Two important speeches this week on the U.S. economy and human rights
by Jill Shah on December 8, 2011
This past Tuesday, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton each gave important, and what some are calling, historic speeches on the economy and human rights respectively.
President Obama spoke at Osawatomie High School in Osawatomie, Kansas, where he addressed the growing income inequality in the U.S. economy and emphasized the importance of laying a new foundation for broad-based prosperity in America. He paid tribute to the historic “New Nationalism” speech that Theodore Roosevelt gave in 1910 at Osawatomie and highlighted the regulations that Roosevelt enforced to ensure that “competition is fair and open and honest.”
Here a few notable excerpts from President Obama’s speech:
But, Osawatomie, this is not just another political debate. This is the defining issue of our time. This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and for all those who are fighting to get into the middle class. Because what’s at stake is whether this will be a country where working people can earn enough to raise a family, build a modest savings, own a home, secure their retirement.
I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyone plays by the same rules. These aren’t Democratic values or Republican values. These aren’t 1 percent values or 99 percent values. They’re American values. And we have to reclaim them.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke in Geneva in honor of the upcoming Human Rights Day on December 10. She recounted the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and hailed the progress that has been made in human rights around the world in the past 63 years. She went on to emphasize the commitment of equality and dignity that remains to be made to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people all over the world as “one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.”
Here are a few notable excerpts from Secretary Clinton’s speech:
Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.
...progress comes from being willing to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. We need to ask ourselves, "How would it feel if it were a crime to love the person I love? How would it feel to be discriminated against for something about myself that I cannot change?" This challenge applies to all of us as we reflect upon deeply held beliefs, as we work to embrace tolerance and respect for the dignity of all persons, and as we engage humbly with those with whom we disagree in the hope of creating greater understanding.
See the full text and video of Secretary Clinton’s speech.
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