Future Needs a Big Kiss

I found President Barack Obama's inauguration speech skillful but not eloquent. It seemed to me that more than once he packed entire policy or value discussions into one sentence. The overall tone was firm but with compassion. Here are my Top Ten most important things Obama said in his inaugural speech:

10. "To those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

9. "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." [avoids the easy blame of "it's all Wall Street's fault" and includes our personal responsibility]

8. "It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate." [gives heroic value to nurturing a child, an echo of Dag Hammarskjöld as discussed in a prior post]

7. "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works...Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end." [values substance over political perception]

6. "Our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead...our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint." [strength through humility and true justice, not brute force and exclusive knowledge of "truth"]

5. "With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat." [rolling back nuclear weapons isn't as fashionable as it once was, and I have appreciated Obama's persistent focus on this issue since his first days in the Senate]

4. "Because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace." [draws on our past mistakes as a strength and as reason for hope that the same things can happen in other places of the world that seem hopeless right now]

3. "We will restore science to its rightful place." [nuff said]

2. "A man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled." [understated notice of remarkable human evolution and invokes our better nature, not shame]

1. "We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."