Today’s presidential inauguration highlights included
Beyonce’s much-praised performance of the National Anthem and Michelle Obama’s
bright red ball gown—however, arguably the most anticipated moment of today was
President Obama’s inaugural address. (
As predicted, a major focus of the speech was on the
unity of the country: “We cannot mistake absolutism for politics, or substitute
spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate.” However, Obama’s
stance on polarized politics seemed more pragmatic compared to his more
idealistic inaugural speech in 2009, which aimed to negotiate and compromise
with the Republicans. Today’s speech revealed a more forceful leader determined
to enact his policy decisions despite Republican opposition and his party’s
defeat in the 2010 Congressional midterm elections. A Washington Post article
described his attitude as “not ‘Come, let us reason together.’ It was ‘Follow
me.’”
A unique aspect of the speech was its specific, policy-oriented topics such as immigration, gun control, and climate change. Most
notably, as the first publicly pro-gay marriage president, Obama made reference
to the Stonewall riots and called for “our gay brothers and sisters [to be] treated like anyone else under the
law.” This quote marked the first time that the rights of homosexuals
were mentioned in a presidential inaugural address.
Obama also gave a nod to the various minority groups
that contributed greatly to his re-election with his references to the Seneca
Falls Convention for women’s rights and the role of Selma, Alabama in the Civil
Rights Movement. However, in spite of its importance during the election
campaign, he only mentioned the country’s economy in passing as a “recovery” in
progress.
With issues such as the debt crisis in hand,
hopefully Obama will be able to use his experience from his first term to successfully
work with Congress. What are your outlooks on President Obama’s second term? Is
there any particular policy that you would like to see enacted during the next
four years?
2 comments:
I think that Obama was sending a good message when it came to minority rights, but it's a pity that he had to divert from his usual bipartisan message. In order to get minority rights, there has to be some cooperation between the two parties, but Obama's more forceful message, as well as the polarized behavior of the current Congress, give the impression that that will be difficult to achieve.
While I do agree that Obama's speech may have seemed alienating to conservatives, I also am thrilled with the amount that he is pushing minority rights and same-sex marriage (It's not like he's the first president to support a cause that vast numbers of people oppose...Abraham Lincoln, anyone?). Hopefully in addition to these issues he will be able to make steps on the economy with the same assertive attitude that his speech seemed to convey about other issues.
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