The President’s Speech
President’s speech echoes Roosevelt’s call for progressive ideals
By Russ Morgan
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The importance of Kansas and its ties to political history were not forgotten when President Barack Obama addressed a crowd of listeners at Osawatomie High School on Tuesday.
The speech, in which Obama put forth a vision of the country’s economic future, ties back over 100 years to a speech delivered by former President Teddy Roosevelt delivered in the same town. In that speech, Roosevelt outlined what he called the New Nationalism, a group of ideals some believe led to America’s rise as an economic power.
“This isn’t just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time,” Obama said on Tuesday. “This is a make or break moment for the middle class, and all those who are fighting to get into the middle class.”
Of particular importance to Emporia is the hand played by William Allen White in the remarks Roosevelt made in his Osawatomie speech on Aug. 31, 1910. White, a friend and advisor to Roosevelt, helped prepare the remarks the former president made on that day and attended the speech himself. It has been speculated that White added comments to Roosevelt’s speech to shape it in the form of the Progressive ideas of the Kansas Republican platform of the time, according to an article in the Kansas Historical Quarterly. In his speech, Roosevelt called for greater governmental regulation to even the playing field for all Americans, espousing “a more substantial equality of opportunity.”
Obama’s speech echoed those notions in modern terms, even quoting Roosevelt to point out growing dissatisfaction with income inequality in this country.
“In 1910, Teddy Roosevelt came here, to Osawatomie, and laid out his vision for what he called a New Nationalism,” Obama said. ‘Our country,’ he said, ‘means nothing unless it means the triumph of a real democracy ... of an economic system under which each man shall be guaranteed the opportunity to show the best that there is in him.’”
Roosevelt was speaking during a transformational period of the country’s history. An emerging middle class was strengthening the nation’s backbone, and advances in industry were strengthening the economy. Progressive ideals were aimed at protecting that infant middle class, and at ensuring fairness in the practices of larger entities.
“This New Nationalism regards the executive power as the steward of public welfare,” Roosevelt stated in his speech. “It demands of the judiciary that it shall be interested primarily in human welfare rather than in property, just as it demands that the representative body shall represent all the people rather than any one class or section of the people.”
Obama’s speech echoed those notions and brought up issues the country faces today, in another transitional period.
“We simply cannot return to this brand of you’re-on-your own economics if we’re serious about rebuilding the middle class in this country,” he said. “We know that it doesn’t result in a strong economy. It results in an economy that invests too little in its people and its future. It doesn’t result in a prosperity that trickles down. It results in a prosperity that’s enjoyed by fewer and fewer of our citizens.”
Touching on public dissatisfaction with growing income inequality, Obama noted that while the incomes of the top earners have maintained steady growth, incomes of a large majority of citizens have stagnated. A CEO who once earned about 30 times more than his workers now earns about 110 times more.
“This kind of inequality — a level we haven’t seen since the Great Depression — hurts us all,” he said. “When middle class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, it drags down the entire economy, from top to bottom.”
The solution, he said, is to make sure every American has a fair shot at success. One way is to commit to education.
“In this economy, a higher education is the surest route to the middle class,” he said. “... We shouldn’t be laying off good teachers right now — we should be hiring them. We shouldn’t be expecting less of our schools — we should be demanding more.”
Obama’s speech was less a policy statement and more a visionary outline, one that echoed the Progressive ideals that Roosevelt, with White’s help, outlined in Osawatomie a little over a hundred years ago. Two years after Roosevelt’s speech, his ideas became the platform of the Progressive Party.
“We are all Americans,” Obama quoted Roosevelt as saying to his Kansas listeners. “Our common interests are as broad as the continent.”
Among those in attendance were several from Emporia. Barbara Fowler, a history teacher at Emporia Middle School, made the trip to see Obama speak. Fowler said she was glad her superintendent gave her the day off to see the speech, realizing how important the event was to her.
“It was pretty exciting,” she said of his address. “I thought it was phenomenal. I thought he was teaching the Golden Rule without coming right out and saying it: you’ve got to look out for others.”
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Wall Street has their manand his name is Barac Obama.
http://www.infowars.com/moore-wall-st...
December 7, 2011 at 3:11 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
The people are to big to fail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEnZVe...
December 7, 2011 at 3:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
His speech was nothing more than common sense. Looking out for others... seems there is a book out there a lot of people read that talks about this....
December 7, 2011 at 3:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
A WARNING FOR THE USA.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EC7qx...
December 7, 2011 at 3:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
obama promises to save middle class by enslaving it.
http://reason.com/archives/2011/12/07...
December 7, 2011 at 4:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Rush limbaugh on Obama Kansas Speech.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/201...
