Estimated reading time: 2 minute(s)
I’ve heard this audio clip a few times, so I looked it up and found this YouTube clip. What is he talking about? Seriously? Isn’t our military the most well-funded in the world? First, where will he get the money to equal or best that funding for a “civilian national security force” (there are some sources given in the volokh.com link below), and, second… what in the world is that most-well-funded-security-force-in-the-world for? Why not just bolster military funding?
To me… this is a very troubling sound clip. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so perhaps the wording he chose was just, well, poorly chosen. From what I’ve found, he does just want to get people more involved in community service. But why call it a “national security force”? Again, it’s still troubling… but here are some more links for you to research for yourself.
UPDATE: After listening to the full-length speech below, it definitely does give more context. One thing is for sure about Barack Obama… he can definitely deliver a prepared speech. In context, in summary, his desire is to motivate each citizen of our country to give their time to helping other people, doing things that serve the community. Those two lines from the video above are a very poor choice of words (at least). I still do not agree with most of what the president has done (ridiculous “stimulus” package using money that doesn’t exist, managing/interfering with private industry (auto industry), and a tax-funded health care system – which is now apparently “on hold“) but I would say in the context of this one political speech, Obama’s remarks are less cause for concern.
Related links:
H.R. 675: Building Obama’s National Security Force (infowars.com)
Funding Barack Obama’s “civilian national security force.” (volokh.com)
(Unfortunately, I could not find the full transcript from any official site, including whitehouse.gov, but I did find the full version of the video.)