Big Planets Don't Cry

I had moist eyes during Obama’s election day speech in Chicago. But let me tell you: he does not get it.

James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

reluctant conclusion, the eunoia enhancer; also anacoluthon (ah-na-co-LOO-thon), the grammar switcher.

Today’s quote employs one of Figaro’s favorite argument tools: the reluctant conclusion. You claim you used to be on the other side, but facts or circumstances forced you to change your mind.

The cool thing is, Hansen switches grammar while he switches sides. “I had moist eyes,” he says in the past tense. Then he changes to the present tense, “But let me tell you…” The last four words, “he does not get it” strike monosyllabically like a hand pounding a podium.

Figaro does hate that expression, though. How can we get it when “it” has no antecedent?

What Obama doesn’t get, according to Hansen is the impending apocalypse: “global chaos,” with a planet “in imminent danger of crashing.” Obama’s “politics as usual” won’t save us, Hansen says. But in America, politics is usual. We’re a republic, not a dictatorship. Hansen is a great preacher, but the sermon has to get beyond the choir.

 Snappy Answer: Does not get what?

Comments

[Karla Pierce]

Hurray! You're back!

[Figaro]

Thanks, Karla. I didn't intend to leave so long.