December 7, 2011 at 4:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jafo (anonymous) says...
Am I the only one that noticed that the American flag was on the wrong side? Did the Kansas Republicans set him up or just maybe even our President doesn't know proper flag etiguette.
December 7, 2011 at 5:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
jafo,
Wow! How many believe that our President actually goes to his own speaking venues to check the placement of flags beforehand?
My guess is that somebody at the school set it all up and didn't realize what he or she was doing.
But the President himself?
Really?
Wow. Picking on President Obama has hit an all time low.
December 7, 2011 at 5:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
reddog, I'm getting real sick of your spamming. Part of this is my fault because I taught you how to post a link. I gave you an inch and you took forty thousand miles.
Jeez, will you knock it off!!!!!!!
One link per story, please !!!
December 7, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
Create, why are you sick of my spanning? I think it is that you can't span back.
December 8, 2011 at 12:23 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
americus1987 (anonymous) says...
Red, it's "spaMMing" and people don't "spaM" each other back and forth. People call it spam because it is garbage that nobody wants to waste their time by looking at it.
December 8, 2011 at 12:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
reddog,
Remember the fable about the little boy who kept crying " wolf"?
After a while everyone just ignored him. Your continued use of spam links just upsets people and most ignore the links anymore.
When the Gazette finishes their upgrade of this site, it will have an 'IGNORE" BUTTON next to every post.
Using that button will remove and block every post from you from the users screen.
Every once in a while you post something in your own words that add to the discussion, and is interesting.
But if you continue with the spam links now, I will, (and others will too, ) hit that IGNORE button. when this site is improved. Then you may still spam all you want. Most of us will never see your posts. Even the ones in your own words.
Just a heads up ,
December 8, 2011 at 7:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Steve_Corbin (anonymous) says...
reddog,
Don't take my word for this. Just go to the reader forums where you post your links quite often. Have any of your posts on there resulted in serious discussion?
maybe you just want to get your name out there on a regular basis? If that's the case, please reconsider. It's not a good image you are projecting.
December 8, 2011 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
Steve,
Thanks for making my morning, an ignore button for reddog will go a long way to facilitate thoughtful discussions, I know many here that don't comment because they tire of wading through his BS.
December 8, 2011 at 8:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Just got my morning made too even though I've been recovering from serious surgery and nothing makes me feel good except news of this ignore button. Yippee. Thanks, Steve. Can't do cartwheels, but then again, I never could.
December 8, 2011 at 10:21 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ARand (anonymous) says...
NOTE TO OBAMA: Teddy Roosevelt's progressivism is a far cry from the anti-American, Marxist agenda of an unapologetic Saul Alinsky disciple. Roosevelt's reforms mainly focused on unfair competition, child labor laws, working conditions. There was an obvious need for common sense regulation to address these glaring deficits. Though I do not agree with all of Teddy's beliefs, I do not view him as an enemy of liberty or capitalism. America was an exploding industrial superpower - venturing into unknown waters - and the welfare of many Americans was literally falling between the proverbial cracks of profit. Today there are ample checks and balances to assist the American worker; and rightfully so. Sadly, however, far too many Unions blatantly abuse the system, showing little regard for the blessings and opportunity afforded to them, let alone respect for the companies that put food on their tables. Make no mistake about it; nothing about progressivism in the 21st century is synonymous with freedom, justice, self reliance, and accountability…the cornerstones of our Constitution. This ideological schism is but another name for an old adversary – Communism – who now defiantly rears its head in the most unlikely of places, the epicenter of our democratic trust: The Oval Office.
By the tone of this article, the inherent subtext, I sense but another reporter hopelessly in the tank for Obama. How tragic is it that freedom and journalistic integrity has morphed into an intrinsic desire to willing serve as a minion of propaganda rather than “the truth”. Since Mr. Hussein’s coronation, nearly every economic indicator has become substantially worse. And for a leader, a party, who controlled both the legislative and executive branch…did as they pleased…they have no one to blame but themselves. If Bush was a catastrophe - as liberals unrelentingly claim - Obama is an absolute catastrophe. After all, we elect leaders to find solutions, not excuses. If you’re looking for mindless drivel, progressive nonsense, just listen to NPR. They’re about as unbiased as a Yankee fan in October and twice as annoying.
December 8, 2011 at 10:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
goodoleboy (anonymous) says...
Nice write up, but a tool is a tool no matter how well your elocution. There was nothing wrong his speech, try some common sense and a little less Limbaugh and Beck.
December 8, 2011 at 11:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sail (anonymous) says...
Well after the NAT DEF AUT ACT passed, im just going to drink the kool-aid and say geee Wally things are swell.....
December 8, 2011 at 4:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )