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Speeches

Formal speeches by our politicians are an important tool by which we can track what they say against what they actually do -- the disconnect is usually substantial.  And the disconnect generally reflects the close relationship between the political class and the monied elite.  Despite what they may say in their speeches, politicians do not represent the interests of the electorate.  The links provided on this page offer a glimpse of the near-total control that corporatism exerts over policy.

1.  Barack Obama.  Remember the phrase "Change We Can Believe In" ?  It has now become a gag line, on par with George HW Bush's "Read My Lips".  A study of what Candidate Obama said, compared to what President Obama actually delivered, reveals a shocking disconnect.  Is it a failure, or did he just say what was required to generate the votes?  Despite his claims to the contrary, even as he was saying it, Barack Obama's rhetoric was just that, rhetoric -- and once in office he proceeded to deliver the exact opposite of what he promised.  My post from August 10, "What Would Martin Luther King Say Now?", makes this point quite emphatically.

Perhaps the most comprehensive source for Obama's speeches is the Wikisource site, which you can access here.  This is fundamentally a research tool -- it won't deliver up answers, but it will provide the source material that will allow you to establish the truth.