President Obama

If you missed the president’s big speech in Cleveland today, you can watch the whole thing here.

(via barackobama)

Look, I know I’m supposed to stop being an asshole about politics on the interwebs because I’d like to get a job, potentially with the government, at some point, but I just can’t stand it:

It’s super easy to flippantly say that “foreign policy matters, social issues matter” when your fundamental human rights aren’t under attack.  Foreign policy, Mr. President, matters because our foreign policy kills innocent people every day, and impoverishes more, and bleeds the planet dry because of rampant consumerism that we refuse to curb.  ”Social issues,” Mr. President, matter because those “social issues” that you so flippantly mention are the heart and soul of people’s lives and bodies.  They’re about hospital visitation rights, and being able to build wealth because one’s marriage is recognized by the government.  They’re about decreasing stigma so that teenagers stop committing suicide because they get bullied because their government doesn’t actually recognize their right to exist.  And they’re about me being able to control what goes on in my own goddamn body, and keeping a level of autonomy that allows me to exercise my full and guaranteed rights as a citizen of the United States, and a first-class-because-that’s-the-only-class human being.

This election isn’t only about the middle class, and it’s not only about an economic vision:  it’s about every single one of us out here who has to fight and claw and grasp for every bit of dignity that the system tries to deprive us of.  The real question, Mr. President, is whose side are you on?

(via barackobama)