Today has been a great day in our nation's history. I went to bed last night excited and I woke up this morning just plain excited to be alive to witness the swearing in of our first African American President. Though I was a staunch Hilary supporter, I can still appreciate and embrace the change that today represents in our history. I've listened to all the official pundits comment on Barack's speech today, and I am going to offer my own thoughts about it. I was surprised to hear Brooks and Shields (on Lehrer tonight) say they thought it was a good speech, but not a great speech. I beg to differ.
No one has commented on the fact that he began the speech with "My fellow citizens," instead of "My fellow Americans." This may seem to be a fine distinction, but I think it's important, because if he and we are "fellow citizens," it implies our mutual responsitilities as members of the polity. I think it suggested that we are all in this together, and as I tried to create a student-centered classroom, he is hoping to create a citizen-centered democracy. That means he's throwing the responsibility for our own governance into our hands. Indeed, later in the speech, he made it clear that we will all be called upon to offer our services, our talents, and make some sacrifices if we are to regain our place in the world and our financial stability at home. This is not unlike what JFK asked us to do at his inauguration. I hope it means that we at the grass-roots level can offer up ideas and that potentially we will be heard.
Secondly, I appreciated listening to his sheer ability to use the language in a clear, yet beautiful way. He is a gifted orator, but he is also a brilliant thinker and wordsmith. He used language that came from a variety of sources, from the Bible to Washington's speech to the troops, to his closing in which he drew from the Declaration of Independence. It is heartening to an ex-English teacher to hear his gift for language. Take, for instance, the sentence "On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics." The alliteration of the words begiinning with "p" tie the words "proclaim," "petty grievances," "false promises and "politics," in a way that reinforces the meaning as it makes for a mellifluous phrase. (If I do say so myself!)
Finally, and most important to me is the fact that I believe he successfully repudiated the past 8 years and re-set the moral compass of this country. That's a lot to accomplish in a 20 minute speech, but I believe that he did no less than that. He made it clear that no matter what threats we face, they will not cause us to abandon the ideals stated in all the founding documents of our democracy, and which have guided our progress for all these years, until the Presidency of G.W. Bush. The proof will be what we do and what he does to make good on the promises of this speech and all the speeches of his campaign.
I should also make it clear that I know that his major speechwriter, Jon Favreau wrote a draft of this speech, but I think that Obama essentially authored the final text, and according to at least one newspaper, sat with Favreau at the outset to say what his vision was for the speech. Favreau and others researched other inagural speeches and searched out possible texts from which Obama could draw. It was clearly a collaboration. Which is what the Obama Presidency and American democracy is all about.
1 comment:
Red,
Yes, I, too, thought it was a very inspiring speech. I was struck by how carefully you listened to it and the several different levels on which you commented. I guess that's why you were a good teacher and I was a mediocre student.
Have you thought about commentating for CNN? Or maybe disguising yourself as a right-wing nut and getting on Fox.
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