Rick Santorum: Sorry Obama, America Was Great Before 1965

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Rick Santorum has a message for President Obama: Despite what you may think, America was pretty awesome before the mid-60s.

Santorum is one of two presidential candidates speaking during the Saturday sessions at the Faith and Freedom Conference in downtown DC. At home before the social conservative crowd today, he offered up a ripping speech that touched on his long history as a national culture warrior.

As is so often the case in a Santorum address -- or a speech by virtually all of the Republicans in contention for the presidential nomination these days -- the subject of American exceptionalism came up. Sanoturm has woven this into his foreign policy speeches before, but today he raised the idea in the context of the entitlement fight.

Obama, Santorum said, thinks that it's the nation's safety net that helps to define America's greatness. This is an example of Obama missing the point about America's inherent exceptional nature, Santorum said. Social conservatives know that America had it goin' on before there was a social welfare system.

"There's one statement that everyone in this room should remember that the President of the United States says, that sums up how the President looks at America," Santorum said. "He said it about 6 weeks ago."

Santorum was referring to Obama's April 13 speech in response to the House Republican budget proposal, which ends Medicare as we know it and turns Medicaid into a block grant program. This is what Obama said that made Santorum so upset:

Part of this American belief that we are all connected also expresses itself in a conviction that each one of us deserves some basic measure of security. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, hard times or bad luck, a crippling illness or a layoff, may strike any one of us. "There but for the grace of God go I," we say to ourselves, and so we contribute to programs like Medicare and Social Security, which guarantee us health care and a measure of basic income after a lifetime of hard work; unemployment insurance, which protects us against unexpected job loss; and Medicaid, which provides care for millions of seniors in nursing homes, poor children, and those with disabilities. We are a better country because of these commitments. I'll go further - we would not be a great country without those commitments.

Those few sentences show a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, Santorum said.

"He was talking about Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance, and it was in response to the Ryan budget," Santorum recalled. "And he said this, talking about these three programs: He said 'America is a better country because of these programs. I will go a one step further: America is a great country because of these programs.'"

"Ladies and gentlemen," Santorum said to applause, "America was a great country before 1965."

What's Obama's mistake? In Santorum's eyes he forgot that America's amazingness was written on the parchment of the Declaration of Independence.

"Social conservatives understand that America was a great country because it was founded great," Santorum said. "Our founders, calling upon in the Declaration of Independence, the supreme judge, calling upon divine providence, said what was at the heart of American exceptionalism...'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights.'"

Today's speech is likely Santorum's last major address before he formally announces his presidential intentions. That announcement is scheduled for June 6.

http://tpmdc.talking...nal.php?ref=fpa

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Actually, it was a great place, from the perspective of a grade schooler. With only three channels on the TV in snowy black and white, and only board games with missing pieces, we spent most of the daylight hours outside entertaining ourselves, with sports activities, and causing general mayhem to the neighborhood.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Actually, it was a great place, from the perspective of a grade schooler. With only three channels on the TV in snowy black and white, and only board games with missing pieces, we spent most of the daylight hours outside entertaining ourselves, with sports activities, and causing general mayhem to the neighborhood.

And colored people knew their place.

[luckytxn 2,264]

And colored people knew their place.

Now they are free for sure. In fact all minorities and woman even get extra points for any jobs sought over whites because apparently white men are so much smarter. Last I remember minorities got an extra 5 points for a federal test needed to get a job still even though the balance was reached decades ago.

We get it, white men are bad and all the rest are good.

[웃 910]

Actually, it was a great place, from the perspective of a grade schooler. With only three channels on the TV in snowy black and white, and only board games with missing pieces, we spent most of the daylight hours outside entertaining ourselves, with sports activities, and causing general mayhem to the neighborhood.

We had cable and it was in color but I probably spent hundreds of hours just watching the "guide" channel. There wasn't a "guide" button yet. You went to a certain channel and watched all the shows scroll by. It was the most entertaining channel. I am sure you remember. Wasn't that long ago.

[Ban Hammer 13,265]

And colored people knew their place.

race card by post 3? isn't that some sort of record?

[scandal 951]

race card by post 3? isn't that some sort of record?

And you're saying that the Poll tax, lynchings in the south, "whites only" buses, water fountains, schools and playgrounds didn't happen? Or were acceptable? You're saying life for African Americans before the Civil Rights movement was not worse than after it?

Back to the OP, here is the phrase Obama uttered that Santorum was jumping on. With regard to Medicare, which was introduced in 1965, Obama said:

We are a better country because of these commitments. I'll go further - we would not be a great country without those commitments.

Obama didn't say "1965". And he didn't say we were a bad country, or not a great country prior to 1965. The meaning I take from what he actually said is that it's BECAUSE America continually improves itself through programs like Medicare that we are a great nation. From the founding articles of Confederation through the Constitutional Convention to the Bill of Rights to the post Civil War amendments, America has been an ongoing experiment in improving governance for the needs of the people. Medicare in 1965 was just one station on that journey. America was great before 1965 and great after, and our democratic government and the changes we make through it are what make us great.

America is exceptional, and Obama's words resound in that exceptionalism, far from denying it - as Santorum would have it.

Edited June 4, 2011 by scandal

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Rick Who? He's actually relevant in any way? If so, that would be an open admission of bankruptcy on part of the GOP.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Obama didn't say "1965". And he didn't say we were a bad country, or not a great country prior to 1965. The meaning I take from what he actually said is that it's BECAUSE America continually improves itself through programs like Medicare that we are a great nation. From the founding articles of Confederation through the Constitutional Convention to the Bill of Rights to the post Civil War amendments, America has been an ongoing experiment in improving governance for the needs of the people. Medicare in 1965 was just one station on that journey. America was great before 1965 and great after, and our democratic government and the changes we make through it are what make us great.

America is exceptional, and Obama's words resound in that exceptionalism, far from denying it - as Santorum would have it.

Spot on.

[Ban Hammer 13,265]

And you're saying that the Poll tax, lynchings in the south, "whites only" buses, water fountains, schools and playgrounds didn't happen? Or were acceptable? You're saying life for African Americans before the Civil Rights movement was not worse than after it?

[Danno 1,228]

And colored people knew their place.

When you don't have an argument as to whether social programs determined our nations "greatness".....this always comes in handy.

[Golden Gate 530]

We had cable and it was in color but I probably spent hundreds of hours just watching the "guide" channel. There wasn't a "guide" button yet. You went to a certain channel and watched all the shows scroll by. It was the most entertaining channel. I am sure you remember. Wasn't that long ago.

You are not old enough to remember 1965.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Steven and Scandal playing the race card? No. It can't be!

Stop the presses this is HUGE news.

Of course, they are left wing, what else should we expect. Though I have to agree by post 3 is a bit much and a bit ignorant. Life wasn't bad for all African Americans and there was nothing wrong with the idea of "whites only" and "blacks only." The problem with "Separate But Equal" wasn't the idea, it was the implementation. It was far from equal and THAT was the problem.

Of course, the problem with people like Scandal and Steven, is that civil rights are useless when things like medicaid, the welfate state, etc are a HUGE part of the problem that is keeping the African-American community down. All it does is keep them in voting block of Democrats, which is exactly where they want them. They can buy votes one ignorant black person at at time by offering them a few dollars more every cycle and then turning around and backstabbing them months later. It's kind of like battered wives syndrome, but worse.

[웃 910]

You are not old enough to remember 1965.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I don't mind remembering, but I wouldn't mind not having to either.

Edited June 6, 2011 by Some Old Guy