To be sure, it was a terrific speech. But it was special, I think, because it wasn’t what we’ve seen from Obama before, and perhaps therefore not what we’d expected.
It was tough. It was, frankly, quite straight talking. Obama’s speeches can be beautiful, the language so well constructed as to seem like poetry. It was like that at times yesterday, only those moments were most often to be found in the starkest passages. I remember being particularly drawn to a line where, speaking of generations passed, he talked of their working “till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.” It’s not pretty but it is powerful.
For much of the first half, the crowd fell silent. I felt people weren’t applauding because they were struck by the gravity of the message. It would have seemed wrong to clap a line like the one I just quoted. That, I think, was the intention of the speech. Not an applause-happy crescendo, but a tough, sober reflection for the moment; a reasoned call to rise to the challenge, as many have done before.
But that is not to say his speech was not applaudable. I think it was tremendously brave, actually. Speaking truth to power is often thought to be terribly gutsy. But working in the opposite direction is often harder, I’d argue: being the holder of power and having the courage to tell your people that all is not well in their land. Arguing that all must change, but that this change will not be easily achieved.
He didn’t hold back. Not in his assessment of the moment, of the nature of US politics, of President Bush (whose staff were reportedly annoyed by some of the not-so-subtle allusions to Katrina, to an unwillingness to take tough decisions and be held accountable). He talked fairly bleakly of the paradox of America — a nation at once so prosperous and so impoverished; with so much might and splendour but some true failings too: the healthcare network, the public education system, the crumbling infrastructure.
The first half was FDR. It was honest and painted a modest picture. It contained some of the most inauspicious language used yet by Obama and his team to define the state of the economy. It was hard truths. The second half was more JFK. The entirety of the section devoted to addressing foreign entities, “To the Muslim world”, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit”, “To the people of poor nations”, harked back almost precisely to the words of Kennedy’s inaugural, and his message. (Interesting note: According to the analysts, that use of “Muslim” was the first use of the word in any Presidential inaugural. He also used “nonbeliever” for the first time.)
What was his big message? It was a mixture of the following two quotes:
“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin the work of remaking America.”
And “the time has come to set aside childish things.”
The message: We must remake America, not just because this moment is tough, but because our great democracy has, in its maturity, grown complacent and begun to slip. Our politics has been too broken for too long. It’s time to wake up and get moving. And it was something like these are serious times which require serious people.
And though it seems obvious to say so, it represented an exceptional moment, even for us in Britain. The pictures out this morning of President Obama in the Oval Office, talking to his Chief of Staff, seemed unreal. Partly because, like with any inauguration, it represents an obvious yet unfamiliar change. This one was very special though. Let’s hope he lives up to his promise.
