44 Takes Office with Blunt Rejection of 43
Looking westward into the sun and speaking to more than 1 million people on the Mall in front of him and to millions more around the world, President Barack Obama delivered a tough inaugural speech that must have made members of the outgoing Bush administration squirm in their chairs.
After thanking President George W. Bush for his service to the nation and for helping during the presidential transition, Obama veered sharply, offering no attempt at sugar-coating, no deeper genuflection toward the Bushes, who left the Capitol by helicopter soon after Obama’s blunt speech and headed for Texas.
Instead, Obama hit his theme early and often in his 18-minute address: The presidential inaugural oath is sometimes taken “amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.” Now is one of those times, he said.
Obama declared “we are in the midst of crisis” and recounted wars, a badly weakened economy that he blamed on greed on the part of some and “also on our collective failure to make hard choices.”
Homes have been lost, jobs shed, business shuttered, he recounted. Health care is too costly, schools fail too many students and we waste our energy.
There was no affable reference to Bush’s eight years in office or mention of the wonders of the Bush legacy, nothing warm and fuzzy. It was a putdown, a repudiation of the Bush years.
Obama was just warming up.
Aside from these “indicators of crisis,” the nation is on an emotional downer. Our national confidence has been sapped, Obama said, and there is a nagging fear “that America’s decline is inevitable and that the next generation must lower its sights.”
OK, having painted the gathering gloom, the new president told what was needed to get out of it. Citing past sacrifices by Americans, Obama declared: “This is the journey we continue today.”
While the challenges facing us are serious and many and will not be met easily or quickly, Obama defiantly proclaimed: “But know this, America — they will be met.”
Read the rest of her piece here.
3 Comments
January 21, 2009 at 5:23 pm
We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord
Ah, this was evident everywhere yesterday. Thanks for posting Helen’s POV.
January 22, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Truly appreciate being being able to read this reaction to the inauguration speech. Helen Thomas is just the person I needed to hear from on this. Thanks!
February 15, 2009 at 4:16 am
Ditto. Thanks. I hadn’t seen this.
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