Obama's Call to Choose Our Better History

In President Obama's brilliant, deeply felt Inaugural Address, we find echoes of the great speeches of the past: the acknowledgment of challenge and trepidation from FDR, the call to service of JFK, the assertion of strength within a context of justice of Ronald Reagan. President Obama's rhetoric, as we expected, reached back to the cadences of Lincoln, and tied those together with the soaring voice of King. It was a dignified, thoughtful speech -- worthy of the great orator who delivered it and appropriate to our perilous times.

As I listened to the speech, I was fascinated by how this candidate of change, of "yes we can," carefully wove the work ahead back into the fabric of American history:

The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

President Obama hopes to inspire risk takers and innovators, but he also wants us to "choose our better history," to find, as Emerson might have said, our best selves in the service of a better community.

Choosing our better history also means rejecting the policies of recent years that undermined our constitution and our community. In forceful terms unusual in an Inaugural Address, our new president rejected "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." The "rule or law and the rights of man" remain our precious guide, and, contrary to the tactics of fear of the last eight years, "we will not give them up for expedience's sake."

The candidate of change reached beyond recent ideological battles to the deeper currents of our traditions to become a president of inclusion. And inclusion can be inspired by a shared vision of history - a vision that will allow us to build a common future:

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true.

President Obama would have us face the challenges of our time by going beyond our self-interest to re-discovery the legacy we have in common. As we start a new era, he stressed, "let us mark this day with remembrance." By "returning to these truths" of our history, President Obama has asked us to reshape our destiny.

Comments

[CactusTom]

By nature Obama is an inclusive personality, and, too, the nation’s better history is its inclusive elements, like the welcoming sentiment expressed by lady liberty, or the words of Lincoln when he said “united we stand divided we fall.” The dark side of our history is our exclusive side: Civil War, discrimination against minorities and the turning of our back on our allies to do our own stupid thing. Evil thrives in darkness and fear. Obama will lead us back into the light of the world to stand shoulder to shoulder with the forces of good against the world’s common enemies--violent fundamentalism in all its disgusting forms. ( And, yes, I mean folks like Rush Limbaugh when I say violent fundamentalism in all its disgusting forms.)

[AirForceBlue]

We're hearing an avalanche of "how to deal with today's world-problems," but there will be nothing new. Political leadership today can be compared with wartime leadership, in that, all plans go out the window when the first shot is fired. It remains to be seen exactly how effective President Obama's plans of leadership will be at the next major terrorist attack. Patriot Act, wire tapping, aggressive questioning techniques­..........­...anyone?

[sully664]

I keep seeing the word "inclusive." Obama has brought in NO 3rd party people or Independents to his team. He has said NOTHING about ballot access or allowing new voices into the political debates. Until he does some of this he is simply supporting the two-party paradigm/d­ictatorshi­p. This club is not inclusive, it is EXCLUSIVE. I hope Barack knows the difference.

[Canuck27]

I'm reading a biography of FDR right now and Obama's style is very similar. The tremendous personal charm and oratory combined with a spine of steel.