly... this is an example of US political madness which this forum is aptly entitled for. How many average US citizens would be able to cite those lines from the US constitution if they had to when they were giving it for a speech? I'd say that it's understandable to get it wrong if you haven't practiced the speech that many times. But that's my view anyhow.

But how many average americans were supposed to have studied and taught the US Constitution??

He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago

www.usatoday.com...

I would have thought Obama would know it off by heart..

Memorizing the Constitution is not necessary, even for a teacher of Constitutional Law, though it is far from unreasonable that someone would have done that.

However, what does that have to do with the Declaration of Independence, memorization or not?

Originally posted by SeventhSeal
God forbid the guy being human and make an error, right?

2nd line.

Humans are stupid. Toaster for President 2060!

reply to post by rnaa


Mate, I'm not religious but I know the start of "The lords prayer" is "Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name"

Surely Obama would at least know "who" we owe our rights too !!
It aint him, I can tell you that much..
He'd be happier if we had NO rights but those granted by him...

reply to post by FortAnthem

ha ha seems he doesn't believe what he's what he's saying (thus the blinking)some one needs to do a thread on body language and public speaking!

Originally posted by neo96
actually god did
god made those men and those ideals to write the constitution and the declaration of independence.

It's so funny that religious people only cite god's influence on what they deem to be "good things". If god "made those ideals to write the constitution" he also made the ideals to wage wars and build nuclear bombs. If he made all living things he also made cancer. If you think god is responsible for everything don't be a hypocrite -- he's responsible for everything and that includes the bad as well.

those pieces are paper were inspired with the belief in the divine.
but thats only if you believe in the divine if your not a believer then its just a couple of pieces of paper.

What a load of crap! Only believers think the Constitution is important? Do you even listen to yourself?

- Avoiding gaze
--> could be lying, or feeling guilty or uncomfortable about the subject discussed. If they are looking away after a long gaze, it could just mean they are "taking a rest", or distancing themselves from the subject.


- Gazing regularly
--> positive, inviting attitude - open to communicate with you
www.bodylanguagesignals.com...


Blinking

- Prolonged blinking (as if blinking in slow motion)
--> losing interest (or feeling very sleepy! )- often accompanied by a raised eyebrow. To maintain your influence, change the conversation quickly or ask a question to get them to refocus.


- Excessive blinking
--> showing romantic interest (if their pupil is dilated)
--> sign of stress
--> could be lying

I wonder if the use of the teleprompter is a good way of avoiding eye contact with the people.

Originally posted by Titen-Sxull
reply to post by CynicalM

 

Seems to me those at the WH think THEY have the right to give and take our rights,not the Creator.

Seems to me that the Constitution, not the Declaration OR any supernatural being is what established those rights. If they were established by a God wouldn't they be Universal? Why would man need to put something like the Constitution in place to preserve something given to us by a supernatural being? God didn't write the Constitution, man did.

As for Obama who knows why he left it out, maybe he, like many of us, sees how absurd it is in the 21st century to think that our rights came from some spooky invisible guy in the clouds.

The Preamble to the Constitution used to be taught and memorized in grade school. In the late 60's it was thought by the early progressives coming out of college and into the teaching arena that it was to much 'chest thumping' and was ignored by many. Now the Constitution has been so bastardized in history and civics curriculum that the meaning of this document has been flipped to mean the government can do what ever it wants and our children are starting to actually believe this. That is if the Constitution and the Bill of rights is even taught in school now! Obama should at least be able to clearly state the correct wording of the Preamble to be considered a Constitutional scholar!

Zindo

reply to post by FortAnthem


Wow...this is how your spend you time? You have a real pre-occupation here to scope over every word and look for this kind of thing.

BTW- he was not using a tele-prompter. When a speaker uses a tele-prompter the speakers gaze alternates in a very specific fixed gaze between two fixed teleprompters to the left and right. In this speech his gaze is bouncing around the crowd.

He is para-phrasing.

If he had said "The declaration of independance states" or some other qualifier then I would say your nit-picking was accurate, although desperately petty.

But he is clearly para-phrasing ...do you know what para-phrasing is? Here is the full text of that specific passage, underlined is what he used. Does he also have issue with every other word omitted? Is he required to quote the full declaration of independance?

Silly and painfully desperate criticism IMO.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


Seems to me you are really hung up on equating the word 'Creator' with 'God'. Something created you, whether you believe in 'god' or not. Your creator could be your parents, someone else's creator could be god, it really doesn't matter because it's your choice how to believe. I personally don't believe in the traditional 'god' stories either.

