27 Thoughts to “Obama: A Time to Pray for Civility”

  1. Emma

    I wonder why he found it necessary to bring up his citizenship, if it’s such a nonissue.

    Also, when has President Obama stepped outside of his comfort zone and the ideology of his party? If anything, he has lost control of some of his agenda to ideologues like Nancy Pelosi, whose inflexibility undoubtedly cost him his healthcare reform bill, and to Eric Holder, who seems to be making national intelligence decisions now.

  2. Emma

    And besides Joe Wilson, who has been “disagreeable” to the President? I’m sorry to see him politicizing the National Prayer Breakfast and using it as an opportunity to try to silence his opposition.

  3. Razors for desert, Emma?

    The hypocrisy of questioning why he brought up his citizenship! How about humor since so many folks have obsessed over it.

    And more importantly, who hasn’t been disagreeable to the President?

    I love what he said. He gets points from me.

  4. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Of course, Obama could take a dump on the salad bar at Golden Corral, and the far left would demand it be bronzed….big surprise there. Obama and his party take the American people for total idiots by calling for civility after systematically shutting Republican ideas out of the health care legislative process (and I use that term loosely) and continuously blaming every one of his own shortcomings on Bush. But don’t take my word for it….wait ’till November, if we even have an economy by then.

  5. hello

    Obama has a huge problem and it’s not Republicans. They can (could) have voted ‘no’ on EVERYTHING and it wouldn’t matter one bit. THEY CONTROLED IT ALL!! His problem is the never mentioned war within the Democrat party. It’s progressives v.s. your average Joe Democrat. Progressives are going to be the ultimate demise of the party, just look at groups like moveon and others who attack fellow Democrats, run ads against them and call them traitors.

    Also, totally agree with Emma, it’s sad to see him politicizing the National Prayer Breakfast.

    And Moon, when it comes to where he was born, I don’t think many folks have obsessed over it. It’s a very small group that the gets was too much attention. It’s sooooo absurd that the left has ‘obsessed over it’ for political gain. Good move on their end, what else are they going to use? Gotta create a villain somehow, why not use it to your advantage…

  6. hello

    On a lighter note about the National Prayer Breakfast… since when is a Marin Corpsman pronounced C-O-R-P-S M-A-N instead of C-O-R-E M-A-N? When you give every speech reading a teleprompter, that’s when! What to go ‘commander in chief’.

    What a Ron Burgundy moment! I saw this video and was just waiting for him to say “go f**** yourselves San Diego”…. oh man, that was good. 🙂

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlKIfzoC8D0

  7. I think I am witnessing a collective temper tantrum.

    I guess no one has ever listened to past National Prayer Breakfasts?

    Reminder: The president is not a member of Congress.

  8. Emma

    He squandered his supermajority, and now it’s gone. If the Democrats were actually working together, they could have passed their healthcare “reform” bill without a single Republican vote. His own party has been his downfall.

  9. hello

    Temper tantrum? I loved it, he gave a priceless soundbite!!! Nobody is going to remember what he said or didn’t say, they are going to remember the Navy Corpsman… sorry, C-O-R-P-S M-A-N.

    (I said Marine before, I was wrong, it was a Navy corpse-man)

  10. Emma

    Maybe the Navy corpsman was actually dead. Really, hello, you should give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

  11. hello

    I must say though Moon, I’m a bit disappointed in you… I enjoy your Jon Stewart videos. However, how in the world could you possibly miss (unless it was on purpose) Jon doing a video of Obama in our very own back yard Falls Church, VA!

    Man, talk about asleep at the wheel… and from your favorite site. Ill post it for you:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/26/obama-teleprompter-sixth-grade-video_n_436406.html

  12. hello

    Emma, it didn’t sound like a post-humus type of shout out to me but I could be wrong…

    Want more comedy with the TOTUS blunders from VA? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HQMlFaBeTo

    Just do a google search on “obama teleprompter blunder”… guaranteed laughs all night long!

