http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/01/inaugural_address_of_the_day Comments On: Inaugural Address of the Day by Eli Sanders en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:15:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Lincoln managed to make some sense out of the madness of the Civil War.

I'm waiting for someone to make sense out of Iraq. Something like "And every drop of white person blood shed will be paid back with a brown family getting blown apart, maybe in some country which had nothing to do with any attack against us but has lots of oil..." Jeez, it just doesn't make any sense at all, does it?
Posted by dwight moody]]> Fri, 02 Jan 2009 15:05:25 -0800 The Stranger
What if we don't survive this?
Posted by Non]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:46:19 -0800 The Stranger
My heart cries.
Posted by Non]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:42:57 -0800 The Stranger Posted by no_clever_name]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:58:03 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Eli Sanders]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:55:48 -0800 The Stranger
You seem to not be able to read all of the complicated words in this speech quite correctly.

The gist of the speech is that slavery is an offense to God, that the entire nation allowed it for 250 years, and that God "gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to shote by whom the offense came." Lincoln saw the war as punishment for all Americans equally.

He goes on to imply that since Americans (the white people, since slaves were not yet citizens) had profited from slavery and had murdered slaves, perhaps they were being paid back in kind by a ruthless God. Their property was destroyed, and they were killed in the war.

So, in fact you read the speech entirely wrong. But good try!
Posted by sdstarr]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 12:31:40 -0800 The Stranger Not sure that you picked this up yesterday:

Eli,
Eloquent stuff from an eloquent age and man. However, nothing tops Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address:

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html


or Kennedy's 1st Inaugural (written by Ted Sorenson). I'm also a fan of George H. W. Bush's Inaugural Speech in 1989 ("Thousand points of light...") written by Peggy Noonan. Heady stuff.

As a voter who didn't vote for Sen. Obama, I wish him Good Luck and especially good health. I really hope he stops smoking.

-lark 12/31/08


But, thanks for printing the entire speech. Happy New Year and Peace & Prosperity to all.


Posted by lark]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:55:08 -0800 The Stranger No moral equvalence, no asking permission of the opponent what would they want, no taking input from the South, no giving them a vote and a revote and a revote, just they're wrong we're going to go kill a bunch of them to force them into what we believe.


Hmmm -- wasn't there a line in there about "with malice towards none, with charity for all"????
Posted by spudbeach]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:11:11 -0800 The Stranger
Can you imagine a modern politician, when speaking about a calamity as great as the Civil War, admitting that his side shared moral culpability? The passage starting "Fondly do we hope" has got to be one of the most breathtaking things ever said by an American leader.

And that's not even getting started on the amazing rhetoric.
Posted by Dr Dzoe]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:08:39 -0800 The Stranger Posted by eliza]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:46:11 -0800 The Stranger
Linclon ws not a feel good Seattle politician. He did not admit his opponent could be right and solve the problem on that basis. This speech says the South is wrong,, slavery is horrible in God's eyes, and the speech justifies making fucking war on them because they are wrong.


No moral equvalence, no asking permission of the opponent what would they want, no taking input from the South, no giving them a vote and a revote and a revote, just they're wrong we're going to go kill a bunch of them to force them into what we believe.

And it worked.

And that's why we think he's great.

Posted by PC]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:05:08 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Seymor Skinner]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:56:05 -0800 The Stranger
Seriously -- the Lincoln Memorial has the big statue and all the columns and stuff, but for my money, the best parts are the speeches inscribed on the walls inside. To Lincoln's right is the Gettysburg address and to the left is the second inaugural.

Of the two, the second inaugural is by far the best. Gettysburg is just a rah-rah speech, getting everybody fired up for some more killing. The second inaugural is far more balanced, admitting the possibility that this horrible war may have been just and righteous punishment for both sides.

Will we ever hear a politician say something like that ever again? Words do matter, and saying that your opponent could be right is the first step to solving the problem.
Posted by spudbeach]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:40:40 -0800 The Stranger