Nobel Obama

[rosesaylavee]

Run time: 06:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZyI5Ichp0   Posted on YouTube: February 04, 2011 By YouTube Member: soulfulnoise Views on YouTube: 21   Posted on DU: February 04, 2011 By DU Member: rosesaylavee Views on DU: 936

 
A friend of a friend created this. Given the events in Egypt this week, thought it was more than apt to post.

"We are not prisoners of fate. Our actions matter. And can bend history in the direction of justice."

Peace.

edit to change 'faith' to 'fate'. hearing what I want to hear I guess this am.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. Don't they mean prisoners of 'fate?'

"Faith" doesn't make sense in that context.

[rosesaylavee]

2. Historically, faith has 'justified' a lot of wars.

More people have died because they have worshipped the wrong god than for any other reason.

On edit: found the online text and you are right. Changed the above. Wish Obama had asked me before he gave that speech. :)

[LuvNewcastle]

4. Yes, there are many of us who wish

that Obama would seek our advice.;)

[rosesaylavee]

5. Ha...

Wish he or his staff would review DU regularly. Or just contact me directly would fine too. :P

[JTFrog]

6. Thank Goddess he doesn't. n/t

[rosesaylavee]

3. Text of Obama's Nobel Speech here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-acceptance-nobel-peace-prize


THE PRESIDENT: Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, distinguished members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, citizens of America, and citizens of the world:

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations -- that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. (Laughter.) In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize -- Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela -- my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women -- some known, some obscure to all but those they help -- to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 42 other countries -- including Norway -- in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

Still, we are at war, and I'm responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill, and some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the costs of armed conflict -- filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.

More at link.