Tuesday, January 20, 2009

We are Ready to Lead Once More

The Inauguration of President Barack Obama will go down in the hallways of time as the most important inauguration in this country’s complex history. Unofficial numbers of over two million people attended the Inauguration from all over the world. By far the most ever. Partisanship aside, whether Democrat or Republican, Independent or Third Party, liberal or conservative the, the inauguration of a multiracial man that society identifies as black is proof that dreams can come true if you work hard and never give up. It is now, more than ever, tangible that a woman, Native American Indian, Latin American, any other minority or any other representative of historically disenfranchised people can rise up above the critics, above the naysayers, and above the hardships to assume their rightful place in the leadership of their and our nation.

First Lady Michelle Obama came to the White House with a present in hand for First Lady Laura Bush sparked a wonderful symbolism of democracy in that it is capable of producing a peaceful transfer of power.

Now to the speech itself. Normally an inaugural address would be full of poetry. This was poetic and had the a lot rhetorical detail likened to a State of the Union address. It was a powerful and moving speech as President Obama has become known for. Not however, the high flying oratory with little substance that his early speeches of his career had. This speech marked a maturity in Obama. A substantive dynamic to the lyricism that evoked. The President’s message was a summon to responsibility. He assured us that though times are hard and many problems are prevalent in the world, “They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met.” He quoted First Corinthians when he said that it is time to “to set aside childish things,” meaning doing away with grievances, ideology, partisanship. Instead he calls to work together and just do what works. The most enthusiastic cheer came when President Obama talked about restoring our place in the world scope: “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expediency's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.” The line that in time will be echoed along with great inaugural lines such as President Lincoln's "with malice toward none with charity for all," President Kennedy’s “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” is when President Obama pronounced, “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.”

The remarkable historic value was summed up when President Obama said, “This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”

Overall, an amazing moment in history. When a country who in its history includes slaves building the White House, where in 1838 saw the Trail of Tears, where in 1865 President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, where in 1942 Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps in the U.S., where in 1857 saw the Dred Scott Decision, where 1861 saw the start of the Civil War, where 1876 saw the birth of the laws of Jim Crow, where in 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, where in 1963 also saw fire hoses and attack dogs being set loose on protesters in Birmingham, where 1968 saw the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, we now have a country that is firmly behind its new leader and symbol: President Barack Obama.

At the funeral of Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., Ethel Kennedy (wife of Robert Kennedy) leaned over to Barack Obama and whispered, "the torch has been passed to you." The then Senator Obama said that chills went his spine at hearing those words. President Obama now firmly has the torch of the entire American People in his hands.

The hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

1 comment:

Fierrote said...

Yup. I counted about 3 orgasms in just recounting the speech, can't imagine how many you had as you were watching it. Or maybe it was just one long, constant one.

Haha, the word verification is "hookers" to post the comment.