OBAMA UNIT LES USA - VERENIGT DE VSA - UNITES THE USA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJcGl1ocGp4&eurl=http://www.lesoir.be/dossiers/elections_us_2008/article_682826.shtml

Blogster Evita Neefs in De Standaard op 17.09.2009:

Hier komt Obama

Zaterdagochtend. Het is bitter koud, maar zonnig hier aan de Amerikaanse Oostkust. Even na tien uur gaf Barack Obama een korte toespraak in Philadelphia alvorens hij daar de trein naar Washington nam, samen met zijn gezin en een groep gewone Amerikanen die speciaal door hem werd uitgekozen.

En zo zijn de feestelijkheden voor zijn eedaflegging begonnen. Vandaag is het voor de Obama’s trouwens dubbel feest: first lady Michelle wordt 45 jaar.

Zoals we in de papieren krant vandaag uitleggen, inspireerde Obama zich op de treinreis die Abraham Lincoln in 1861 maakte. President Lincoln is Obama’s grote held.

In Delaware stopt de trein om vicepresident Joe Biden en diens gezin op te pikken. Hij houdt ook halt in Baltimore voor een speech van Obama. En in de vooravond komt hij aan in Union Station in Washington, maar bij die aankomst is het publiek niet toegelaten. Op enkele plaatsen langsheen het zowat 200 km lange parcours zal de trein wel trager rijden ten behoeve van het publiek.

De komende dagen zouden de temperaturen in Washington stijgen tot net boven het vriespunt, maar er zou mogelijk wat sneeuw vallen. Niemand verwacht echter dat het weer de duizenden en duizenden – miljoenen? – Obamafans zonder tickets voor de ceremonie of zonder slaapplek zal afschrikken. In ieder geval Washington is klaar voor de massa.

De dranghekken rond de Mall, waar ticketlozen dinsdag de eedaflegging kunnen bijwonen, zijn geplaatst. De 28.000 stoelen voor de betalende gasten staan netjes op rijen. De vlaggen hangen. Duizenden chemische toilethokjes in bonte kleuren staan opgesteld op de Mall en langsheen Pennsylvania Avenue, waarlangs de Obama’s na de eedaflegging naar het Witte Huis zullen rijden.

En de veiligheidsdiensten staan paraat. Nooit eerder is er zo’n enorme veiligheidsoperatie gelanceerd voor een inauguratie dan voor deze van de eerste (half)zwarte president.

Vanmiddag wordt een speciaal ‘veiligheidscentrum’ in gebruik genomen. Vanuit dat commandocenter worden de 5.265 camera’s die in de stad zijn opgesteld, in het oog gehouden. En de 40.000 politiemensen en leden van de Nationale Garde aangestuurd.

Obama verenigt alle Amerikanen, ongeacht hun afkomst, religie, taal,...

Wie kan de gelijkenissen en de verschillen met de Belgische politiek NIET zien?

Is Obama geen les voor alle particraten en nationalisten in België?


LA LIBRE BELGIQUE:

Etats-Unis

Voyage triomphal: Mr Obama à Washington
AFP

Mis en ligne le 18/01/2009

A trois jours de son investiture comme 44e président des Etats-Unis, Barack Obama a entrepris un voyage en train entre Philadelphie et Washington, galvanisant les foules tout au long du parcours vers la capitale où l'attendent des "jours difficiles".

L'investiture: une tradition bicentenaire

Barack Obama est arrivé samedi soir à la gare de Washington, au terme d'un voyage triomphal en train entre Philadelphie (est) et la capitale, où il sera investi mardi 44e président des Etats-Unis.

Ce voyage de 225 km, qui a donné le coup d'envoi des festivités pour l'investiture mardi du premier président noir des Etats-Unis, s'inscrit dans les traces du modèle de M. Obama, Abraham Lincoln qui avait emprunté le même itinéraire avant son investiture en 1861.

Malgré un froid glacial, Barack Obama a été acclamé par des milliers d'admirateurs massés le long de la voie. Debout à l'arrière du train, sur la plate-forme d'un wagon bleu nuit des années 1930, le futur président saluait la foule. A l'étape de Baltimore, quelques 40.000 personnes ont assisté à son discours. "Il nous a envoyé un message stimulant", a dit Michael Williams, resté pendant six heures dans le froid avant qu'Obama ne prenne la parole.

"Les gens veulent un changement qui soit positif, a-t-il expliqué. Ces dernières années, nous n'en avons eu aucun. Nous avons bien besoin d'un remontant". "C'est magnifique. Ca me donne envie de faire plus de choses dans ma vie", a expliqué Will Moore, 22 ans, tandis que Nicole Harris, une hôtesse de l'air de 32 ans, a confié être "venue pour voir l'Histoire en marche". Le futur chef d'Etat a retrouvé devant les foules venues l'entendre les accents de sa campagne.

