The Obama Domino Theory
November 2, 2007 at 9:02 am
Barack Obama poses this fascinating moral question to a five-year-old:
“We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money,” Obama said. “If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”
The easy answer, of course, is: Not with all this childhood obesity and diabetes going around she shouldn’t. Maybe an apple or a pear or a carrot, but pizza? No way.
But let’s tackle this perplexing position from a different perspective. Let’s consult one of the greatest Jewish scholars ever — Moses Maimonides (I know, there goes my pro-Sephardic bias again).
Wasn’t it Maimonides who instructed us that of the eight levels of charity, the greatest deed one could do is to support someone by endowing that person with a gift or loan, or entering or entering into a partnership with him/her, or finding employment for him/her, in order to strengthen that person’s hand until he or she need no longer be dependent upon others for pizza?
Perhaps next time, instead of posing fattening cycle-of-dependence rhetorical questions, Obama could help set up that five-year-old with something real, like a limited partnership in her own pizza parlor.
Presidential Election 2008 campaign food & politics Funniest 2007
Crush Liberalism said,
November 2, 2007 @ 10:56 am
It’s official: Barry O wants your kids to die of obesity! Subsidized obesity, in fact!
Tantor said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:16 am
Maybe the better answer is that if your friend has no pizza, teach him how to make one. That will feed him longer and be a morally superior act of charity.
pilgrim1949 said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:24 am
Obama misstated the point entirely.
The more accurate, correct, question would be…
“If you had a whole pizza and someone, somewhere else, whom you’ve never met, doesn’t have one, is it OK if I take one slice (or more!) of your pizza and give it to that person?” (Regardless of whether or not that person wants or needs it, as well!)
All, of course, this shall be accompanied by sufficient mandated physical exercise to exorcise the demon, death-dealing calories!
Uh huh…
Phil Chroniger said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:32 am
The answer is simple.
I would give my friend a slice of pizza out of the goodness of my own heart, not because the government told me to.
Etain P said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:47 am
The real example would go like this: There are two brothers who are told to do chores by their mother. One of the brothers doesn’t do a single chore and instead plays xbox all day long. The other brother does all his chores, and in fact does extra. His mother is so impressed, she rewards him with some money which he chooses to use to buy a pizza. Barack Obama, sensing a disturbance in the force, swoops in to save the day. He takes the pizza from the second brother, then divides it in half and gives half to the lazy brother still playing xbox. The mother is sent to a government reeducation center until she embraces her other son’s lifestyle choice of not doing chores.
Vatar said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:47 am
““If you had a whole pizza and someone, somewhere else, whom you’ve never met (and we are not allowed to tell you who this person is), doesn’t have one, is it OK if I take one slice (or more!) of your pizza and give it to that person?”
Patrick H said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:51 am
If you worked hard doing chores and earned enough money to go buy a medium pizza while somewhere else another child you don’t know refused to do most his chores and so had to buy a small pizza, should the government take away part of your pizza and give it to the child with a small pizza to make it even?
David said,
November 2, 2007 @ 11:59 am
“We’ve got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money,” Obama said. “If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”
Obama’s analogy is off. It should have been: “If you bought a whole pizza with money you’d earned, and several other people had less pizza, wouldn’t it be great if a bunch of people forcibly took away about half of your pizza, ate some of it, distributed what was left to other people, and then raised the price of pizza and blamed you for it?”
Tami said,
November 2, 2007 @ 12:50 pm
This complete idiot wants to be President? Really?
Bubba said,
November 2, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
Actually, the analogy should have been:
OK, little kid, you’ve got a whole pizza with 10 pieces. Little Joey doesn’t have any. That’s sad! Let’s all feel bad for little Joey. Here, little Joey, I’m going to take four of these pieces of pizza and I’m going to give one to you. There, now you have a piece of pizza. These other three that I’m keeping? Oh, well they’re what we call “government overhead”. Now isn’t that a big word? You can remember that because they’re BIG words. Big, just like the government is…
Barf.
Mary Jane said,
November 2, 2007 @ 2:35 pm
Obama Barak will get my pizza when he pry’s it from my cold, greasy fingers!
