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What’s Wrong with the World is dedicated to the defense of what remains of Christendom, the civilization made by the men of the Cross of Christ. Athwart two hostile Powers we stand: the Jihad and Liberalism...read more

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Barack Obama: Self-Refuting Man

by Francis Beckwith

images.jpeg"It’s always a bad practice to say 'always' or 'never."

Posted by Francis Beckwith on July 22, 2008 1:41 PM | Del.icio.us |

Comments (10)

ah, charity.

Posted by Carlos Aguilar | July 22, 2008 7:42 PM

ah, charity.

Instructing the ignorant is one of the spiritual works of mercy.

Posted by brendon | July 22, 2008 8:03 PM

Nice, but not quite as delicious, in my judgment, at least, as this great example out of Reagan's mouth from Oct. 16, 1984 -- while he was President:

And I've said repeatedly that the President should never say never, but I will never hold still for, as I say, pulling the rug out from those people that are dependent on that program.
( http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=39251 )

But to each his own.

Posted by Keith DeRose | July 22, 2008 9:17 PM

Touche' Keith!

You have to admit though that Obama's gaffe is far more eloquent and uplifting than Bush's.

Posted by Francis Beckwith | July 23, 2008 1:08 AM

But isn't Reagan acknowledging that he is breaking his own rule of never saying "never"? Which makes it not a gaffe, but intentional, and thus a serious statement of his commitment to whatever he was talking about. Which makes Obama's much the funnier. (Says she who has probably said something equivalently silly every time she speaks off-the-cuff.)

Posted by Beth Impson | July 23, 2008 9:07 AM

*sigh* once again "charity" being played like the race-card and trivializing the word to meaninglessness.

Posted by Scott W. | July 23, 2008 11:27 AM

Well, in the spirit of charitable interpretation, couldn't it be reasonable to assume that Obama was simply demonstrating the maxims' functional incoherence...thereby, giving us reason to reject it, always?

scott,
isn't the mere mention of the 'race card', race-baiting? or is that uncharitable?

Posted by Carlos Aguilar | July 23, 2008 7:03 PM

isn't the mere mention of the 'race card', race-baiting?

I'm sure we could find someone who would fly apart like a helicopter with its rear-rotor shot off at the mention of it, but for us normies, not so much.

Posted by Scott W. | July 23, 2008 10:50 PM

But isn't Obama acknowledging that he is breaking his own practice of always avoiding saying "always" and "never"? Which makes it not a gaffe, but intentional, and thus a serious statement of his commitment to whatever he was talking about. Which makes Reagan's much the funnier?

No, I wouldn't think it right to be so friendly in interpreting one while sticking it to the other.

Seriously, my best guess is that both were at least semi-intentionally playing around with the self-referentially paradoxical nature of their statements.

Posted by Keith | July 24, 2008 12:31 AM

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