The darkly
handsome American President looked at a throng of hundreds of thousands of his
citizens and spoke to them with clarity, common sense, and compassion--three of
the qualities that won an election and have bred a devout new political majority.
In his 18-minute Second Inaugural Address, he precisely
expressed the feelings, the wishes, the ideals of the millions who voted for
him. He reaffirmed their belief that their ideals are based on the vision of our
Founding Fathers and on our historic commitment to the “the most evident of
truths” that all men are created equal.
That
truth, the President declared, “is the star that guides us still just as it
guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall”—Seneca Falls,
site of a first step toward women’s equality; Selma, Alabma, where cruelty to
blacks spurred action toward civil rights; Stonewall, where barbarity toward
homosexuals gave rise to gay power.
The inaugural address made history. No previous
President had spoken the word “gay” in an inaugural, and Mr. Obama linked the
cause of lesbians and homosexuals seeking their civil rights with the cause of
blacks and other minorities.
“We will respond
to the threat of climate change,” he insisted. And although the nation must
“make hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our
deficit…we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the
generation that built this country and investing in the generations that will
build its future.”
For many if not most who heard his powerful and
passionate voice, his words gave comfort and assurance. He understands their craving
for a country built on confidence, optimism, and concern for those who need
help to free themselves from poverty, illness, and despair.
Mr. Obama’s speech contained news. It sounded a
call for “We the people” to realistically address the major concerns of our
time. “For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by
acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism
with muskets and militia.”
As Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson pointed out,
no President since Ronald Reagan in 1981 has given such an ideological speech. But
where Mr. Reagan demanded curtailing government programs, Mr. Obama has rightly
declared we will continue them sensibly. He signaled that to the extent he and
his majority can, they will block the Far Right’s 80-year fight to demolish
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and vastly diminish the solace it has given
the nation’s jobless, aged, and sick.
During
coverage of Mr. Obama’s address, CBS Anchor Scott Pelley asked CBS’s venerable
commentator, Bob Schieffer to analyze the speech. Said Schieffer, “There were
no really memorable lines.” No lines similar to President Franklin Roosevelt’s
declaration that “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” or President
John Kennedy’s insistence that we should “Ask not what your country can or for
you, but what you can do for your country.”
It’s true. But that’s an observation not an analysis.
In fact,
Mr. Obama’s speech is historic and memorable in its entirety.
It eloquently
expresses the feelings of those who wish to live in a strong, noble, caring
nation that surges forward based on optimism, inventiveness, hard work, and
sensible change.
He
challenged us to act. “For now decisions are upon us and we cannot afford
delay. We cannot mistake absolutism for principle or substitute spectacle for
politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.”
Maybe,
just maybe—or hopefully—the not-so-loyal GOP opposition will carefully consider
those words and not react as Texas Representative Pete Sessions did after the
speech. The New York Times reported that Mr. Sessions said:
“It was
apparent our country’s in chaos and what our great president has brought us is
upheaval. We’re now managing America’s demise, not America’s great future.”
Poor
Mr. Sessions. He doesn’t understand that as Mr. Meyerson explained, Mr. Obama
was speaking “secure in the knowledge that the nation’s minorities had joined
with other liberal constituencies to form a new governing coalition.”
Most
Americans prefer Mr. Obama’s thinking to the grumpy thoughts of GOP Frightfuls
like Mr. Sessions. Soon ,we can hope, the Frightfuls may be forced to flee to
the exit.
Gus
Gribbin
Ø
Mr.
Meyerson”s column appeared on the Washington Post Op Ed Page on 1/23/13. meyersonh@washingtonpost.com
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