Presidential Ambition


In a recent interview, President Obama suggested that the desire for wealth and celebrity are destroying America’s middle class. He claimed that what his generation aspired to was much simpler and more achievable, and that having enough to provide for your family is all that you should seek. While this is probably sound advice for how to be happy in life, it sounds a bit hypocritical coming from the most powerful man in the world.

The president’s statements, when boiled down, sound an awful lot like “know your place.” The man, who has spent all of his adult life striving for greater and greater power, is telling millions of people that their ambition is destroying middle class America. The hypocrisy is palatable. No man who has ever been elected President has done so without any ambition. It wasn’t like we elected Barack Obama to be President in spite of his protests; we didn’t force him to campaign for the position. He wanted the prestige, the fame, the power, and there is nothing wrong with that. The President needs to remember that just as there was nothing wrong with his ambitions, there isn’t anything wrong with our ambitions either. We should all pursue a better life than the one we currently have. We should all desire the best of everything, not because we need it but because we want it. These desires should be used to motivate, to inspire, to drive us towards greatness. Nobody should ever tell us what our limitations are, especially not a man who has risen to be the leader of the free world. President Obama should remember his place before telling us to remember ours.

Edit:
Somebody request sources so below you can find the pertinent excerpt along with a link you can use to download the entire interview.
Barack Obama Criticizes Kardashians
President Barack Obama: The Kindle Singles Interview

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 9, 2013 at 2:16 PM

    Cite sources.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 9, 2013 at 2:44 PM

    Seems as though the quote is more geared towards a generation's fascination with the accumulation of material goods rather than focusing on fulfilling things like education. He isn't saying that people should give up ambition. He is condemning a culture that continually tries to tell the consumer that they do not have enough and that they will not be happy until they reach a level of wealth/fame/celebrity that the Kardashian's represent. I think, to say that the President is attacking ambition is a bit of a stretch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MilquetoastwitAugust 9, 2013 at 3:27 PM

    For some people material goods are more fulfilling than education, you may disagree but it's true. I absolutely love to learn, but I don't really place a high value on my education, and I'd probably trade my diploma for a mint condition G1 Optimus Prime.

    The quote bemoans that the lifestyle afforded to the Kardahian's by their wealth and celebrity is viewed as a paradigm of success by some people. But why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't people want to take awesome vacations, and wear nice clothes? If that's your ambition in life you should be allowed to pursue it, without the President criticizing you.

    ReplyDelete

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