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swag

(26,480 posts)
Thu Oct 25, 2012, 02:48 PM Oct 2012

Obama on Ayn Rand

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/obama_on_ayn_rand



In the new Rolling Stone cover story, out today—yes the same one where Obama says Mitt Romney is a “bullshitter”—we get to hear the President’s take on reichwing icon Ayn Rand:

Q: Have you ever read Ayn Rand?

Obama: Sure.

Q: What do you think Paul Ryan’s obsession with her work would mean if he were vice president?

Obama: Well, you’d have to ask Paul Ryan what that means to him. Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we’d pick up. Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we’re only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else, in which we’re considering the entire project of developing ourselves as more important than our relationships to other people and making sure that everybody else has opportunity – that that’s a pretty narrow vision. It’s not one that, I think, describes what’s best in America. Unfortunately, it does seem as if sometimes that vision of a “you’re on your own” society has consumed a big chunk of the Republican Party.
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Obama on Ayn Rand (Original Post) swag Oct 2012 OP
Very insightful response from Obama Tomay Oct 2012 #1
+1 freshwest Oct 2012 #4
. tk2kewl Oct 2012 #2
In other words Paul Ryan needs to... ProfessionalLeftist Oct 2012 #3
Kicked and recommended. Uncle Joe Oct 2012 #5
Yep. When I was 16, and smarter than everybody else, Ayn Rand... immoderate Oct 2012 #6

Tomay

(58 posts)
1. Very insightful response from Obama
Thu Oct 25, 2012, 02:55 PM
Oct 2012

He really nails Ryan and the other Rand worshippers in the Repugnicant Party on their self-absorption. As Obama says, Rand is usually popular with alienated teens, but adults should know better.

ProfessionalLeftist

(4,982 posts)
3. In other words Paul Ryan needs to...
Thu Oct 25, 2012, 02:59 PM
Oct 2012

...grow the fuck up. Ayn Rand espouses the self-centered narcissism of a 6-year-old (or younger). In the normal course of childhood development, most of us grow out of that around 6 years of age. Paul Ryan evidently did not.

 

immoderate

(20,885 posts)
6. Yep. When I was 16, and smarter than everybody else, Ayn Rand...
Thu Oct 25, 2012, 03:23 PM
Oct 2012

... had it all figured out.

When I expressed my ventures in philosophy to a favorite (chemistry) professor, he said, "Ayn Rand huh? She's a flying hunk of shit!"

That started me thinking...

In a year or two, and motivated by the Vietnam War, I was quite a different person.

--imm

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