January 20, 2009 – 10:20 am
Up to three million sets of eyes are expected to look upon the West Front of the United States Capitol today as Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. But I can’t help but think of one set of eyes in particular that will look in the other direction: Congressman John Lewis.
As one of the 535 members of Congress who will be seated behind the President-elect today, Congressman Lewis will have a unique view on history.
It’s not the first time.
In August of 1963, John Lewis was the 11th of 12 civil rights leaders who spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the March on Washington, moments before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. As the chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), he was also, by far, the youngest—just 23 years old.
And now, he is the last. Every other leader who shared the podium that day is gone. As the ghosts from that seminal 1963 march jostle to stand next to Barack Obama at that podium later today, I’m glad there is at least one member of that exclusive club still with us, able to see something he likely never dreamed possible in his lifetime.
I hope he sits up high. By law, the Capitol is the highest point in our nation’s capital. If anybody deserves to have a view from the mountaintop, it’s John Lewis.
January 20, 2009 – 10:12 am
Whatever your politics, today is a day of great moments.
In one profound respect, Barack Obama’s inauguration is similar to those of Andrew Jackson and John F. Kennedy, not so much as a matter of American politics, but of American culture. A group that felt excluded to one degree or another from the American system — Westerners in Jackson’s case; Catholics in Kennedy’s — saw one of their own rise to the highest rank of American government. And as with today, Jackson’s inaugural drew unprecedented crowds (snow held down the crowds at JFK’s).
But after more than two centuries of struggle, beginning with the struggle over slavery, continuing to the struggle over civil rights, despite the similarities with past inaugurals, today is singular. We all know that this inaugural marks an epic transformation in our nation. Among greatest disuniting factors in the union has become far, far less a source of disunity with Mr. Obama’s ascending to the presidency.
Having large policy differences with him, I did not support Mr. Obama for office. But not everything in politics is political — not everything is policy and process, deals and deliberations. The swearing in of Mr. Obama — a man of high ability and manifest integrity — is a singular and transformative moment in our national life and a tremendously positive moment for the entire country.
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January 20, 2009 – 9:01 am
The normally unbearable Richard Cohen pulls out a nice piece today in the Washington Post. He reminds us that, aside from Lincoln and Kennedy and all, Barack Obama will have a few other things on his mind as he steps up to the podium to deliver his inaugural address.
He also (inadvertently?) previews the first big question of the speech: Will the new president be sworn in as Barack Hussein Obama, or just Barack Obama?
January 20, 2009 – 8:53 am
On The Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday – the day before Inauguration Day – Jill Biden told the audience that Barack Obama gave her husband, Joe, the option of being either vice president or Secretary of State. Doh!
Furthermore, Mrs. Biden suggested that her husband chose the VP slot because it would involve less travel, sort of the way you choose between middle management jobs at IBM.
The Obama team quickly responded with a statement asserting that Mrs. Biden’s assertion was absurd in the greatest way because President-elect Obama has always wanted nothing more than for Joe Biden to be vice president and Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State. And, PS, tomorrow is Inauguration Day, Jill Biden, what the heck?
This had to happen, of course. The normally loquacious vice president-elect seems to have been kept in a box since Election Day. An acknowledged foreign policy expert in the Senate, he’s been giving Dick Cheney a run for his money in the “undisclosed location” department as Hillary Clinton has captured the post everyone once assumed would go to Biden and the world – from Mumbai to Gaza – has churned.
But for such a message mash-up to come from Jill Biden shows that even the best laid traps – er, plans – can be foiled by slips of the tongue, sometimes at the highest levels. Perhaps after her time in the inaugural box today, Mrs. Biden will spend some time in the penalty box tomorrow.
January 19, 2009 – 2:18 pm
First inaugural addresses mark a moment at once sacramental and instrumental.
The secular sacrament — the outward and visible sign of the inward, invisible grace in our polity — is the American democracy’s peaceful transfer of power. Through the contentiousness of an election campaign, the people’s mandate, not just for this or that leader, but for the constitutional processes themselves, has been both bestowed and renewed. Inaugural addresses invariably remind us of America’s historically unmatched commitment to popular sovereignty and individual liberty in the context of national unity.
