Inauguration—What Did Our President Say?
Yesterday, the 20th of January 2009, our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama, was inaugurated. The historic significance of a bi-racial, black American in this office has hardly been unnoticed or ignored. So many hopes are wrapped up in this particular President and his as-yet untested Administration; hopes that, for some, already seem dashed.
It’s important to really look into his words of yesterday to understand what he sees and how he sees his role and ours.
Civility and Credit
“My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and co-operation he has shown throughout this transition.”
| Comment: | There should be no doubt that Obama sees mistakes and miscues in the administration of George W. Bush. It’s also clear that he believes and understands that George W. Bush served our country honorably and to the best of his ability. This is not a feigned civility, and those who would rather Obama had completely repudiated and scorned Bush must have muttered. For the rest of us, we breathed, I suspect, a sigh of relief. |
Issues
“…That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.”
| Comment: | If we need to be reminded of these facts, here they are. Yes, financial systems should have been moderated better, but no one forced us to take bad loans or to spend ourselves into oblivion, either. There are things government can and should do, but government cannot protect us from ourselves. |
Our Outlook
“…These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land—a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.”
| Comment: | I do not know about you, but I have read and heard of our nation’s “fall” since I was a child; of how Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire applied to the U.S. Well, the Roman Empire began either around 45 B.C. under Julius Caesar or 42 B.C. under the first Emperor, Octavius and lasted until the Ottoman Turks ended the Byzantine Empire in 1453. That’s quite a lengthy period of time. |
The Role of Our Middle Class
“…Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions—that time has surely passed…
“…We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and 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. All this we can do. All this we will do.”
| Comment: | I know this may come across as silly, but I wondered (at the time) if Obama was calling for wind-powered cars. In any case, it’s certainly true that we are not inferior workers, whether blue- or white-collar, to any in the world. It is also true that, in these days, spending on infrastructure will create jobs in private industry and increase the ability of industry to produce and distribute goods and services. As for power, industry will need more power and we must find a way to safely, efficiently, and adequately increase our capacity. Personally, I look for the day when our vehicles run primarily on fuel cells and our homes and industries are powered mainly by fusion. That last may never occur, but it’s a dream of mine. |
Government—It’s Role in Our Lives
“…The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works…Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control—that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous…”
| Comment: | Ronald Reagan famously (or infamously, depending) told us that “government is not the solution,…government is the problem.” Obama seems to say that the size of government doesn’t matter. Well, the truth is, I think, somewhere between these two positions. Government, particularly the federal government, can strongly and correctly influence or encourage prosperity. Its bureaucracy and multiple levels of rules and cascading forms can also be major problems and detractors. It may also be, as I think, that the inefficiencies of government are the best safeguards for individual liberty and rights. But, government should work. It should do what it sets out to do. Not every program and agency should last forever, and some programs should not be allowed or required to grow beyond the intent of their initial framing legislation. (Okay, I’m thinking here of Social Security as it was originally conceived and how it is now used.) Obama, in his address, reminds us that tax cuts favoring the wealthy do little for the poor and middle-income earners, and that his administration must deal with this. Consider that, when the tax rates on corporations and upper-income individuals are lowered, the tax burden, as a percentage, on middle-income earners is increased by default. Even if the actual amount extracted from us remains the same. |
Commitment to Law and Rights
“…As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.
“…[E]arlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us…they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint…With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
| Comment: | I am a veteran, and I’m more than happy at the prospect that we will, officially, hold to our ideals while defending ourselves. I hope this translates into the revocation of the USA Patriot Act and the actual renunciation of any form of torture. I hope that we will not classify captured enemy as “unlawful combatant” for prisoners of war. I have no compassion for terrorists, but I do fear for the treatment of captured US service members. |
Our International Role
“…To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”
| Comment: | We have responsibilities beyond our borders simply because we are what we are. We are unable to cure all disease or feed all people, but we can contribute to the resolutions of these issues. We must recognize and accept the science that shows the nature of global climate change and how our actions, as a nation and as individuals, contribute to that. And, we must recognize that the means by which we fuel our economy are finite resources, and act accordingly. |
Renewal of Purpose
“…At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
‘Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].’
“America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
| Comment: | I would rather have heard this phrased as “in the face of our common fears…,” and I think Obama would have been closer to Franklin Roosevelt and Jack Kennedy had he called upon us thus: “With hope and virtue, we will brave once more…” Still, he reminds us that ours can also be a great generation, one that meets and overcomes problems. Even when we know there will be more problems for us to face. |