President Obama delivered a major economic speech at Georgetown University April 14 in Washington, D.C.
(Alex Wong/Pool/Sipa Press/Newscom)Photos (1 of 1)
Before Obama, who used ‘built on rock’ rhetoric?
By Laurent Belsie | 04.14.09
President Obama made a spirited defense of his economic policies Tuesday, answering his critics with a passage from the Bible to describe the new economy he wants to build.
“There’s a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men,” the president said in a speech at Georgetown University. “The first built his house on a pile of sand. And it was soon destroyed when a storm hit. The second is known as the wise man, for when ‘the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock.’ ”
From debtor’s ’sand’
“We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand,” the president went on. “We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity – a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest, where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad.”
It’s a powerful metaphor – Obama quoted from the King James Version of Matthew 7:25 – that surprisingly few presidents have used. President Reagan spoke about the need to “build a secure and lasting foundation for the American dream” when he was calling for budgetary reform.
In the 1964 campaign, President Johnson spoke about the choice to “move ahead by building on the solid structure created by forward-looking men of both parties over the past 30 years. Or whether we will begin to tear down this structure….”
Matthew … and Millay
President Kennedy perhaps came the closest in remarks in 1963 – and he was quoting from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s appropriation of the parable: “Safe upon the solid rock the ugly houses stand. Come see my shining palace. It is built upon the sand.”
That seems to leave the historic precedent to Winston Churchill in his famous 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech: “Before we cast away the solid assurances of national armaments for self-preservation we must be certain that our temple is built, not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon the rock.”
Five pillars
Obama, however, was making the case for why his administration is tackling long-term problems even as it bails furiously to keep the recession-wracked economy afloat. He said the new economy had five pillars of investment: financial regulation, education investment, green-energy policy, healthcare reform, and deficit reduction. (Click here to see how the president is selling his plan.)
And he struck a rare note of optimism: “From where we stand, for the very first time, we’re beginning to see glimmers of hope. And beyond that, way off in the distance, we can see a vision of America’s future that is far different than our troubled economic past. It’s an America teeming with new industry and commerce, humming with new energy and discoveries that light the world once more. A place where anyone from anywhere with a good idea or the will to work can live the dream they’ve heard so much about. That is the house upon the rock.”
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Have other presidents used the “built on the rock” parable? Comment below or Twitter us.
Comments
2. LeavesMeThinking | 04.14.09
I would like to understand how the president, or anyone, can justify as legitimate, then, a plan to provide the IRS’s Andover, Massachusetts facilities a $117 million “grant” to make the building “green” when the site is one of volume layoffs. The big sand pile begins in Washington and there still are not sufficient signs that any of that has changed. Government and government buildings are not infrastructure.
3. Ron Abramson | 04.14.09
Ah, but Ronald Reagan used “shining city upon a hill”, which he attributed to John Winthrop, whose inspiration also went back to the Sermon on the Mount. Then again, JFK, as President Elect, in 1961, speaking to a ‘Joint Convention of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’, quoted Winthrop for this long before Reagan. Many others have used the “city upon a hill” metaphor and it is closely tied to “a tall proud city built on rocks” (again quoting Reagan). It is ground that has been visited often in presidential speeches.
4. Charlie Corder | 04.15.09
I find it interesting that people, including Presidents, will quote from the Scriptures - when it suits their own interests.
5. Matthew Wells | 04.17.09
I think you and Obama are both missing the point of the parable. Obama was making the point that his ideas, or he, is the rock. Not quite. Our rock is God. Obama is standing where he ought nought.
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1. David K. McClurkin | 04.14.09
“Have other presidents used the “built on the rock” parable?”
At least one; Harry S. Truman at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (March 15, 1952):
“The Sermon on the Mount gives us a way of life, and maybe some day men will understand it as the real way of life. The basis of all great moral codes is “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Treat others, as you would like to be treated.
“ Some of you may think that such a philosophy as that has no place in politics and government. But it is the only philosophy on which you can base a lasting government. Governments built on that philosophy are built on a rock, and will not fail.”