It is fashionable to dismiss this element of these addresses as so much rhetoric. But such rhetoric, like liturgy for a faith, plays an essential role in maintaining the vigor of our national life and the constancy of our national purpose. In his first inaugural, on the brink of civil war, Abraham Lincoln, addressing soon to be secessionists, invoked ” [t]he mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land….” Such words, even in such a circumstance as Lincoln’s, are essential to preserving the perfection of this more perfect union.
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January 19, 2009 – 12:33 am
I was struck by a phrase in President-elect Obama’s remarks to the throng who’d gathered for today’s “We Are One” extravaganza at the Lincoln Memorial. After saying that few generations have confronted the kind of challenges we face today, and warning that meeting these manifold challenges will take not months but years, Obama asserted,
“But despite all of this — despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead — I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure, that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time.”
My first reaction was — gee, that’s a curious choice of words. Of course the United States will endure. Even with Iraq, the financial meltdown, and everything else, “enduring” really isn’t our problem.
But then my mom, an English professor, reminded me of this — William Faulkner’s Nobel acceptance speech, delivered in 1950. Faulkner, speaking to a traumatized world that feared the threat of nuclear annihilation, declared,
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January 18, 2009 – 11:46 pm
I want to take a break from the euphoria of the inaugural weekend for a few thoughts on the new president’s use of rhetoric to enhance his power.
A key theme of the Obama campaign and of the soon-to-be-sworn-in president’s statements since election day has been the call to bring “Democrats, Republicans and Independents”, along with many other groups, together. It is a fair bet that this call to reach beyond partisanship will find its way into his much anticipated inaugural address.
Many presidents of the past half century have sought a similar transcending of party divisions, usually meeting frustration. Dwight Eisenhower called for it in his second inaugural, Richard Nixon (“to lower our voices would be a simple thing”) in his first. George H.W. Bush tried to reach across the aisle in budget and national security matters. George W. Bush made no secret of his desire coming to office to change the tone in Washington and has been candid in recent interviews about his disappointment that he didn’t succeed. Each of these presidents were Republicans facing Democratic Congresses. Now we have a Democratic president with large Democratic majorities in houses calling for post-partisan unity. Mr. Obama would appear to hold all the cards and not need the Congressional GOP. So is his call just so many empty words? Maybe not. The rhetoric of unity may in fact be part of a strategy to put the new president in firm charge of national affairs.
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January 18, 2009 – 11:32 pm
According to Barack Obama’s advisors, Tuesday’s inaugural address is essentially written. And a theme has emerged: responsibility.
As AP reports, Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to the president-elect, told Meet the Press on Sunday that Obama will “call on Americans to embrace a new era of responsible behavior – in government and in business.”
That sounds pretty smart. Americans may be ready for an eat-your-spinach moment, as long as everyone’s getting served. After all, consumers are already familiar with this “new era of responsible behavior,” which they’ve helped usher in by reigning in spending, reducing debt, and re-assessing budget priorities. Now they’d like to see Congress and Wall Street do the same.
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January 18, 2009 – 10:22 am
Let’s call it the faith-based equivalent of a cage match: on one side of our national Mall, this afternoon, V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, will deliver the invocation at the Beyonce-Bono-Springsteen inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial.
Two days later, the Rev. Rick Warren, the prominent mega-church pastor and high-profile crusader against same-sex marriage from California’s Orange County, will deliver the invocation at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on the West Front of the United States Capitol.
While putting aside the 555-foot phallic symbol that rests squarely between those two locations, and its frightening potential as a symbol of our sexual politics, I’d like to introduce a third name that has not been introduced thus far to this ecumenical face-off: Vilfredo Frederico Damaso Pareto.
