'A solemn beginning of a noble journey'
Inter Lake editorial
President Barack Obama…
The unfamiliar cadences of that soon-to-be-familiar phrase contain a hint of the change that our new president promised on the campaign trail. He himself is something new, something different, and that is no doubt where most of the hope of the nation is now directed.
We have tried the old way long enough in Washington, D.C., and most Americans are sick of it. That's why they voted for change, and President Obama at his inauguration on Tuesday promised to give it to them.
"Everywhere we look," he said, "there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth… We will… wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age."
No, there weren't a lot of specifics, but people don't expect that from an inaugural address. What people are looking for is vision, and they were at least able to hope that the man before them had it, and hope is a vital component of whatever change will come.
Some no doubt are concerned that the inauguration hoopla has driven expectations too high, but that is a false fear. As Americans we should indeed dream big - and Obama gave voice to that belief as well. He said that those who think America cannot "tolerate too many big plans … have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage."
In some respects, indeed, President Obama's inaugural speech will be better remembered for its invocation of American history and traditions than for its portrait of the future. He referred to the "ideals of our forbearers' and the "noble idea, passed on from generation to generation… that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
Finally, in closing his speech with the words of George Washington, the father of our country, Obama signaled a determination to see the nation persevere and prevail as it did in the Revolutionary War, and has done time and time again.
Whatever greatness Obama's inaugural address did or did not achieve shall be left to the decision of history, but it can be said today that it wielded the rhetoric of the American experience purposefully and with dignity, and marked a solemn beginning to a noble journey.