Quote:
Originally Posted by sck5
They [Republicans] dont even have to think about it - all of the positions and talking points can just be rerun from ten years ago, and more importantly people on both sides already have their attitudes about her pretty much set in concrete.
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That's the difference between the Obama freaks and the rest of the world. The former have their feet firmly rooted in "hope," while the rest of the world has them firmly rooted in reality. Conventional wisdom is widely accepted because (are you ready for this revelation?) it's
wise. It's accepted because it has been debated and challenged and tested by all the most experienced, knowledgeable people in the world, and has not been disproven. If you think about it, what Obama is saying is that his judgment is superior to the combined judgment of all the leaders of both parties. While it's theoretically possible, he's going to have to go a long ways to prove it, although many voters will undoubtedly take it on faith.
I've always thought it ironic that the first people who urge creative new thinking are the kind of hopeful people who are least equipped to create anything. New discoveries and ideas aren't made by people who hope for them. They're made by people who have a thorough understanding of the technical issues, who carefully follow all the rules of the discipline, and who see an alternative that nobody else saw before. The rules of the discipline guide you in the right direction towards the discovery, because they tell you what you
cannot do. If there is a new path to be discovered, it must be somewhere within the scope of the zone which the rules tell you is possible.
The current phrase, which has already become trite, is "thinking outside the box." Many people proudly use that expression, thinking it makes them look smart, but truthfully, the very use of that phrase demonstrates in-line thinking, rather than creative thinking. In real life, creative thinking is a rarity. If it was so easy, we wouldn't have so many problems in this world. We would have solved them all by now.
Every once in a while, a messiah comes along who claims to have the power of original thinking, because he doesn't follow conventional wisdom or conventional rules. On the contrary, he eschews them. Beware of such a person, because it's impossible to predict where he's liable to lead you. More often than not, they don't take you to your happy place.
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