2008 Woodie Awards
What's in between the lines
By Luigino Petrone
Issue date: 4/7/08 Section: Op-Ed
His ideas boom with the passion to make those in the audience tremble with emotion. His voice traverses the air of any venue with ease. His posture bears the semblance of a regal prince. But for his intention; his intention is buried deep beneath a tongue of deception.
Though a wonderful public speaker at face value, Barack Obama leaves much to be desired in the eyes of the politically informed critical viewer. During "Hardball" last Wednesday, Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama responded to the all but weak questions of Chris Matthews, arbiter of the arguably most liberal cable TV news network. While doing this, he outlined his future plan for America, which admittedly, did not sound too bad. It sounded as if he had a plan for everything - from the housing crisis to college tuition costs to our problems abroad. He spoke with relevancy and did not just say what he is planning to do, he also elaborated on how.
"We'll invest in you, you invest in America" was his message to the American youth, stating that he plans give away $4,000 dollar tuition credits if they partake in community service - an idealistic idea that makes sense. But what is the difference between doing that and getting a job and earning that amount on your own? The difference is where the money comes from. Whereas the $4,000 from working comes from the business where you worked, the Pell-grant comes from the tax-payer. It essentially is the money that the government takes from your and your parents' wallets that you do not even see because it is taken from you before you can even cash that paycheck at the end of the week. Maybe we would not need the Pell-grants if 33 percent of our income was not taken. But of course if that happened, there would not be much need for the government would there, aside from trivial things like protecting our nation from foreign threats. Perhaps that is why the senator hinted at taking some of the money from Iraq and putting it into scholarships…or maybe he just wanted to win the crowd.
Though a wonderful public speaker at face value, Barack Obama leaves much to be desired in the eyes of the politically informed critical viewer. During "Hardball" last Wednesday, Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama responded to the all but weak questions of Chris Matthews, arbiter of the arguably most liberal cable TV news network. While doing this, he outlined his future plan for America, which admittedly, did not sound too bad. It sounded as if he had a plan for everything - from the housing crisis to college tuition costs to our problems abroad. He spoke with relevancy and did not just say what he is planning to do, he also elaborated on how.
"We'll invest in you, you invest in America" was his message to the American youth, stating that he plans give away $4,000 dollar tuition credits if they partake in community service - an idealistic idea that makes sense. But what is the difference between doing that and getting a job and earning that amount on your own? The difference is where the money comes from. Whereas the $4,000 from working comes from the business where you worked, the Pell-grant comes from the tax-payer. It essentially is the money that the government takes from your and your parents' wallets that you do not even see because it is taken from you before you can even cash that paycheck at the end of the week. Maybe we would not need the Pell-grants if 33 percent of our income was not taken. But of course if that happened, there would not be much need for the government would there, aside from trivial things like protecting our nation from foreign threats. Perhaps that is why the senator hinted at taking some of the money from Iraq and putting it into scholarships…or maybe he just wanted to win the crowd.
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