"That's what makes America special. That's what makes Canada special."

June 29, 2016 8:15 PM

Obama addresses the Canadian Parliament. Includes remarks on Climate Change, Brexit, the US Election, and the War of 1812.

Transcript from C-Span.

posted by mrjohnmuller (39 comments total)

"The War of 1812"? Lol. I wonder how many people know where Brock University gets its name from, and why Brock was so important.
posted by My Dad at 8:42 PM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Is it just me, or does that transcript seem very messed up and unusable? The filtering by speaker doesn't seem to work at all, the only sectioned marked as Obama lasts 5 minutes and is mostly jokes, and the text search field doesn't do anything at all...
posted by anarch at 8:44 PM on June 29, 2016

Clean text from MacLeans.
posted by bonehead at 9:11 PM on June 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Video on CPAC plus the Three Amigos press conference,and the Mexico-US meeting. (And once again I find myself bemoaning the poor interface CPAC uses.)
posted by sardonyx at 9:48 PM on June 29, 2016

Thank you.

I've been reading/following/thinking I should comment here since, no kidding, 2001. Yeah, it was thanks to That Thing that I found myself here, damn near every day for THAT MANY YEARS. Not gonna turn this into an about-me thing, and I can't compete with rhaomi when it comes to what I wish I could put together and make an amazing story out of.

But somehow, this, after all the GWB-era horseshit (surely this); after all the things I've shared with others, after all the beautiful things I know thanks to you: somehow, it's this.
I would not have heard this. I would not have seen this. I would not have experienced this if it weren't for metafilter.
I can't thank you enough. I really, really needed to hear, see, and share this.

We've been talking a lot over the last year or so, about how much we're going to miss our current president, and as that closing time gets closer, things like this become scarce. Moments like this, when reason and care aren't part of the conversation anymore, our president can actually say: "justice is just getting started" which is now one of the most beautiful recorded things that we can share. It's one that I will share with my daughter before she's able to get it, and i hope that she never has to know what getting it would mean.

There is so much good here. And he just keeps talking while I'm typing. Haven't even made it through all of it yet. Is there anyone, alive, (comma intentional), who could hear this, and disagree? This is a J/RFK- type speech. And maybe he's been doing that a lot, but I haven't heard of it.

I'm shrugging, crying, nodding, loving, fearing, hoping hoping hoping that this just might be the right set of words that people who need them hear them, as I watch this.

I now know a lot of parents. And not a single one of them wants a world that's like the one we grew up in.

I guess I'm lucky.
posted by rp at 10:17 PM on June 29, 2016 [29 favorites]

I wonder how many people know where Brock University gets its name from, and why Brock was so important.

Of course, he's a living legend.
posted by pwnguin at 10:19 PM on June 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

Need some more edit window, fuck
posted by rp at 10:25 PM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Our two nations know first-hand the awesome power of free markets and innovation. Canadians help run some of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies. Our students study at each other’s world-class universities.

TRANSLATION: We're building the world's first HYPERLOOP™ to shuttle students directly from the MC building in Waterloo into the pits of Modor Silicon Valley.
posted by GuyZero at 11:00 PM on June 29, 2016 [7 favorites]

We’re linked by the ties of friendship and family. In my case, an outstanding brother-in-law in Burlington. I give Burlington a shout-out.
...
As John Kenneth Galbraith once said: The common denominator of progress is our people. It’s not numbers. It’s not abstractions. It’s how are people doing?

OH SO NO SHOUTOUT FOR ELGIN COUNTY HUH?

SHOUTOUT TO IONA AND THE LAKE ERIE POSSE.
posted by GuyZero at 11:03 PM on June 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

And if I can borrow a phrase, the world needs more Canada, NATO needs more Canada. We need you. We need you.

<cash register noise sample>

<MIA sample>

Obama breaks out into a Paper Planes freestyle.
posted by GuyZero at 11:07 PM on June 29, 2016 [5 favorites]

I should add that here in the nation of Lester Pearson, we reaffirm our commitment to keep strengthening the peacekeeping that saves lives around the world.