    I was just now watching some of these and I just about fell out of my chair! Bush sucked as a public speaker, I cringed every speech he spoke just waiting for him to screw up, but these are classic! Some of which you have never seen because MSM will never show them.

    Just like how MSDNC cut off Obama when he said to turn off Fox, CNN and…. (MSNBC) thanks to David Shuster….

  13. I just wouldn’t say anything about presidential mispronunciations after George Bush. I learned to ignore.

    Yup, Hello, I dropped the ball. I had not seen that one. You gotta give the guy credit for being fair and balanced. There are no sacred cows with Stewart.

    I posted all of the Jon Stewart enters the No Spin Zone videos. Both men did a good job.

  14. Wolverine

    Jon Stewart on the No Spin Zone. Now, that actually WAS good theater on television. Much better than the average bear.

  15. Gainesville Resident

    Wolverine :
    Jon Stewart on the No Spin Zone. Now, that actually WAS good theater on television. Much better than the average bear.

    I definitely agree. That was very entertaining to me! Much better than a lot of the junk shows on TV these days (I’m talking prime time TV from 8-11 PM).

  16. Gainesville Resident

    I used to work for DynCorp as a software engineer in the late 90’s. There was a big debate how you pronounce the name “Corp” or “Core”.

    I’ve heard people pronounce Marine Corps both ways, I don’t fault Obama for that. It is confusing to many people how it should be pronounced.

  17. Gainesville Resident

    Emma :
    Maybe the Navy corpsman was actually dead. Really, hello, you should give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

    That was a good one!

  18. michael

    Interesting concept…”Praying for Civility”, as a last resport to diplomacy (sounds more like George Bush) and the far right radical Christian evangelists that assume they are judge and jury for all the evils of mankind, and that God can make humans behave responsibly without disagreement and anger toward everyone different than them and to assume God can make all mean people good if enough people pray to make it happen…Kind of like praying for rain in a desert, or praying for volcanoes not to erupt when you live too close to them…

  19. michael

    How about just some simple facts about what people really say behind closed doors, and let the public know the truth about backroom deals and backroom political threats that really decide what is voted on, in other words politicians can’t be civil when they are being paid by special interest groups to trash every bill not in their favor, ignore the needs of the people, and make decisions that guarantee you get enough campain money next year from the lobbyists to get re-elected and keep your “priviliged” job and special fringe benefits.

    Remember most politicians are lawyers….they crave money and power of influence more than helping anyone beneath their “stature”.

    I doubt seriously that prayer will do anything to change votes. Electing new congressmen and senators enmass…now that can change votes to do what the people need.

    Obama is closer to doing what the people need, than anyone in his political party or in the opposing party. Why not give him an idea to create a new Presidential policy directive to change all hospitals and doctors offices into national monuments to insurance company abuses, declare them national resource park land (public land) and public property owed and managed by the national park service?
    Then he could charge entry fees and reserve beds and hospital equipment like camping services…

  20. Prayer can mean different things to different people. He was at the National Prayer Breakfast. Michael, you can’t just expect the guy to publically diss prayer. I feel certain there were at least a 100 different personal beliefs on prayer in attendance.

    Praying for civility seems like a good goal for our country, given the tone in our politics which seems to permeate all that we do.

  21. Wolverine

    Evangelical Christians do not believe that “they” are the judge and jury for the evils of mankind. They believe that God is that judge and jury. Admittedly they can get a bit zealous at times in pursuing what they believe are the tenets of their God, but that is what they are commanded to do by their own faith. In expressing their concerns for the souls of their fellow men, they are following not only the commands of Christ but also the examples of Elijah and Elisha and other prophets of ancient Israel. How does that differ technically from the devout of almost any other religion? Missionaries, evangelizers, and prophets come in all faiths and in all colors. Even atheists can become evangelizers in their own fashion.

