Spring Break
A quality inaugural address
Brandon Southward
Issue date: 1/20/09 Section: Forum
Inaugural addresses come in all shapes and sizes. Some are brief like George Washington's 135-word second inaugural address in 1793. Others are long like William Henry Harrison's one and only address which was 8,444 words and took nearly two hours to read. In the end, however, they share only a few common things: they are usually too long, too forced and too boring. This has been especially true in recent times as Peggy Noonan noted this last week by saying, "As government has grown in the 20th century, inaugural addresses have gotten longer and more boring." She is right; disregarding Kennedy's and FDR's speeches, the overwhelming majority of addresses have been utterly forgettable.
The problem is too many presidents try too hard to capture the moment. Then they end up collapsing under the weight and magnitude of it. They all want to have that phrase or one line that will be immortalized such as Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" or FDR's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
These lines usually ended up being the worst nightmare of both the president and country. Kennedy's declaration "I will go any place, bear any burden, pay any price to secure the survival of freedom" led to our increased involvement with the Vietnam War. Reagan saying that government was not the solution to our problems but the problem led to deregulation of all sectors of our financial institutions and the excess and greed of the eighties. There have not been any noteworthy addresses since Ronald Reagan's in 1980 and even his was simply decent.
The thing is, Obama does not need to force anything or try to make the moment any bigger than it already is. Our country is facing challenging times with two wars abroad and domestic problems at home. He will be taking the oath of office with the Lincoln Memorial in sight the day after the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. This will be a milestone in American history as we have elected the first sitting senator in nearly fifty years and the first president ever born in Hawaii. Oh yes, and he happens to be the first African-American president in U.S. history.
The problem is too many presidents try too hard to capture the moment. Then they end up collapsing under the weight and magnitude of it. They all want to have that phrase or one line that will be immortalized such as Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" or FDR's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."
These lines usually ended up being the worst nightmare of both the president and country. Kennedy's declaration "I will go any place, bear any burden, pay any price to secure the survival of freedom" led to our increased involvement with the Vietnam War. Reagan saying that government was not the solution to our problems but the problem led to deregulation of all sectors of our financial institutions and the excess and greed of the eighties. There have not been any noteworthy addresses since Ronald Reagan's in 1980 and even his was simply decent.
The thing is, Obama does not need to force anything or try to make the moment any bigger than it already is. Our country is facing challenging times with two wars abroad and domestic problems at home. He will be taking the oath of office with the Lincoln Memorial in sight the day after the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. This will be a milestone in American history as we have elected the first sitting senator in nearly fifty years and the first president ever born in Hawaii. Oh yes, and he happens to be the first African-American president in U.S. history.
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