I had the Inauguration on a live feed today for my computer classes so that the students could listen and watch it in it's entirety, oaths, prayers, and speeches without commentary. What I was left with was a sadness that seems out of place.
The rambling poem and the sometime inspiring sometime insulting benediction created a feeling in me of foreboding. Obama's speech was not the type that a commander would give his men going into battle but a disjointed list kind of like a State of the Union but without applause lines. I feel sorry for those who put their trust in him and I don't want to feel that way, they are my friends, my family, and my country.
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The poem was awful. A friend pointed out that poets should never read their own work and, not *every* word should be *emphasised*.
As for the main speech, I think you should listen again. Or, read it: http://tinyurl.com/8gkn4h.
I found it to be the right balance of inspiration and call to action. It said what people wanted to hear but, in turn, pointed to a forthcoming greater accountability.
People want, moreso need, to be inspired again by our government. To understand all it can achieve if the right people are at the wheel. And, if by that inspiration the people find their elected leaders unresponsive to a greater change, the inspiration to remove them is also in place.
Give it another read/listen. I think you'll find some of the elements you're looking for. If not, it's only another 18 minutes on the computer where you're already sitting. ;-)
In the speech it wasn't what he said but what he meant that concerns me. "The ideals of our founders" were fairly simple, "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty..." There is no mention of "jobs at a decent wage", "(health)care they can afford", of "a retirement that is dignified".
But now he is ushering in a "new era of responsibility" as though those of us in our private lives who have tried to be responsible have blown it.
"And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." Really???
I could go on but you get the idea. I don't believe them. There is no one in sight that I trust. Hillary
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