Barack Obama's inaugural address
What the new president should say to kick off his administration
The pressure is on Barack Obama to deliver a speech worthy of being "carved into monuments," said Heather Michon in The Washington Post. "If anyone can do it, he can. But the odds are long." Out of the 55 inaugural addresses since George Washington, Americans "remember snippets from, maybe, six" of them.
Let's hope Obama has studied "the great words of Ronald Reagan's inaugural address in 1981,"said Larry Kudlow in National Review. "Reagan faced a terrible economy, too." And in the most memorable line of his speech he clearly spelled out the tax-cutting philosophy behind his cure: "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem."
It might be best for Obama to take a page from John F. Kennedy, said Richard Reeves in The New York Times. Kennedy, too, faced tremendous challenges when he took office, and his words—"Ask not what your country can do for you ..."—still inspire today. Obama might be on the right track; he has "read and re-read" the inaugural address of the president whose themes Kennedy borrowed—Abraham Lincoln.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Like Lincoln, said Walter Shapiro in The New Republic, Obama "owes his power to the power of his words." But Obama will be speaking not just to Americans but to a vast global audience looking for signs that the "long national nightmare" of the Bush years is over. So to be successful, Obama will have to "loosen the strangler's grip of past presidential oratory" and deliver "a speech that sounds like Barack Obama, not Lincoln, Roosevelt, or Kennedy."
The "multiple challenges and diminished resources" of these uncertain times might force Obama to improvise, said Allen Weinstein in USA Today. But inaugural speeches always serve as "the conceptual bridge between campaign poetry and governance prose." So, Obama's words will "surely reflect the historic tradition of such inaugural speeches, which seek to cauterize residual electoral wounds while evoking the 'better angels' of America's wary but ever-hopeful citizenry."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'A direct, protracted war with Israel is not something Iran is equipped to fight'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 17, 2024
Cartoons Wednesday's cartoons - political anxiety, jury sorting hat, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Arid Gulf states hit with year's worth of rain
Speed Read The historic flooding in Dubai is tied to climate change
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published