She hit all the right notes. Struck the chords. Evoked the emotion.
Great speech arouses.
Got the audience on their feet.
They were waiting to hear, not for a hand-out but for a herald.
Together we can.
But the disconnect is when it comes to action: People simply don’t believe either side i.e. the propaganda, the politics and the promises.
But if everyone elects not to vote, the problems won’t go away. Collective denial.
Suicide.
The take-away, and there are many, from Michelle O’s speech was that she is a concerned mom, just like everyone else.
Down to earth, homie and honest.
Just need a chance.
A shot at the dream, and not a shot in the dark.
An opportunity to work, to materialize the dream.
America has been about hardware (military and moral righteousness). Now it needs to be nimble, to focus on its strength: software, education and not entitlement, creativity and not exclusivity, competitiveness but not isolation.
Soft power.
After all, it has learned hard lessons from relying on hardware and hard numbers alone (ironically, there is a piece about Hubbard Sciences attempt to cure Agent Orange victims in Hanoi . Twice the wrongs won’t make one right).
We keep exporting the worst (sex and violence in films), while suppressing the best (foreign language and art programs).
(Apple’s late CEO – Steve Jobs – said he honestly could not find enough qualified engineers to produce the I-phones in the US).
Go figure.
Back to our Mom-in-Chief.
From the standpoint of a delayed-broadcast viewer, I am still at a loss about our complacency: we can now view broadcast from any laptop, at any time, anywhere.
We live in a time when Presidents can tweet. And we can too. From the People, by the People.
Yet we are out of touch, not because of lacking in ways but in will (courtesy of Lloyd Tran of the Cleantech Institute).
Kids will take charge. They will look back at this generation as the “transitional” one (from go go to so-so times).
Though we will not be remembered as the Greatest Generation, at least, depends on how we act, as the Survivors Generation. The phasing out of the Old Order (Post Office, hard-back books, Internal Combustion Engines, polluted nation, homeless nation etc…) to the new (4-hour work week, EV nation, Virtual Leader of the World.) Be all you can be America. Keep the Dream alive and attractive, still. The whole world is watching, not just the speech, but the story, to see how the narrative unfolds. Empires have all gone down this path, with beginning, middle and ending.
Let’s hope we can stretch our plot a while longer. Keep them guessing. Hint: share the software and start the chain of goodwill effects.
Thang Nguyen 555 