From your post:
"Seems to me that the Constitution, not the Declaration OR any supernatural being is what established those rights."

Using your logic, if there was no Constitution you would have no rights, or it would take only an ammendment of the Constitution to take your rights away. Boom, just like that. Is that how you see it?

more from your post:
"If they were established by a God wouldn't they be Universal?"

(There is no mention of 'god' in the founding documents.)
Now you are getting somewhere, yes these rights are universal, you get them automatically. Rights are not assigned or delegated by some other person or government to you. If they were, that same person or government could take them away, and perhaps cut your head off like in medieval Europe.
This is really the main point here - all humans are born with the same 'Universal' rights, period. No man or government shall assign rights or have the authority to 'take' those rights away. Do you agree with this concept?

more from you post:
"Why would man need to put something like the Constitution in place to preserve something given to us by a supernatural being? God didn't write the Constitution, man did."

Because rights were not being preserved during this time. The historical context of the document was to declare to a tyrannical government (British) that they had no authority whatsoever over people's basic rights.
So the founders put it writing.

Last thing from your post:
"As for Obama who knows why he left it out, maybe he, like many of us, sees how absurd it is in the 21st century to think that our rights came from some spooky invisible guy in the clouds."

Now you are back to religion, which is BIG hangup for you. Just remove the religious context. Think of the 'creator' as something that Obama, Bush, or whomever, cannot mess with. Think of the creator as something above all mankind. When you do that, whether you're black, Chinese, white, Indian, Everyone becomes equal.
Unalienable rights is a concept of mankind, not biblical passage. It's our declaration saying..."no person or government establishes your rights, they are inherent to us all."

reply to post by maybereal11


your stating that this President was not using a telepromter? Obama will read from telepromters in a elementary school assembly, but not in this case i couldn't disagee with you more about this subject being small and dismal, as this man was a practicing law professor and not your average Joe. So before you play this out as something simple. look into the mirror, ask yourself what your profession is and then ask yourself if you had a similiar profession as the president if you would have made the same mistake. Probably not. To put it in laymans terms to you. Would you hire President obama to your college knowing that he cannot even recite the constitution, again probably not as your budget would not be able to afford the telepromters and the men to write the script

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
How many average US citizens would be able to cite those lines from the US constitution if they had to ..

He's the POTUS - not an average citizen. He swore an oath to defend the US Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. It would be nice if he actually knew what was in the document that he swore to defend. Or perhaps he knows and decided that God doesn't belong in it. Either way ... he didn't get it right .. and he got caught screwing up ... again.

Originally posted by neo96
[i


i have never ever in my life seen so many thin skinned people before in my life.


i have no illusions bout the real history of this country but its a hell of alot better than any other country in this world.

its no suprise that people think this way the lives that todays generations of americans have it better than any other previous generation its also i fact that todays generation of americans havent even earned the right to complain it was given to them so why should you respect it or those who came before you.

something given has no value and its clearly obvious by posts such as that.

people whine and complain and moan about this and that that is what americans have become its a sad state of affairs.

edit on 19-9-2010 by neo96 because: (no reason given)

We have it better today than anyone who came before? We are in the middle of two wars and the worst depression since the 1930s--and that is largely the result of Republican policies over the last 30 years that let all the crooks and scammers on Wall Street get away with just about everything.

So you call that "better"? Better than what?

I think this country had its high point as an empire in the 1945-70 period, and has been in decline since then. I'd say the economic peak came around 1967, in fact, and then things started to slide down hill.

And here's a website about the Fox News boycott. Pass it around:

Teleprompters Blog

I checked the TOTUS blog. Poor thing has been so overworked that he (or she) hasn't been able to keep up with his (or her) blog. No reaction from the TOTUS to Obama yanking 'creator' from the Declaration of Independence. I'm sure TOTUS got it right. He (or she) would have his (or her) circuits fried if he (or she) made a mistake like that.

Originally posted by saltheart foamfollower
reply to post by Janky Red

 

What do you think about this video?

Usually I try to consider the source, but this was an amazing report, and the journalist/anchor raised some shockingly clear points about the ongoing erosion of American freedom and liberty, and how twisted the "rule of law" Obama so loves has become, with this precedent of having a legal regime in place that makes it possible to "indefinitely" jail anyone for crimes they may commit in the future, really should be a wake up call to all Americans regardless of your political leanings. It is a power that can be easily abused in the future, and on that basis alone we should arrest and jail any and all involved in making this possible, including the president himself.