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Obama, Bush speak for American values

John McCain’s funeral united former presidents in a call for shared American values. A conservative columnist misses Obama’s “seriousness, dignity and dedication to ideals larger than self.” Liberals miss the relative eloquence and good intentions of George W. Bush. That’s how bizarre the world is today. But there is hope.

A local television station plays a spot that features the words of Robert F. Kennedy, delivered on the day of Martin Luther King’s death: What we need in the United States is not division, hatred and violence, but “love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country.”

That same station played the words of John F. Kennedy from a speech to the press, made during the Cold War, stating the purpose of a free press: “… to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.”

The media are never perfect, but be thankful there are still those who are serious about this unique trust built into the Constitution, remaining honorable even when faced with cries of fake news.

Steven Schneider

Spokane



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