The failure of both sides to use "fair-minded words," he said, overly inflames an important debate. As an example, he described his own 2004 campaign Web site, which at one point referred to "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose."It was not until a doctor e-mailed him about the phrase that Obama ordered it taken down, he said.
"I didn't change my underlying position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my Web site," he told the crowd. "And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that . . . that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground."
i think obama has played the controversy so smartly. by acknowledging that "at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable," he simply calls for a civilized debate. is it naive? perhaps. but he's right. there are crazies on both sides (i am one of them). and the crazies aren't doing anything to forge understanding.
at ASU, obama also addressed the university's decision to deny him an honorary degree, saying
"Your own body of work is also yet to come," he told 60,000 people at the stadium. "Building a body of work is all about . . . the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over time, over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy. That's what you want on your tombstone. It's about not being satisfied with the latest achievement, the latest gold star -- because the one thing I know about a body of work is that it's never finished."mmmmmm, smart words. of course, nothing illustrates this point quite so finely as this daily show video.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Arizona State Snubs Obama | ||||
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