[FONT="]Robert writes:[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I came across this story on the interwebs today. I’ve sent the most concise version, I’ve also provided a couple links where their relationship is discussed in news reports. Thought it’d be good to add to your Megan Rapino inspired rant from this morning on your radio show. Keep up the good work. [/FONT]
[FONT="]At U2 concerts in the early 90’s, a regular part of the show featured criticism of George H.W. Bush. In fact, frontman Bono used to call the White House in the middle of the concert to try to get a chance to speak to the 41st President.
When George H.W. Bush’s son George W. Bush became President in 2001, Bono was also a critic of his.
George W. Bush didn’t go to war with the critic of himself and his father. Instead he invited him to talk about something they had a common passion for, saving lives in Africa. They had lunch together in the White House Mess hall, then Bush took him to the oval office. For 40 minutes they discussed A.I.D.S., malaria, and debt relief.
After the meeting, in 2003, Bush started a program in Africa known as PEPFAR, which 14 years later is credited with saving over 11 million lives.
Yesterday, Bono was in Texas as part of the current U2 tour, and paid a visit to his old friend, George W. Bush.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when mature people find common ground for the good of all.”
[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Thanks for sharing this story, I didn’t know it, but it’s a fantastic example of why you should meet with people you disagree with politically — because you might well find out that you have something in common after all and you could end up making a tremendous difference.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]If Megan Rapinoe has a deep disagreement with Donald Trump over some specific decisions he’s made, why wouldn’t she take the opportunity to meet with him face-to-face and make the case for her positions? Love him or hate him, Trump is the most powerful elected official in the world. His time is his most valuable commodity. If you get a chance to meet him, you might be able to persuade him, like Bono did in your above example, to take action about something you believe in.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Using Kim Kardashian as an example, Trump has proven he’s impacted by direct appeals from celebrities. It’s downright possible he might agree with you and change the policy you oppose.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]At a minimum, you have to take that meeting.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Unfortunately, we have made it a point of pride in 2019 to refuse to interact in any way with people you disagree with in politics. You can see that in the controversy that arose when Joe Biden had the gall to say he worked alongside segregationist senators in the 1970’s.[/FONT]
[FONT="]OF COURSE HE DID.[/FONT]
[FONT="]THAT WAS HIS JOB.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Is he just supposed to refuse to speak with other senators because he disagrees with them? Politics is the art of the possible and the only way anything is possible is if you have bipartisan relationships with your co-workers. Think about in your own job, what if you just refused to speak with anyone at work who disagreed with you on abortion or transgender issues or guns or any politically contentious issue under the sun.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Think about how absurd you’d be if you were a nurse and you walked into your bosses office and said, “I can’t work with (insert doctor’s name here) on this knee replacement because we have different opinions on the second amendment.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]You’d deserved to get fired on the spot because your divergent opinion on the second amendment wouldn’t mean you couldn’t work on a knee replacement together.[/FONT]
[FONT="]That’s my biggest issue with Megan Rapinoe — you shouldn’t be praised for refusing to meet someone. It isn’t commendable to decline a meeting with the president because you don’t like him. Protesting for protesting’s sake isn’t a viable long term strategy. And it certainly isn’t a praiseworthy one.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Especially not when Rapinoe said she’s happy to meet with people who already agree with her. Well, fine, but what’s the point in that?[/FONT]
[FONT="]If you study American history the civil rights movement was designed to get a seat at the table for the protesters so they could enact meaningful change in the country. The civil rights protesters didn’t want to protest forever and rage against the system, they wanted concrete and actionable results. Which they ultimately received.[/FONT]
[FONT="]How?[/FONT]
[FONT="]BY MEETING WITH THE PEOPLE IN POWER.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Think about what people protest now — the women’s march after Donald Trump was inaugurated wasn’t actually advocating for anything, it was just letting the president know that if he did anything they didn’t like they’d be prepared to protest again.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It’s insane that so many praised Rapinoe for what she did. If anything, it was cowardly and hypocritical. Saying you disagree with the president because he excludes people like you and choosing not to meet with him makes you the excluder, not him.[/FONT]
[FONT="]“I came across this story on the interwebs today. I’ve sent the most concise version, I’ve also provided a couple links where their relationship is discussed in news reports. Thought it’d be good to add to your Megan Rapino inspired rant from this morning on your radio show. Keep up the good work. [/FONT]
[FONT="]At U2 concerts in the early 90’s, a regular part of the show featured criticism of George H.W. Bush. In fact, frontman Bono used to call the White House in the middle of the concert to try to get a chance to speak to the 41st President.