On second thought, maybe he can have the whole damm thing:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/01/AR2007110102635.html?sub=AR
Product Recalls
Friday, November 2, 2007; Page D01
Frozen Pizza
DETAILS: General Mills recalled about 414,000 cases of Totino’s and Jeno’s frozen pepperoni pizza with codes 42800-10700, 42800-10800, 42800-11400, 42800-92114, 42800-11402, 42800-72157, 42800-11600, 42800-92116, 35300-00561, 35300-00572 and 35300-00576
DEFECT: It may have been contaminated with E. coli.
WHAT TO DO: Throw away the pizza. Call 800-949-9055
cv said,
November 2, 2007 @ 4:10 pm
Obama is the definition of “empty suit” he’s toast.
Doug Collins said,
November 2, 2007 @ 4:27 pm
In your heart, You know he’s trite.
Jeffersonian said,
November 2, 2007 @ 4:28 pm
With a philosophy like that, is it any wonder the tribes of Israel have prospered? Does the number of American Jews on the dole even reach double digits? Bless you, Mortman, for that, and bless Maimonides.
tim maguire said,
November 2, 2007 @ 4:29 pm
Clarification please!
Did he pose that question TO a five-year old, or did he pose that question LIKE a five-year old?
Debbie said,
November 2, 2007 @ 4:55 pm
If you are in need, I will most likely give you the pizza off my back. But if the Government demands my pizza, they can frak off!
Pat said,
November 2, 2007 @ 5:01 pm
“If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”
Wrong question, Senator. That’s not an accurate picture of how government works. You should have asked the five-year-old this: If one of your friends had a whole pizza and another had none, would you put a gun to the first friend’s head and say “Give him half of your pizza or I’ll kill you”?
one of many said,
November 2, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
You people are missing the whole point wiht your talk of guns, and annonymous strangers. Obamama is arguing against government here, he talks about freely giving not enforced with threat of prison and conviscation. Obviousl he is signalling that he about to become a Libertarian and is aiming to be Ron Paul’s VP. Isn’t it obvious?
Dr. Ellen said,
November 2, 2007 @ 5:27 pm
Set a man before your fire, and you keep him warm for a night.
Set him on fire, and he’ll stay warm for the rest of his life.
But keep your hands off my pizza!
TallDave said,
November 2, 2007 @ 6:09 pm
“If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?”
Yeah, if he tried to take a piece, I’d slice him good!
Tex said,
November 2, 2007 @ 7:15 pm
First off, I’d ask how many slices he had already been given.
sherlock said,
November 2, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
“In your heart, You know he’s trite.”
Now that is pretty darn funny.
Bill T said,
November 2, 2007 @ 8:05 pm
If some person somewhere had no pizza because they slept through pizza school, would it be OK for Obama to take a third of yours, and drop half of that on the ground for the ants to eat, and give the remainder to the slob who then proceeds to curse you out for having the gall to have made your own pizza?
jvon said,
November 3, 2007 @ 12:25 am
It’s a good thing five year olds can’t vote, or we might be in trouble.
Maybe the other guy doesn’t have any pizza because he was sitting on his ass while I went out and got some. Maybe he doesn’t have any pizza because he blew all his money on pot and Doritos. Giving him pizza helps… how?
It doesn’t. It makes the pizza person feel better about themselves, in a very superficial, short-sighted sort of way. It’s significant that Obama felt that this was a good example of Democratic morality. I agree that it is.
Michael Hankamer said,
November 3, 2007 @ 6:10 am
“In your heart, you know he’s trite.” Good one, but I prefer the one I heard from my father many, many years ago: “Deep down, he’s shallow.”
rtw said,
November 3, 2007 @ 12:08 pm
My favorite trite saying:
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day.
Teach a man how to fish, and he will sit out on his boat and drink beer all day.
pst314 said,
November 7, 2007 @ 9:04 am
“Did he pose that question TO a five-year old, or did he pose that question LIKE a five-year old?”
I think you just summed up the entire Democratic Party.