Museum memorializes "the perpetual struggle to live up" to our national ideas

The museum, Mr. Obama said, would make visitors face uncomfortable truths. But it would also capture the essential greatness of the United States — the perpetual struggle to live up to its highest ideals.

Mr. Obama spoke emotionally of his many flights on Marine One across the Mall, past the alabaster spire of the Washington Monument and the lighted figure of Abraham Lincoln, sheltered in his memorial. He said he had watched the museum rise from the ground and thought of the days when he and his family would return to visit it as private citizens.

“We’ll walk away that much more in love with this country,” he said, “the only place on earth where this story could have unfolded.”

From The New York Times' coverage of the dedication of the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture, located on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

I hope to see the museum the next time I'm in Washington.

Obama on Academic Freedom

A guy I know over on Facebook posted this video from Now This News. It's from a speech President Obama gave last September. The president makes a good statement to which I think all Americans should be able to agree.

What's interesting to remember by way of background is that as a student in law school, Obama adhered to these principles, inviting people of all points of view--conservative and liberal and so on--to contribute to the prestigious law school journal he edited. (For details on that, I suggest you read The Bridge by David Remnick.)

Obama: We Shouldn't "Coddle" College Students
Obama thinks college students are too "coddled" sometimes
Posted by NowThis Election on Tuesday, September 15, 2015

"Mike" Scaparrotti, a Great Nomination by President Obama

President Obama has made a great decision in nominating General Curtis "Mike" Scaparrotti to serve as NATO commander.

General Scaparrotti is a son of Logan, Ohio and of St. Matthew Lutheran Church there, where I served as pastor for six years.

He is a great man of integrity, the kind of leader who never asks those he leads to do things he doesn't. He's smart, wise, and humble.

This is a great appointment.

From President Obama's Easter Message

And, since we're quoting world leaders' Easter statements (see previous post), this paragraph from President Barack Obama's Easter Prayer Breakfast caught my eye:

"With humility and with awe, we give thanks to the extraordinary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our savior. We reflect on the brutal pain that he suffered, the scorn that he absorbed, the sins that he bore, this extraordinary gift of salvation that he gave to us. And we try, as best we can, to comprehend the darkness that he endured so that we might receive God’s light.”

Read this account of the breakfast.