Obama Inaugural Speech

President Obama campaigned on the message "Change We Can Believe In" and, later, "Change We Need." Exactly 69,456,897 Americans voted for that "change," a change, it seems seldom remembered now, that requires something from us all.

When Obama climbed from his limo to greet crowds assembled outside the National Archives and Navy Memorial, he followed the suggestion of the Memorial's designer William Conklin.

What can a good Republican say about the week that has unfolded? I'm not sure. But speaking as an American, all I can say is that I'm damn proud to be a part of this great republic.

As a master orator, Obama faced expectations for his inaugural speech that were infused with the stratospheric hopes of his audience. Reporters were ...

Watching the speech again after the Inauguration, and watching the world watch it, realizing that there was not a corner of the globe that wasn't listening, I think it is fair to have expected more.

I was one of the 2 million folks who braved the elements to attend the Inauguration. I expected cold and confusion and craziness and I got it in spades. I did it anyway.

There was no part of "the speech" that will live in history. Nothing Obama said comes close to the emotional impact of the opening line of his Iowa caucus victory speech.

If nothing else, this week the city of Washington was Obamafied. People went not just to celebrate, but to bear witness, to be together, to physically join the concise ritual of swearing in the president.

It is great to see such enthusiasm for Obama. It is good to see a new mood of hope. But let's not be unrealistic about our problems--they are many and they are large.

Miss Manners says you cannot permit a bravo for an operatic performance without also permitting a boo. Can we extrapolate to politicians on state occasions?

I cannot help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who 47 years ago stood on steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke of his dream. Tuesday, that long-awaited, long-fought-for dream of equality was realized.

Obama may yet prove a disappointment. The task asked of him may be too great. But for the moment that is of no account. American democracy has delivered, and done so spectacularly.

At the Center for Constitutional rights, forty people gathered to watch the inauguration, pleased to witness Bush's departure. "Don't let the rotor blades hit you on the way out," warned CCR's database manager.

Each of us is called to "pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America." It is a challenge that we can not afford to ignore.

Despite some very true and obvious comparisons between the two, I feel it's my duty to nip the coming onslaught of Washington/Obama comparisons in the bud.

If America's investors lift their eyes from their virtual ticker tapes long enough to notice that America is transforming itself, maybe they can give the economy a chance to recover

Obama's mentioning in his inauguration speech of some of the world's great religions can be seen as recognition not just of the people who follow them, but that religion is an immense cultural resource.

I just returned from D.C. feeling like David Blaine returning from his 58-hour entombment in a block of ice: I'm cold, I lost some friends, and I gained an impressive case of PTSD.

Barack Obama knows how to get wild, rapturous feedback from crowds. He knows how to set it up -- how to kick up the rhetoric a notch, and the volume a notch -- and how to get a big response.

There is no need to applaud Mr. Bush, but no need to boo him, either. He was our own doing, after all, and anyway, we are, perversely, in his debt.