strong>By Jill Chapin
April 6, 2009
The general meaning of the French phrase “bon mot” is that of a clever remark or a witticism. But the more literal translation is “good word.”
And that’s how I can best describe our president’s recent oratory in Europe. His words were not only good; they were a veritable feast for a starving world, a delectable banquet of bon mots that filled us up and put to rest those aching hunger pangs for substantive rhetoric over empty caloric junk-speak.
His words were mouthwateringly pleasurable, precisely because he fed us large helpings of our owning up to some of our hubris, while simultaneously stirring in sweet dollops of praise in areas that are well deserved.
His measured and thoughtful responses to candid questions put to him by students in France sated a hunger that we have felt for far too long. They were delicious, and just as you would want another taste of a super yummy bon-bon, so too might you want yet another serving of some of his bon mots.
There are countless examples of how he was able to combine some unpleasant truths with a newfound commitment for the United States to continue doing what we do best while promising to improve upon those areas in which we have gone astray.
The following is my favorite string of words that President Obama prepared for us as he told Europeans that his trip was “about listening and not lecturing.” He went on to say:
“We exercise our leadership best when we are listening, when we recognize that the world is a complicated place and that we are going to have to act in partnership with other countries, when we lead by example, when we show some element of humility and recognize that we may not always have the best answer, but we can always encourage the best answer and support the best answer.”
Aah. Roll these words over in your mind as often as you please. You’ll never get weighted down with bon mots such as these, because they are nutritious words, devoid of the wasteful calories of specious oratory.
How refreshing for us finally to be able to put an end to our starvation as we comfortably push ourselves away from the table of his bountiful rhetoric.
The Hunger Site
April 6, 2009 at 11:21 am
“A world in danger”… “a need to sacrifice”… “unity to core values which we have in common”– the Teleprompter president underscores our need to have an “us” and a “them”.
I hear nothing but the vilest hypocrisy in Obama’s words.
“If only I were wrong!” I should add, as other skeptics feel obliged to do in the face of Obamamania, progressive orthodoxy, and mass delusion.
It is my understanding that Guantanamo won’t be closed in more than a week, that other prisons continue to exist, that the War On Terror (rebranded) continues, that America’s 700+ military bases abroad are in no danger of closing, that this president approves of trillions in bailouts for criminal bankers while tossing chump change to communities that are crumbling.
Words are words; deeds are deeds.
I’ve yet to see beyond his rhetoric much that would convince me that this obscure junior senator become president is not Bush III, come to placate the idealistic and sorely hopeful with his words of honey.