You can make anyone in public life sound like the devil if you cherry pick remarks, use them out of context, distort their true meaning, and leave out key details. Granted, some public figures make it easy to do (I’m looking at you Paul Ryan). But last night’s speech by Barack Obama was pretty long on spin. The attacks turn me off, and I don’t think they are essential for explaining the president’s rationale for why he deserves another four... Read more
Michelle, I love you. The other night, I think the entire country saw just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, you make me so proud…but don’t get any ideas, you’re still going to class tomorrow. And Joe Biden, thank you for being the best Vice President I could ever hope for. Madam Chairwoman, delegates, I accept your nomination for President of the United States. The first time I addressed this convention in 2004, I was a younger man; a... Read more
My fellow Democrats, and my favorite Democrat. Jilly, I want you to know that Beau, Hunt, Ashley, and I are so proud of you. We admire the way you treat every single student who walks into your classroom. You not only teach them. You give them confidence. And the passion you bring to easing the burden on the families of our warriors. They know you understand what they’re going through. It makes a difference. And I’m grateful. So grateful that... Read more
Bill Clinton should still be a political punch line. After the Monica Lewinsky scandal and his impeachment by the House of Representatives one might think that he would still be too radioactive for the prime time slot at the DNC. Apparently not… because last night Bill Clinton stole the show. It was a legend do what he does best. Love him or hate him, you can’t argue the fact that Bill Clinton is still the most talented politician in America.... Read more
Now, Mr. Mayor, fellow Democrats, we are here to nominate a president… and I’ve got one in mind. I want to nominate a man whose own life has known its fair share of adversity and uncertainty. I want to nominate a man who ran for president to change the course of an already weak economy and then, just six weeks before his election, saw it suffer the biggest collapse since the Great Depression, a man who stopped the slide into... Read more
If you missed night 01 of the DNC2012 – here’s the one paragraph summary: “Democrats opened their convention here on Tuesday night with two simple messages for voters: Mitt Romney does not get it, and President Obama does. A parade of Democratic officials spent the first hours of the gathering detailing a political indictment of Mr. Romney, blistering him as being out of touch with the middle class and intent on taking the country back to the policies that caused... Read more
Over the past few years as First Lady, I have had the extraordinary privilege of traveling all across this country. And everywhere I’ve gone, in the people I’ve met, and the stories I’ve heard, I have seen the very best of the American spirit. I have seen it in the incredible kindness and warmth that people have shown me and my family, especially our girls. I’ve seen it in teachers in a near-bankrupt school district who vowed to keep teaching... Read more
We have a strange habit on the staff of Redemption Church where I pastor. Instead of reading from leadership books, we read about theology and scripture, so we can be formed by a story and tradition untainted by contemporary church leadership paradigms. Right now we are reading Walter Brueggemann’s classic work The Prophetic Imagination. Walter Brueggemann is my favorite OT scholar, and his work is insanely helpful to the workaday pastor. For the next few weeks my Tuesday blog entry... Read more
I confess that I’m having sock trouble. Today I ran out of regular socks and I’m wearing these Drymax running socks that came with my last pair of running shoes. They make my feet sweat, which is making it hard for me to concentrate. Why do these things squeeze so much? I confess that I belong to the old school when it comes to socks – basic Hanes crew socks. You can get a pack of six for $10. Your... Read more
Great sites for men to talk about being a husband and father are kind of hard to find. What I find out there typically ranges from the choose your own adventure type, the Mr. Magoo extreme, or the Manpaks.com extreme – which is better, but can get kind of raunchy & hardly touches on spirituality. My friend Jovan Brown has a pretty cool blog called Toward Fatherhood, which seems to be able to strike a pretty good balance. Jovan is... Read more
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