    As for believing that God can intervene in the affairs of men? Well, what is a “National Prayer Breakfast” for if not “prayer” for Divine favor? Prayer is the principal means for asking for the forgiveness and intervention of a divinity. Divine intervention has been a primary belief in virtually every human religion. The Greeks and Romans believed that their gods often intervened in the affairs of men. So did the Vikings and Teutons. The Muslims believe that Allah actually caused the Prophet Mohammed to ascend to Paradise from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. And have you never heard of a Native American rain dance? As for Christians, they look to both the New Testament and to the Old Testament as passed down to us by our Jewish bretheren. What greater belief is there in divine intervention than the story of how the God of Israel decided to send his misbehaving people into exile in Bablylon? Divine intervention. It is why almost all religions have or have had prayer and temples and altars and sacrifices. And just look how, after the 9/11 disaster,so many of us joined in the singing of “God Bless America.” Was that not a prayer? And, when President Obama’s own long-time pastor cried out “God d**n America!”, was that not also a demonstration of a belief in divine intervention?

  22. Well said, Wolverine.

    I don’t hold President Obama responsible for the words of Pastor Wright but I certainly find Wright offensive and troublesome.

  23. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Moon-howler :
    I don’t hold President Obama responsible for the words of Pastor Wright but I certainly find Wright offensive and troublesome.

    Well, the notion of “holding Obama responsible for Pastor Wright’s words” is ridiculous mainly because Wright was Obama’s “Spiritual Mentor”, so the only feasible course would be to hold Rev. Wright responsible for at least a part of Obama’s ideology.

  24. I totally disagree. I think that is a huge assumption on your part, Slow. You can go to a church for a long time without the pastor being your spiritual mentor.

    I find Reverend Wright very troubling. I don’t necessarily think the film we all saw was his normal discourse. I can’t assume it was. I find all sorts of ministers horribly offensive though–not just him. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell spring to mind. Frankly, I had similar concerns over Obama and McDonnell.

  25. michael

    The reality is “divine intervention” is almost never measurable, and almost always a misinterpretation of natural events…

    People pray, because they are afraid of “death”. They pray because they want something from God that they can’t get by themselves, either material wants, or life after death…

    I draw a clear and distinct line between those Christians like myself (liberators) who focus on a personal relationship with God and a personal conversation that benefits my soul (non-believe is the only unforgivable sin)…and those Christains or other religious fanactics (of all religions) that take the role of God, and punish others for human behavior as if they have the right to judge others and punish others based on their belief and interpretation of morality…. These are “obligation keepers or keepers of God’s LAW as a means of enforcing earthly punishment of man…for man’s behaviors and man’s beliefs…based on the Levitivan LAW rather than the 2nd covenant law…Christians really gewt these two mixed up all the time, Levitican law is obsolete, except to those religions that still use the old testament or a part of it (Kuran, Nostic, Torah, etc.)

    Only God has the right to that role of judge, jury and punishment, everyone else needs to focus on their own behavior as it impacts others.

    In other words according to Christ, you can only change yourself to solve a problem, forgive others to solve a problem, turn the other cheek and love others to solve a problem, you can’t hate them and be a new testament Christian, and you can’t change others without them wanting to change themselves….unless you can justify killing them…. and that is called state sponsored warfare….or a legal system…

  26. michael

    Religions around the world that believe in Levitican law have been throughout history more oppressive, evil, destructive, cruel, inflicting of misery, and exercising both physical and political hateful condemnation of man than any other form of oppressive and disctatorial government bent on the cruel treatment of “classes” of humans they don’t like and are incapable of loving….this is why the Bible says, the greatest threat and greatest evil will come from within the Church (that is scripture and you can look it up if you wish)….

    You can’t follow the teaching of Christ if you can’t love and forgive others (rather than punish them yourself) for their behavior’s even when you don’t agree with them.

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