OK for all my mocking of Obama's very excellent speech I have to give him and his writers massive credit as they know exactly what buttons to push. At this point I'd let Obama get to third base and I'm not even into dudes. Dude could sell air conditioners in Nunavut with this speech.
posted by GuyZero at 11:09 PM on June 29, 2016 [9 favorites]

The man is looking old. I mean, far more than eight years older. Great White North, indeed. I'm sad, but he didn't do as much for us as I thought he promised. Anyway, we all get old. Such is life.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 12:10 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm sad, but he didn't do as much for us as I thought he promised.

Considering the weight of the entire GOP conspired to thwart his every move or action every day for eight years, I'm still surprised how much he has accomplished.
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:30 AM on June 30, 2016 [32 favorites]

They're so cute together, I just can't stand it. I want them to do a travel show in their post-office-holding life where they just drive around Canada and the U.S. and visit all the little and big towns and see all the sights. I'd watch the heck out of that.
posted by longdaysjourney at 4:56 AM on June 30, 2016 [14 favorites]

Oburlington, as it shall now be called.
posted by Kabanos at 5:01 AM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

"I want them to do a travel show"

+1

A steady plot device could be that Justin periodically gets impatient and elbow-y, and Barack has to hold him back.

(gonna miss Barry for sure)

"Oburlington" is pretty good for a title, but I'm thinking "Sunny Ways".
posted by Artful Codger at 5:03 AM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

Barack has to hold him back.

He'll continually reuse the line from the Correspondents' Dinner:
"Justin, just give it a rest."
posted by Kabanos at 5:07 AM on June 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

We’re linked by the ties of friendship and family. In my case, an outstanding brother-in-law in Burlington. I give Burlington a shout-out.

In case people don't know, Burlington is a giant parking lot where every parking spot comes with a complimentary house.
posted by srboisvert at 5:19 AM on June 30, 2016 [10 favorites]

🚣
posted by clavdivs at 5:36 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

My favourite part is at the very end, where everyone starts chanting "Four More Years"

Sigh. If only.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 5:57 AM on June 30, 2016 [6 favorites]

Obama for G-G!!!

Yeah, this speech was amazingly well-calibrated for a Canadian audience. Also the shout out to cabinet minister Maryam Monsef and her story of settling in Canada as a refugee was a truly great moment.

As I was watching a bit of the speech I found myself wondering if Obama felt different giving a speech in a country where he gas much broader popularity, in contrast to the United States.
posted by dry white toast at 7:46 AM on June 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Yeah, after what went down in the UK and what may go down in the US, I'm clearly relieved to be a PR in this country right now. Obama, just move on up here when you're out of office. It's all cool.
posted by Kitteh at 7:59 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm sad, but he didn't do as much for us as I thought he promised.

As a Canadian I wholeheartedly agree.
posted by My Dad at 8:34 AM on June 30, 2016

I agree that the shoutout for Maryam Monsef was an important one. Here's someone who was a child refugee from Afghanistan who is now a directly elected MP and a cabinet minister too.
posted by thecjm at 8:43 AM on June 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

We're building the world's first HYPERLOOP™ to shuttle students directly from the MC building in Waterloo

If it is anything like our LRT, don't expect it to be built until we have colonies on Io.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:01 AM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

Canadians love to be noticed by the cool kids. Obama (or his speech writers) played on that fact like a Cape Breton fiddler.
As I listened yesterday I alternated between awe at his message and laughter at the obvious panderings.
posted by rocket88 at 9:54 AM on June 30, 2016 [5 favorites]

Yeah, there were so many points in the speech yesterday that just made me and those I was watching with groan and say 'pandering'.

I'm not saying it wasn't a good speech or beautifully delivered--the man is a master of working a crowd, and it's obvious that he enjoys having people be putty in his hands--but boy there were just so many obvious buttons and he hit every one of them, and not just that, he telegraphed them from so far away. Even though I was trying to keep quiet so we could all listen (we watched it live) there were a few times I just couldn't help myself say the punchline before he even got the set-up finished.

I just wish for once we could do away with the mentality that, 'Oh, it's Canada, time to insert a hockey joke here,' approach to writing speeches.

(Quoting PET was genius. Pandering sure, but genius-level pandering.)
posted by sardonyx at 10:08 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's not easy to pander like that. How many American speechwriters know what a toque is? The Pearson reference? Although there's a pretty strong history of Canadian presidential speechwriters so maybe it's not that impressive.

Also:

If it is anything like our LRT, don't expect it to be built until we have colonies on Io.

