Comments on: The Hard Work Starts Now: Voters, Broccoli and Ice-cream

By: jgovernor

jgovernor — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:55:15 +0000

thanks so much for all the comments folks. I clearly struck a chord here. We need to stop asking Obama what he can do for us, and start working out what we can do for him- that means working on Stuff The Matters.

By: links for 2008-11-10

links for 2008-11-10 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:32:56 +0000

[...] The Hard Work Starts Now: Voters, Broccoli and Ice-cream this post managed to list my contradictory feelings after the great victory of Obama in the US elections – it underlines the fact that everybody is overwhelmed by his/her own thirst of change and that the next greatest challenge will be not to deceive the amazing hope Obama created (tags: politics USA quote hope change) [...]

By: Change that matters « rand($thoughts);

Change that matters « rand($thoughts); — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:32:33 +0000

[...] Posted by Savio Rodrigues under IBM | Tags: Change, IBM, Smarter Planet | A few days ago James Governor linked to Tim O’Reilly’s earlier comments about the things startups should work on: [...]

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 07:11:59 +0000

Well said. I agree enthusiastically that it’s not entirely about what we expect from our politicians or that we must make sure they know they must not fail, but more about how we, more collectively, can make things succeed. We collectively got more united than I have seen any voting base in my lifetime, so I would love to see us unite behind common goals to improve things all around. How we coordinate such a ridiculous number of diverse individuals? Fine question, but at least now I know the infrastructure exists, and people understand the concept, and hopefully we can all contribute enough in enough of a coordinated effort to make a difference.

Will it kind of suck to live MUCH farther beneath our means than we’re accustomed, being so painfully addicted to living to our ability to borrow? Clearly, but I don’t see that we have a choice. Hopefully we can all console & counsel one another and get ourselves out of our credit-aholic lifestyles enough to reinvigorate the american dream.

Sleeves are up, pass the garden tools. Let’s clean up this mess & get to planting! There are young minds to get hooked on science and mathematics before the next generation becomes the last in the global line.

By: Gradon Tripp

Gradon Tripp — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:36:58 +0000

Exactly. Now is most certainly one of those “Ask not what your country can do for you” moments.

The motto – Yes We Can – stands for more than winning the campaign. It’s a message that needs an addendum: Yes We Can, but it’s going to take a lot of work. I think Obama is giving us that message.

By: Esteban Kolsky

Esteban Kolsky — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:48:01 +0000

very well done. wish i had a better taste for broccoli, but it is fine. still prefer ice cream though

By: James Governor’s Monkchips » IBM Joins Obama’s Coalition for a Smart Planet: Change!

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:10:30 +0000

[...] James Governor’s Monkchips An industry analyst blog looking at software ecosystems and convergence About & Contact « The Hard Work Starts Now: Voters, Broccoli and Ice-cream [...]

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:36:08 +0000

People:

What we need to do is each eat about 30 pounds of broccoli a day for about ten years, and we’ll be just about in position to resolve this country’s fiscal crisis.

Barack Obama or John McCain or JFK himself cannot avoid the consequences of the bad economics we’ve been pursuing for the past 30+ years.

If you have not seen this documentary, I suggest that you do: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/iousa/

“Rolling up our sleeves” is not going to cut it. We’re facing a tsunami on its way, sandbags are not going to stop it.

By: Abbie Lundberg

Abbie Lundberg — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:35:52 +0000

One of the things that has most attracted me to Obama is his willingness to say, this is going to be hard work. We are all going to need to sacrifice. With Bush it was all Let Them Eat Cake. His call to patriotism was to go out and shop. I wonder – I hope – I almost believe that Americans are ready to step up and demonstrate our better selves. People are searching for meaning. What’s most appealing about our president elect is his appeal to what’s best and most noble in us as human beings.

By: Zach Beauvais

Zach Beauvais — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:35:08 +0000

Hi, James. Thanks for this. It makes me so glad to read from people who are not seeing this election as the sole redemption of America—as if we, the people, in order to recover a more perfect union, need just sit back and watch the miracle unfold.

I think there is still a lot of bitterness and polarisation left, and it’s down to individuals to change this. I wrote over on my blog just before the election, about a stark problem with some American’s rhetoric: http://is.gd/5pT2

Thanks again, and please keep blogging