Four years ago today, a million people streamed onto the national mall for one of the most anticipated speeches of the new century: Barack Obama’s inaugural address. A man hailed for his oratorical skills and renowned for his literary flair was taking office at a moment of national crisis. The recipe called for a grand statement on par with Franklin Roosevelt’s “all we have to fear is fear itself,” from his 1933 oath-taking.
FDR was just one of the antecedents on the minds of the crowd; the ceremony was dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, whose achievement in freeing the slaves was being brought to dazzling fruition with the inauguration of an African-American president. The president-elect arrived in Washington by train, following the route taken by Lincoln.
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It may well be a personal fault but I have difficulty getting overly passionate regardng any pol or any policy. I for one do not see the US in this dramatic decline, a leveling off perhaps and hopefully a national recogniztion of the limits of growth within a closed system. For one nation to dominate the world stage is neither good for the nation nor the world stage.
Obama more than any President I have known in my lifetime has recognized the positives of the worlds varying cultures while at the same time also recognizing the faults contained in each. Can the Muslim world be brought into the modern world even if it is kicking and screaming? Obama believed it could. He may be wrong that it can but he is right in trying.
The one thing I will give Obama great credit for is trying to get this great nation to see the possibility of a civilized and compassionate world. He may well be naive in that belief in that attempt, but I think it is how humanity does move forward, in these slow herky-jerky moves forward, dragging those who do indeed believe in old religious models, old world models along with them. I did not hate GWB I disageed with him. I don't adore Obama but I agree with him at a basic level.
From my perspective both men do nothing more than reflect at any given time the public itself.
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No doubt about it, he can speechify. That has got him elected twice. His record didn't get him reelected. He is a very likable person, heck, I like him, but as a leader? not so much.
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"Kitch" I don't even see a slow decline. What I see is an economy that cannot duplicate its post war growth which is only to be expected. This vociferous hatred of Obama by some I simply write off to on the part of some as a subject I would prefer not to get into, on the part of others strictly a partisan intellectual dam, and on others a reaction against what they view as their own particular ethnic preeminence. I in fact find nothing terribly offsetting about Obama nor anything terribly exciting. In fact I find this view of him as a radical almost funny. If one looks at his policies he is extremely pragmatic. The right naturally found health insurance repugnant but even that is kind of funny as the mandate is a Republican idea.
As to whether American's are happy or not. A people who's only goal in life is material gain will seldom be happy. But I have found that generally speaking those who are interested in "living" life as opposed to those who "measure" their life are quite happy. Even Americans.
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