Yes I'm sure you noticed it too, but I must state the obvious. If you watched the inaugural address you noticed two things: A) The lack of soaring rhetoric and B) The inaugural address delivered by President Obama was more or less JFK's 1961 inaugural address meets 1933 FDR. (on a side note I really can't grasp the use of BHO for our current president, it just reminds me of bad 70's rock)
The first point, the lack of soaring rhetoric and flowery speech, could be partially explained by the second. Just as FDR spoke plainly to the people of this country about the challenges ahead so did President Obama. But unlike FDR, President Obama is known for his oratory skills so the lack of any Baptist minister moments was all the more glaring.
Secondly the speech was an ingenious combination of two previous inaugural addresses. We all knew there was going to be a form of "ask not what you can do for your country" with some "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" sprinkled in. We all hoped Obama would touch upon Kennedys "human rights to which this Nation has always been committed" line and he did when he spoke of how "America’s ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake." But I loved the fact that President Obama picked up on both former presidents ability to lay a preemptive smack down on would be rivals. Example:
JFK- "We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom—and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside"
FDR- "Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored conditions. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish."
Obama- “Now there are some who question the scale of our ambitions—who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they 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.”
You gotta love a man who can see a punch before it's even thrown and all three of these guys were great at trying to shame the guy out of so much as balling up a fist. Of course America went to war under Kennedy and Roosevelt so perhaps we don't want to draw too many similarities here. Either way it was a great day for our nation and I'm grateful to all of those people who contributed their time and energy to getting this good man elected.
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