7-19-2016
re: the speech that Michelle Obama made during the 08 campaign and has recently been repurposed for Melania Trump.

For just a few minutes, forget that Mrs Obama and Mrs Trump made the same speech several years apart and just pay attention to how absolutely pointless the things they are saying are. These are two people, involved in politics, are saying "your word is your bond, do what you say you're going to do and keep your promises". Seriously?  Guantanamo Bay is still open, non-violent drug crimes carry more time than ever before (just not for crack, those guys are getting a break while the people who sell other drugs are getting hit with longer and longer sentences), and those increases in minimum wage don't mean shit now that everything costs more.  So don't prattle on about keeping promises.

My favorite part is when these obscenely rich members of the ruling elite say "The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them." Neither of those ladies strike me as having fought their way up out of abject poverty any time recently.  I'm not saying they haven't worked hard - I know Mrs Obama went to law school - but what a great way to tell everyone that the only reason things are so rough for so much of the country is because they haven't worked (or dreamed) hard enough - that the flaw is with them and not with a system that favors corporations over it's citizens and cares more about holding drug addicts accountable for shoplifting than banking officials who stole billions and crashed the economy. Sorry, you could've had equality and a fair amount of the income you've provided for the people running things, but there just wasn't enough strength in your dreams.  If your dreams were stronger, you'd be able to have what we have.

It's all just soundbites and nonsense, designed to sound meaningful without saying anything that they can be held to later. They spend a lot of money to make sure everyone claps and cheers without thinking about thinking too much about what they are saying. 

What is truly beautiful here is the fact that two huge crowds of people, who believe themselves to be the complete opposite of each other politically, cheered for the exact same political speech!!!  If people from the Obama crowd had heard Mrs Trump say those things they would not have clapped like maniacs and cheered loud as fuck, and vice versa.  If the Trump supporters had heard Michelle say those words they wouldn't have found them moving or meaningful.  But as long as their party is saying something they will cheer, even if it's the exact same thing the other party is saying.

"Yes We Can" and "Make America Great Again" are two sides of the same shitty coin. Regardless of which vapid, insincere mouth it comes out of.  

Stop clapping.