President Barack Obama

Like many others, I was up at around 5.20am this morning Auckland time to watch the inauguration of my generation.

You expect a good speech from Obama and you are never disappointed. It was not the sort of mushy high-blown rhetoric that some other presidents have used; and you also get the sense that he is not reading words so much as expressing what he thinks and what he intends to do.

I know that all speeches are meant to be like that, of course, but trust me: most don't even come close.

My favourite passages:

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. 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.

This is the President who can renew the social contract in America, and who in so doing can combine it with the sort of environmental stewardship that secures the future of human life on earth. He is not talking about a small project, this man.

Another:

[T]hose values on which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old.

These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is a wonderful statement of the idea at the core of progressive left politics: that there is more to life than the self, and that what happens to all of us together matters as well.

It is a speech that stands with the best, and watching it this morning was something I can never forget. If anyone in politics or public life ever thought that the ability to speak to the moment, to persuade and inspire, just didn't matter, then surely the whole trajectory of Barack Obama from his 2004 Convention speech to this morning's Inauguration speech is all that you can need to think again.

If you missed it and want to see it, find it online. You'll find the time well spent.

Comments

[Jeremy]

The speech was good, but wasn't a shaddow on his acceptance speech. Part way through, CNN zoomed in on someone in the audience yawning...

Also, there really weren't any sound-bites. No "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" or "ask not what your country can do for you".

Having said that, I have yet to speak to anyone who didn't get up early and watch it.

Just my 2c.

[Clint Heine]

""the inauguration of my generation""??

Good god. I almost feel sorry for Obama. There are impossible standards expected of him - and all the talk of change has already been put to rest. He has hired much of the Clinton administration already, and we all know that Clinton lurched quite nicely to the right. None of this talk about Obamas "progressive left policies". He is already more to the right than Labour is and his party/incoming administration are too. You, Jordan are a relic of the dying international trend of socialist politics. No right thinking Govt in the world is on your wave length :)

[Jordan Carter]

Clint - you haven't a clue about my politics, as you demonstrate on every occasion that you comment on them. Rest assured, that there is only one party in New Zealand that's on Obama's wavelength, and that is the Labour Party. You may have missed the fact that the whole of US politics is skewed far to the right, but that's just an environmental constraint caused by our different political histories.

I dare say you know this as well as I do, but for the record: in the divide between progressive and reactionary politics, between government having a legit role and being the enemy, Labour and the Democrats are on one side, and National and the Republicans are on the other.

Put it this way. Who do you think Barack Obama would vote for in New Zealand? Labour or National? In the nicest possible way, and I actually for once mean that, if your answer is "National", then you are delusional.

Jeremy - interesting eh.

[Clint Heine]

Jordan - spin it any way you like but that just isn't true. I am sure you'd love Labour to ride along the coat tails of President Obama but that is lame. The Democrat party along with Obama would find it very difficult to justify what NZ Labour did in their 9 years in power. And I am no closet Democrat supporter but I find them a lot more transparent and honest than your Labour Party.

However if you really truely believe that underneath, Obama would vote Labour then I hope you get back in time for your afternoon medication. Good lad.