Barack Obama: Snake Oil Salesman
I am republishing an old post: Barack Obama: Snake Oil Salesman, because it contains vital truths which the electorate needs to be aware of when they cast their ballots. Please cross post and disseminate through email.
Barack Obama makes audiences swoon with his eloquent speeches, yet they come away unable to explain what he said. Examine his announcement speech. It panders to populism, assigning blame for all problems to corporate heads & politicians, obviously Republicans. It spins a web of superficiality, leaving large gaps for the listener to fill in with his own imagination. If the listener is not careful, she comes away believing that Obama promised her exactly what she wanted, regardless of her own political leaning.
Here is a sample from His March 2, 2007 speech to AIPAC.
place unlike any other on this earth – a place filled with so much
promise of what we truly can be as people; a place where we’ve learned
how in a flash, violence and hatred and intolerance can turn that promise
to rubble and send too many lives to their early graves.
What does this mean :"a place filled with so much promise of what we truly can be as people"? How does the Levant communicate anything of America's potential? The clause is a gossamer web spun from fecal matter. It has no rational meaning of its own.
walked across. I could truly see how close everything is and why peace
through security is the only way for Israel.
What is the meaning of this: "why peace through security is the only way for Israel." Exactly nothing, fill in the blanks!
is to renew the United States’ efforts to help Israel achieve peace with
its neighbors while remaining vigilant against those who do not share this
vision. Our job is to do more than lay out another road map; our job is
to rebuild the road to real peace and lasting security throughout the
region.
Eloquent speech, flowing rhetoric without intrinsic meaning, flowing smoothly about the listener's preconceptions, leaving a warm wet sensation of satisfaction without real value. Its like substituting spiced sawdust for oatmeal. Islam's canon of tradition and exegesis provides us a hint about Senator Obama's rhetoric. [Sahih Bukhari]
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Volume 7, Book 71, Number 662:
Allah's Apostle said. Some eloquent speech is as effective as magic.'
Volume 9, Book 87, Number 127:
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "I have been given the keys of eloquent speech [...]
From Ibn Kathir's Tafsir:
These poems, conform with the popular statement, "The most eloquent speech is the one that contains the most lies!''[...] Yet, one will only be able to find one or two sentences in many long poems that elaborate on the main theme of the poem, while the rest of the poem contains insignificant descriptions and repetitions.