Obama on the Seen and the Unseen

Katherine Mangu-Ward | August 28, 2008

Obama: "Instead, it is that American spirit — that American promise — that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend."

Seen and unseen, eh? A shout out to Frederic Bastiat?

Comments

austin|8.28.08 @ 11:02PM|#

I doubt he's even heard of Bastiat.

Fred|8.28.08 @ 11:21PM|#

In Obama's case, "seen and unseen" as in the Gestapo or the NKVD ...

Rumsfeld|8.28.08 @ 11:23PM|#

"There are known knowns, there are known unknowns, and there are unknown unknowns."

"You go to the general election with the candidate you have..."

Rimfax|8.28.08 @ 11:39PM|#

...that binds us together in spite of our differences;...

This may be a shout out to Unitarians. It sounds like a paraphrase of the Unitarian Universalist service closing.

Not that they really need a shout out. UUs will probably vote Obama/Biden at around 95%.

|8.28.08 @ 11:56PM|#

i'm pretty sure that was a reference to arthur schopenhauer: "talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see" :{

cheers!

|8.29.08 @ 12:09AM|#

It's a Biblical reference:
"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:18
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=54&chapter=4&verse=18&version=31&context=verse

|8.29.08 @ 9:02AM|#

Roman Catholics recite the Nicene Creed every week at mass which, in the modern version, contains the stanza :
"We believe in one God,/ the Father, the Almighty,/ maker of heaven and earth,/ of all that is, seen and unseen."

|8.29.08 @ 10:14AM|#

The first black politician to recite the Nicene Creed since Alan Keyes.