Ha, just don't get Bombardier to build the cars.
posted by GuyZero at 10:17 AM on June 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

Pandering sure, but genius-level pandering

Com-Panderer in Chief!
posted by mrjohnmuller at 10:21 AM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's not easy to pander like that. How many American speechwriters know what a toque is? The Pearson reference? Although there's a pretty strong history of Canadian presidential speechwriters so maybe it's not that impressive.

"Axis of evil" was the output of one such Canadian speechwriter. I think we still owe the US a formal apology for that asshole.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:57 AM on June 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

I think we still owe the US a formal apology for that asshole.

Never heard of him. Doesn't ring a bell. Hey -- how about that Subban trade?
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:19 AM on June 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

I think if you're focused on how he spent the first ten minutes warming up his Canadian audience, you probably haven't watched the rest of the video.

Living in Europe where right-wing politics are on the rise, and watching what's playing out in Britian, this video is pretty reaussuring. Obama has the opportunity to give a low-stakes speech to a rediculously receptive audience, and what does he talk about? Equality, environmentalism, ending war, protecting minorities, respecting aboriginals, the value of diversity, the importance of science and reason, and the power of working together. He may be an avowed capitalist and an establishment politician, but this is pretty close to a complete list of the things that I think are important in the 21st century, and I think many people on metafilter would feel the same way.

You know what else? The entire house of commons of Canada stood and applauded in support of every one of these issues. With all that's going on these days, this video leaves me feeling a little bit more hopeful.
posted by Alex404 at 11:26 AM on June 30, 2016 [22 favorites]

‘Not flawless’

This article is a perfect example of what makes the Globe and Mail a quintessentially Canadian, parochial newspaper.
posted by bonehead at 12:58 PM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

So wait, you're telling me you, Capt. Renault are really Peter Mansbridge? Wow!

For those of you who didn't watch live or watch CBC, while filling waiting for the speech to start, Mansbridge apologized to his Twitter followers that no they weren't talking about the Suban trade, but would report on it during the full newscast. Of course in talking about it, he got the deals wrong and mixed it up with one of the other trades going on that same day. Then he had to come back on the air afterwards and apologize for getting the details wrong. Gah!

It was after that I switched over to CTV. At least Don Newman had some vaguely interesting commentary to off, and some snark to top it off after he pointed out that a certain ex-PM wasn't in his seat.

I'm just getting so fed up with broadcasters downplaying the importance of what's going on. Peter's partner for the day, Rosemary Barton also ticked me off when she dismissed the softwood lumber talks as "not scintillating" and apologized for mentioning them. No. That's exactly what you should be mentioning and explaining why they're important and what a major trade irritant they have been for decades. I'm so tired of dumbed-down journalism.
posted by sardonyx at 12:59 PM on June 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Solution to the EU Problem: Just put Obama in charge of Europe?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:36 PM on June 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

Oh yes, I think a vast majority of Europeans across party lines would vote for Obama for president for ever.

I can understand why many people have been disappointed with his presidency, I wasn't aware of how dysfunctional and corrupt congress was before.

Now, as everything is going to hell and we approach a life around post-apocalyptic camp-fires, I have one thing I can tell my grandchildren: I lived when Obama was president, and he did what he could.
posted by mumimor at 2:11 PM on June 30, 2016 [6 favorites]

Neil MacDonald: We're so easily flattered.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:23 PM on June 30, 2016

One thing that I can't help but notice in the images of this event is how many people are laughing and smiling. I can count on one hand the times that happened during the Harper years.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:26 PM on June 30, 2016

In case people don't know, Burlington is a giant parking lot where every parking spot comes with a complimentary house.

I take it you've only seen Burlington from the GO train?

I lived there 25+ years ago and feel like I need to defend the place.

Yes it's suburban and car-oriented but not more so than any other suburb. It at least doesn't have that monotonous quality you get in parts of, say, Calgary, where I live now. It's older homes mixed in with small subdivisions of a variety of ages, not a square mile built at a time thrown up on green fields, next to all your favourite big-box chains.

I return every few years to visit family nearby. They're building infill row houses and replacing strip malls with 10-storey condos. The parks and promenade by the lake are much improved. It's at least changing over the years, and arguably getting better from an urban planning perspective.
posted by Pruitt-Igoe at 1:20 AM on July 1, 2016