President Obama recently gave his "State of the Union" address. It stirred an interesting discussion during class. We tried to focus on what the President planned for the country, where he wanted us to go. The one thing that I could not help but notice was how much importance he put on "the best." If one were to examine the word cloud of his speech, found on anamericanstudies.com, it shows up as one of the top fifty most used words in his speech, along with words like "first," "innovation," and "future."
This is obviously not a mistake. President Obama wanted to make a point about where he thinks our values should lie, and they lie at the top. Not at the bottom, middle, or "close enough." The best. He wants us to beat the world, to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build" until we are once again the smartest, most powerful, and best in the world. This speaks volumes of what we value as Americans. We only value the best, and the rest can be set aside. Not once did the President mention the average Joe doing average things. He talked about exceptional individuals doing exceptional things. In fact, his entire speech was based around the idea of getting to the top and staying there, of "how we’ll win the future."
And why would this ever be a bad thing? There's nothing wrong with wanting greatness, in fact it's an admirable goal. It's how and why we're going to get there that's the problem. Obama talked of getting to the top like nothing else much mattered. He put value on being the best, not what would lead there. What we should be caring about is the creativity and innovation that put us on top of the world all that time ago. He talked about these things too, but only as a means to an end. They were nowhere near as important as the title "America, the Greatest." I think his own words sum it all up: "The future is ours to win." The future is not something you win, it's something that comes to you through your ability to get there. So what I think, Mr. President, is that we should put less emphasis on the best, and support our creators and innovators. And then the future will come to us.
Andrew-
ReplyDeleteVery insightful! Obama's speech reminded me of the documentary "Race to Nowhere" that we talked about in class. In it, the drawbacks of linear thinking are detailed: the strenuous and often harmful road to 'success,' the sacrafices one must make, and the passing over of today in order to look at tomorrow. I would have liked to see Obama address today's issues, not soley look at tomorrow, be it bright or dim.
I liked this analysis, Andrew, because it highlighted a mythology very common to Americans. We all can't be the best, can we?
ReplyDeleteBut I wonder what continuity or discontinuity you might have observed comparing Obama to past presidents?
Lastly, as critical as you have been of his rhetoric, let me challenge you: when you say, "What we should be caring about is the creativity and innovation that put us on top of the world all that time ago", why is it so important to you to be "on top of the world"?