rdfs:comment
| - "Yes, we can!" is a motto in election campaigns. It's a miraculous call, both stirring and vacuous at once. Barack Obama became President of the United States of America by steadily repeating this call, inspiring his audiences to echo the same call, all the way to the polls. However, in September 2009, the White House adapted the motto to defuse a personnel controversy, when it declared, "Yes, we canned" Van Jones. As the 2010 elections for Congress approached, some members of Obama's party did indeed chant, "Yes, we did!" And a few disgruntled adversaries replied, "Did you ever!"
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abstract
| - "Yes, we can!" is a motto in election campaigns. It's a miraculous call, both stirring and vacuous at once. Barack Obama became President of the United States of America by steadily repeating this call, inspiring his audiences to echo the same call, all the way to the polls. Now he's President, and if that motto were the basis of an actual governing philosophy, it would have evolved from "Yes, we can!" into "Yes, we are doing!" with a clear path toward "Yes, we did!" If U.S. citizens don't see any steps in this direction after Obama's inauguration, the reason might be bureaucracy; the actual motto in the Executive Branch still seems to be, "Yes, we plan!" However, in September 2009, the White House adapted the motto to defuse a personnel controversy, when it declared, "Yes, we canned" Van Jones. As the 2010 elections for Congress approached, some members of Obama's party did indeed chant, "Yes, we did!" And a few disgruntled adversaries replied, "Did you ever!" In the days before those elections, President Obama, on Jon Stewart's program on the Comedy Channel, further modified the slogan, with crowd-pleasing effects. The new line, "Yes, we can, but...." was met with gales of laughter by a doting electorate.
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