What with the President coming to town this week (and apparently not attending the State Fair – more proof that he’s not a regular American) to give a speech at a local high school and possibly making a stop at the Harriet Tubman home in Auburn, there’s been a bit of a stir amongst the lo-cal news folks. For instance, there was this story about some of the speeches given by US presidents when they were in Syracuse.

Of course, the most famous (or infamous) is no doubt LBJ’s “Gulf of Tonkin” speech at the dedication of the first building of the Newhouse School at SU on August 5, 1964. It was the speech where Johnson laid out his rationale for what would become known as the Vietnam War. As we know now, it was all bullshit and distortions drummed up by the NSA (but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t trust them not to illegally spy on us). Or, as Johnson privately put it in 1965:

“For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there.”

After the Gulf of Tonkin “attacks” roughly 57,800 of the official total of 58,220 American (and Christ only knows how many Vietnamese) deaths occurred.

Teddy Roosevelt also gave his “square deal” speech here in 1903 (at the State Fair on Labor Day, no less – Teddy was both a real American and a manly man, unlike some other presidents I can think of), and his ‘cuz – FDR – kicked off his 1936 campaign here (in front of a crowd of 10,000, including Amelia Earhart).

“Partisans,” he roared, “not willing to face realities, will drag out red herrings as they have always done–to divert attention from the trail of their own weaknesses.” He said visionary presidents had been unfairly accused of undermining the republic since the beginning, and he recalled venomous accusations against Washington, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR’s distant cousin, Teddy Roosevelt.

In a passionate conclusion, the architect of the New Deal not only reached out to conservatives, but maintained that he himself was one:

“Wise and prudent men … intelligent conservatives …. have long known that in a changing world, worthy institutions can be conserved only by adjusting them to the changing time. In the words of the great essayist, ‘The voice of great events is proclaiming to us. Reform if you would preserve.’ I am that kind of conservative because I am that kind of liberal.”

Too bad “that kind of liberal” won’t be coming to town this week.