There can be no doubt that Obama works hard to be inclusive.
He has prepared and made available text, video and sound messages aimed at the many different communities and ethnic groups to be found in the United States.
I'm going to list in alphabetical order the people he aims to connect with here :-
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
African Americans
Americans Abroad
Americans with Disabilities
Arab Americans
European and Mediterranean Americans
Environmentalists
First Americans
Generation Obama
Jewish Americans
Kids
Labor
Latinos
LGBT
People of Faith
Republicans
Rural Americans
Seniors
Small Business
Sportsmen
Students
Veterans and Military Families
Women.
African Americans
Americans Abroad
Americans with Disabilities
Arab Americans
European and Mediterranean Americans
Environmentalists
First Americans
Generation Obama
Jewish Americans
Kids
Labor
Latinos
LGBT
People of Faith
Republicans
Rural Americans
Seniors
Small Business
Sportsmen
Students
Veterans and Military Families
Women.
It all seems a bit clinical to me, or am I being too cynical?
My eye was drawn to the Sportsmen, curious as to where the sportswomen were?
I am so dull!
Sport in the USA is not quite the same as sport here.
Obama speaks to the sportsmen.
“I am very mindful of the fact that sportsmen in America may have gone hunting with their fathers, their grandfathers, their mothers, their grandmothers, and that this is part of a tradition and a way of life that has to be preserved. And there's nothing that I will do as president of the United States that will in any way encroach on the ability of sportsmen to continue that tradition.”No mention of animal rights then :)
I lived on the west coast of AMerica for 4 years. I learned that you have to be careful what assumptions you make. For example, when you pull in to a "camp site" you might expect to see tents, or at least spaces to pitch them. Think again. American camp sites are geared up to cater for "recreational vehicles". If you're lucky, there might be one or two pitches for tents added as an afterthought. In the same vein, Amercicans drive on the pavement and when they table a motion, that's the same as us taking it off the table. Never assume that because an American uses the same words that they are talking about the same thing. As the saying goes, we are "two nations divided by a common language".
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