When George H.W. Bush’s son George W. Bush became President in 2001, Bono was also a critic of his.
George W. Bush didn’t go to war with the critic of himself and his father. Instead he invited him to talk about something they had a common passion for, saving lives in Africa. They had lunch together in the White House Mess hall, then Bush took him to the oval office. For 40 minutes they discussed A.I.D.S., malaria, and debt relief.
After the meeting, in 2003, Bush started a program in Africa known as PEPFAR, which 14 years later is credited with saving over 11 million lives.
Yesterday, Bono was in Texas as part of the current U2 tour, and paid a visit to his old friend, George W. Bush.
It is amazing what can be accomplished when mature people find common ground for the good of all.”
[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Thanks for sharing this story, I didn’t know it, but it’s a fantastic example of why you should meet with people you disagree with politically — because you might well find out that you have something in common after all and you could end up making a tremendous difference.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]If Megan Rapinoe has a deep disagreement with Donald Trump over some specific decisions he’s made, why wouldn’t she take the opportunity to meet with him face-to-face and make the case for her positions? Love him or hate him, Trump is the most powerful elected official in the world. His time is his most valuable commodity. If you get a chance to meet him, you might be able to persuade him, like Bono did in your above example, to take action about something you believe in.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]Using Kim Kardashian as an example, Trump has proven he’s impacted by direct appeals from celebrities. It’s downright possible he might agree with you and change the policy you oppose.[/FONT]
[FONT="][/FONT]
[FONT="]At a minimum, you have to take that meeting.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Unfortunately, we have made it a point of pride in 2019 to refuse to interact in any way with people you disagree with in politics. You can see that in the controversy that arose when Joe Biden had the gall to say he worked alongside segregationist senators in the 1970’s.[/FONT]
[FONT="]OF COURSE HE DID.[/FONT]
[FONT="]THAT WAS HIS JOB.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Is he just supposed to refuse to speak with other senators because he disagrees with them? Politics is the art of the possible and the only way anything is possible is if you have bipartisan relationships with your co-workers. Think about in your own job, what if you just refused to speak with anyone at work who disagreed with you on abortion or transgender issues or guns or any politically contentious issue under the sun.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Think about how absurd you’d be if you were a nurse and you walked into your bosses office and said, “I can’t work with (insert doctor’s name here) on this knee replacement because we have different opinions on the second amendment.”[/FONT]
[FONT="]You’d deserved to get fired on the spot because your divergent opinion on the second amendment wouldn’t mean you couldn’t work on a knee replacement together.[/FONT]
[FONT="]That’s my biggest issue with Megan Rapinoe — you shouldn’t be praised for refusing to meet someone. It isn’t commendable to decline a meeting with the president because you don’t like him. Protesting for protesting’s sake isn’t a viable long term strategy. And it certainly isn’t a praiseworthy one.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Especially not when Rapinoe said she’s happy to meet with people who already agree with her. Well, fine, but what’s the point in that?[/FONT]
[FONT="]If you study American history the civil rights movement was designed to get a seat at the table for the protesters so they could enact meaningful change in the country. The civil rights protesters didn’t want to protest forever and rage against the system, they wanted concrete and actionable results. Which they ultimately received.[/FONT]
[FONT="]How?[/FONT]
[FONT="]BY MEETING WITH THE PEOPLE IN POWER.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Think about what people protest now — the women’s march after Donald Trump was inaugurated wasn’t actually advocating for anything, it was just letting the president know that if he did anything they didn’t like they’d be prepared to protest again.[/FONT]
[FONT="]It’s insane that so many praised Rapinoe for what she did. If anything, it was cowardly and hypocritical. Saying you disagree with the president because he excludes people like you and choosing not to meet with him makes you the excluder, not him.[/FONT]
