Obama’s Mixed Inaugural Rhetoric

The Atlas Society - The CEnter for Objectivism ^ | January 23, 2009 | Edward Hudgins

[Ed Hudgins]

by Edward Hudgins

January 23, 2009 - Presidential inauguration addresses are usually forgotten since it’s what the chief executive does after he’s sworn in that is of most importance to citizens.

But inaugural addresses can tell us something about what is to come in a president’s administration. That is why Barack Obama’s deserves some attention.

The most famous inaugural words in American history are literally chiseled in stone on the wall of the memorial to Obama’s favorite president. There you can read the eloquent words of Abraham Lincoln from his second inaugural address, where he declared the need “to bind up the nation's wounds” after the bloody Civil War “with malice toward none; with charity for all.” Tragically, his assassination left that task unfulfilled, and racial differences remained a stain on American politics and culture over the following century.

Trying to capture Lincoln’s spirit, Obama campaigned as a candidate to transcend our differences, to bind up our wounds, so to speak.

Perhaps, then, the rather generic pronouncements he gave in his inaugural address were meant to tamp down any polarization of the country and to unite us in the task of dealing with our economic crisis today.

Or his platitudes might have signaled something more ominous.

We shall overcome?

In his address Obama observed that “we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus—and nonbelievers.” Obama’s welcomed recognition of the growing secular community contrasts sharply with the 1987 statement of Bush Senior, who declared that “I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots.”

Obama invoked many of the iconic virtues found in America’s people and history. He painted the picture of immigrants packing up their possessions ...

[Steamburg]

Oh my gosh, I’m sure that attributing that kind of thinking to Obambi is frightening, but I fear that he has never applied that much thought to anything other than advancing himself.
He has never shown the ability to manage any business, project or government agency. Had he done so, it would have been the centerpiece of his campaign. He has been a political schemer who has fleeced his constituents his whole career. His initial moves have been purely political and his appointments have been to reinstate the Clinton Administration. That’s not the hallmark of someone with plans beyond himself.

[SparkyBass]

[budwiesest]

Wait'll you see who attends his $850 Billion Buffet and the portions handed out. You can buy a lot of 'loyalty' with that kind of money.

I think he feels the fat, juicy, steak called America has been cooking too long on the capitalist side and it's time to flip it to the socialist side. With enough cash, goons, and a big enough spatula (bailouts), he might even be able to pull it off.

[flowerplough]

The Daily Show sez Obama sounds just like Bush! Go here (http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/01/21/jon-stewart-obamas-speech-sounded-bush) for NewsBuster’s embed of Jon Leibowitz Stewart’s Daily Show’s surprising video on Obama feeding Bush’s words to drooling, fawning, approving fools.

[Ed Hudgins]

I hear a lot of conservatives being seduced by Obama’s inaugural. I would say concerning Obama what Reagan said concerning the Soviet Union: trust but verify!

[Ed Hudgins]

I love Steward’s mocking the Obama inaugural speech! Everyone should check it out:

http://msunderestimated.com/2009/01/21/daily-show-what-differences-between-bush-obama-video/