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January 16, 2009 – 11:19 pm
Not even the bone-chilling weather of the past few days can dull the excitement surrounding Tuesday’s inaugural extraordinaire. But I was tickled to see that in Carlsbad, California, the big event is already underway:
According to the LA Times, the LegoLand extravaganza includes more than 1,000 figures — President and Mrs. Bush 43, President and Senator Clinton, President and Mrs. Bush 41 (note that Poppy seems to be dozing off, while Barbara is bedecked in her trademark pearls), even Aretha Franklin, Rick Warren, and Oprah Winfrey.
And look at that sunny blue sky…!
January 16, 2009 – 7:47 pm
In the wake of Thursday’s US Airways near-disaster on the Hudson River, and the heroic actions of the pilot and crew in keeping all the passengers alive, some have suggested that the event – or at least its main players – might find a place in Tuesday’s inaugural address.
Perhaps, but I think it would be more suited to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in February. And there’d be precedent.
In his 1982 State of the Union address, two weeks after an Air Florida jet crashed into DC’s 14th Street Bridge and the Potomac River shortly after takeoff, President Reagan recalled the heroism of Lenny Skutnik, a federal worker who dove into the river to save a passenger.
In his book on presidential speechwriting, White House Ghosts, Robert Schlesinger describes how Skutnik made it into the president’s address … and launched a new rhetorical gimmick: seating ordinary Americans with the First Lady in the House balcony so the president can hail their achievements.
It’s not too difficult to imagine pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger getting a seat near Michelle Obama next month. (And can you imagine a better name for a hero?)
January 16, 2009 – 6:03 pm
Mike Allen’s Politico Playbook alerts us to this AP article about the end of David Letterman’s “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.”
In case you’ve missed it, the bit contrasts clips of grand historical presidential rhetoric (“The only thing we have to fear…”; “Ask not…”) with clips from current presidential speeches in which George Bush is invariably fumbling for words, staring blankly, or putting his own special twist on the English language. You can watch a sample here.
“Great Moments” is usually pretty funny, even to a Bush fan. Still, I was surprised to learn that it’s run 378 times in the last three years. That’s some pretty good comedic mileage.
No doubt all the late night comics and comedy shows are a little bit sad, from a professional standpoint, to see President Bush go. And thank goodness Frank Caliendo has John Madden to fuel his fire.
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January 16, 2009 – 2:24 pm
President-elect Obama visited the Washington Post yesterday – always a good idea to make friends with the hometown reporters and editors (as if his press coverage could get any friendlier).
During the meeting, the Post reports, Obama spoke about the need for Social Security and Medicare reform. Not surprising, even though the issue was once considered the Third Rail of American Politics (I just realized that spells TRAP. Cool.). What was interesting is how he spoke about it:
“‘What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further,’ he said. ‘We have to signal seriousness in this by making sure some of the hard decisions are made under my watch, not someone else’s.'”
Hard decisions made under my watch? Not kicking the problem down the road? If I read that line out of context I’d think George W. Bush had said it.
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January 16, 2009 – 10:07 am
Storytelling is an indispensable part of successful speeches — from meta-narratives that join a speaker and audience in common cause, to humorous stories that build rapport and ease, to illustrative vignettes that bring to life key concepts or ideas.
Yesterday, Senator Joe Biden’s emotional farewell to the U.S. Senate was a terrific collection of personal reflections that told the story not only of one man’s 36-year Senate career — from awe-struck freshman to august “old bull” — but also offered a wonderful window on the U.S. Senate itself: on how “personal relationships are the one thing that unlock the true potential of this place,” how mutual respect can transcend partisan divides, and how minds are opened, opinions changed, and common ground ultimately reached.
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January 15, 2009 – 9:41 pm
George W. Bush’s address from the East Room of the White House Thursday evening was among his best. To a degree almost unseen before, he was relaxed, calm, and comfortable at the podium. He looked like a man about to be relieved of a great burden – not the burden of making decisions (he seems to thrive on that), but the burden of having every word parsed, every decision second- (and third- and fourth-) guessed.
Recognizing the reality that there will be “legitimate debate about many of [my] decisions,” the president said, “I hope you’ll agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions,” recalling the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the economic trouble gripping the country as he leaves office.
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