"Ensemble, nous savons qu'il y a du travail à faire", a-t-il déclaré lors d'une étape à Wilmington (Delaware, est). "Ensemble, nous savons que l'Amérique se trouve à la croisée des chemins: un pays en guerre et une économie en panne, un rêve américain qui semble s'évaporer". "Le temps est venu de nous relever une fois encore", a-t-il lancé. A la gare, Barack Obama a été rejoint par le futur vice-président Joe Biden, qui a représenté l'Etat du Delaware à Washington pendant 36 ans.

Le convoi d'une dizaine de wagons, remplis de journalistes et d'agents de sécurité, est parti symboliquement de Philadelphie (Pennsylvanie, est), berceau de la déclaration d'indépendance de 1776 et de la Constitution américaine. M. Obama était accompagné de son épouse Michelle, qui fêtait samedi son 45e anniversaire, et de ses filles Sasha et Malia.

Avant de prendre place à bord du train, M. Obama s'est dit conscient de l'arrivée de "jours difficiles", en référence à la récession et aux deux guerres livrées par l'Amérique en Irak et en Afghanistan. "Rarement dans notre histoire, une génération aura été confrontée à d'aussi importants défis, a-t-il déclaré. Les difficultés peuvent être surmontées "si nous faisons appel à l'esprit qui a renforcé notre démocratie depuis que George Washington a prêté serment", a-t-il dit, évoquant le premier président investi en 1789.

Il a invité ses compatriotes à adopter une "nouvelle déclaration d'indépendance". "Pas simplement dans notre pays, mais dans nos propres vies, (une indépendance vis-à-vis) de l'idéologie et de l'étroitesse d'esprit, des préjugés et du sectarisme", a-t-il dit.

Après Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama marchera dimanche dans les pas d'un autre de ses modèles: il prendra la parole sur les marches du Lincoln Memorial, où Martin Luther King, le leader noir assassiné, a prononcé en 1963 son fameux discours "I have a dream" sur l'égalité entre noirs et blancs. Son discours doit être suivi d'un concert où seront présentes de nombreuses stars. Le président élu réside en fait depuis le début du mois à Washington où il s'est installé pour que ses filles puissent commencer l'école en début de trimestre.

A trois jours de son investiture comme 44e président des Etats-Unis, Barack Obama a entrepris un voyage en train entre Philadelphie et Washington, galvanisant les foules tout au long du parcours vers la capitale où l'attendent des "jours difficiles".

Comment ne pas voir les ressemblances et les différences avec la politique belge?

Obama est aussi l'homme politique dont la Belgique a cruellement besoin !

On a grandement Besoin d'un Obama belge.
We hebben een Belgische Obama nodig.

Nous sommes un.
We zijn een.

Oui,nous pouvons.
Ja,we kunnen.

Zeer goede passage in het vet - très bon passage en lettres grasses:

Obama's inaugural speech

(CNN) -- Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States and the nation's first African-American president Tuesday. This is a transcript of his prepared speech.

In his speech Tuesday, President Obama said America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

J'en connais qui devraient en prendre de la graine.Cette phrase est d'ailleurs très représentative:« Nous ne devons pas être ennemis. Bien que la passion ait pu avoir tendu nos liens d'affection, elle ne doit pas les rompre. Les cordes mystiques de la mémoire, s'étendant de chaque champ de bataille et de chaque tombe de patriote, jusqu'à chaque cœur vivant et chaque foyer partout dans ce pays immense, feront résonner encore le chœur de l'Union, une fois touchées encore, autant qu'elles le seront certainement par les meilleurs anges de notre nature. »

Il prend exemple sur le président Roosevelt qui s'adressait aussi périodiquement aux Américains via la radio par des "causeries au coin du feu".

Hij inspireert zich op president Roosevelt die ook via de radio periodieke toespraken hield tot de Amerikanen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yeg4YBfj5ro&eurl=http://www.lesoir.be/actualite/monde/obama-explique-son-plan-de-2009-01-24-684867.shtml

Passage intéressant du "discours de victoire" d'Obama du 4 novembre 2008:
Interessant citaat van Obama uit zijn Victory Speech van 4 november 2008:

"It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America."

Om te beginnen wil ik duidelijk zin: de keuze voor Obama is een zegen voor heel de wereld.

Maar hierbij wil ik toch een belangrijke kanttekening maken: Obama is een zegen voor heel de wereld, omdat de keuze voor een zijn tegenkandidaat een ramp voor heel de wereld zou zijn.

Ik vind de verkiezing van Obama dus heel goed, maar de media maken er een te groot spectakel van naar mijn zin. Voor mij is het nog geen heilige, verre van zelfs...

tiboo wrote:

Om te beginnen wil ik duidelijk zin: de keuze voor Obama is een zegen voor heel de wereld.

Maar hierbij wil ik toch een belangrijke kanttekening maken: Obama is een zegen voor heel de wereld, omdat de keuze voor een zijn tegenkandidaat een ramp voor heel de wereld zou zijn.

Ik vind de verkiezing van Obama dus heel goed, maar de media maken er een te groot spectakel van naar mijn zin. Voor mij is het nog geen heilige, verre van zelfs...

Neen, neen, en wij weten wel waarom jij dat zo vindt, Tiboo.