Barack Obama is a Radical Centrist, preaching and teaching dialogue, finding common ground, and listening and speaking “fair-minded words” with an open heart and an open mind. These themes appear in all of his speeches on controversial issues, which are about the only issues he speaks about. Controversy is everywhere, paralyzing us, provoking verbal hostilities and worse, wasting our time, energies and resources and producing ineffective solutions that seem to only get us into deeper troubles.
Here are some excerpts from two of his recent speeches.
From his May 17 speech at Notre Dame in which he focused on abortion:
About dealing with conflict:
“Understand – I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it – indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory – the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.”
About finding common ground:
“So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term.”
From his June 4 Cairo speech to Muslims around the world: Continue reading ‘Obama’s Radical Middle Messages’
100 Trillion Connections 