Obama's Inaugural Speech gets better every time...

[YvonneCa]

...I hear it. The first time I listened (live) I wasn't focused on listening...I think I was too distracted by the visuals and my emotion of seeing the crowd.

But today, I listened as C-Span replayed parts of the inauguration and the whole speech. WOW!!!! It wasn't done in the style of Lincoln or Kennedy or even 'candidate Obama.' It was different...but profound. The message was clear and serious.

I think it may be analyzed and discussed for years to come. It was PRESIDENTIAL. As I said...it gets better every time I listen.:patriot:

Thoughts??

[VADem11]

1. Agreed

I was in the crowd and I think I was too focused on waiting for a Kennedy or FDR type line but it is better once you take the time to read and hear it again. It's quite powerful and sobering but it does have a lot of vision. I thought the same thing was true of his election night speech as well.

[YvonneCa]

3. Oh you lucky person...

...!!!!! How wonderful to have been there. :)


That's what I was doing here in my little 'abode.' :7 I was looking for a 'Kennedy-esque' line...and not really focusing on the words. It's the words he used to define his vision that made it powerful, JMHO.

[annabanana]

2. It really DOES require a couple of readings to capture

the depth and breadth of it. It will grow in history.

[YvonneCa]

4. It will. And my hope is that...

...understanding of the profound vision Obama describes in the speech will happen sooner than that. ;)

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. I couldn't agree more Yvonne. I think I let the punditry distract me. But

now that I have rewatched it several times, I agree that this will go down as one of his best. It seems to have just the right amount of optimism, and I think he was very mindful of where we are at this point in history. The speech was also peppered with some very sobering truths about the dire position we find ourselves in, but pulling together, there's nothing the American spirit can't overcome.

I love it more each time I listen to it.

[YvonneCa]

8. I love it...

...too. I voted for Obama to lead...and he IS. :)

[liberalmuse]

6. I completely agree. It was on a whole other level Americans aren't really used to.

I thought it was fantastic when I first heard it. Nothing 'stands out' because the whole damn speech stands out. Does anyone remember anything other than a couple lines from Reagan's speeches? Just stupid, catchy slogans. President Obama's speech was substance from beginning to end.

[YvonneCa]

12. "...the whole damn speech...

...stands out." Absolutely.:patriot:

[FrenchieCat]

7. It is definitely one of his best speeches.......

and I think he'll go down in history as having the most "best speeches" than any other president ever. The beauty of Obama's speech is that there was so much there, it takes repeated listening to fully appreciate that.

His speeches will be studied or sure, and although Pundits stated liberally that this inaugural speech was not one for the ages, I totally disagree with them. They will soon understand that it is the scholars and not them that make these kind of decisions. Pundits are way over their heads on this, as they are in just everything that the speculate and attempt to surmise when it comes to Barack Obama.

And anyone who didn't watch C-Span coverage, but watched the corporate news channels really didn't see the inauguration properly. I DVRed the entire CNN, MSNBC and C-Span programmings for that day, and got a chance to watch CNN and MSNBC this weekend (I watched C-Span on 1/20), and I had to laugh. MSNBC blew its reporting by commenting through some parts that would have been best left for observation sans comments, and by them making a bigger deal on the Sen. Kennedy medical occurence than was required. Both provided too much "opinion"....as most viewers didn't give a shit as to what pundits were thinking. C-Span coverage beat them by a mile, and I'm glad they are selling a DVD on that coverage. One felt like they were there in watching C-Span.

[YvonneCa]

10. I agree with all you said. I also watched C-Span...

...1,2, and 3. Each provided a different perspective...which, BTW, it seems they have integrated into the re-broadcast I saw on C-Span 1 this morning. They did the American people a HUGE service by their coverage...and they did not distract by talking over the event.

I also agree there was so much there that it takes repeated listening to fully appreciate it.

[keith the dem]

9. And it wasn't just words

His first few days in office have been kickass..He is doing exactly what he said he would.

[YvonneCa]

11. Yes, he IS...

...doing exactly what he said. And many of us are not at all surprised by that. ;)

His first days have been awe inspiring! Once again, I dare to hope that our country CAN return to it's best values and we CAN be unified as never before...not to mention that I can sleep at night, once again. :7

[Cha]

13. Rec'd~ I read this yesterday

before I signed off and your OP reminded me.

<snip>

"Heilemann: Obama’s Spare Inaugural Rhetoric Signals Strategic Mastery"

1/21/09 at 12:07 AMComment 21Comment 21Comments

"Barack Obama’s election against daunting odds was a testament to many things, but not least his remarkable capacity to rock the mike. On Tuesday, he delivered the most watched, most anticipated, most historically significant speech of his life in front of a crowd so massive and so joyous that it took your breath away. Immediately beforehand came the swearing-in, which was a sublime thing, engendering even in his critics and partisan adversaries a feeling of national pride — and providing his fans with a rush of satisfaction and and jolt of pure exhilaration.

Yet the speech that followed was less than thrilling in itself, perhaps by design. Its structure was formal, classical, the substance largely abstract. There were no anecdotes or narratives, personal or otherwise. There were few rhetorical flourishes, no gratuitous bids for Barletts. The language was spare, at times even pedestrian — telling Americans that "we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," for example.

And though the speech was by no means pessimistic, its optimism was balanced by a cold-eyed realism — and plenty of hard talk about not taking short cuts, a crisis brought on by greed and irresponsibility, and a collective failure to make hard choices. The political purpose of all this is easy enough to see: Obama is preparing the country for tough trade-offs down the line. (And if he's serious about reforming entitlements, you can certainly see the logic of laying down that predicate.) But it's certainly not the kind of language that caused so many hearts to flutter during his campaign."

<more>
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2009/01/heilemann_obamas_spare_inaugur.html

[Grateful for Hope]

14. I think it was not done

so as to perhaps insure that there would be a "catch phrase" that would make the speech memorable for "decades to come".

What I do think is that it was the most artful speech I have ever heard.

It put down the prior administration without being explicit. And, it was done with class.

It laid out what the current administration hopes to accomplish without being offensive. And, it was done with humility.

It was also a speech that let us know that our new leader is confident of what he going to bring to the Office of the President of the United States. This was done with the integrity we have come to expect from our new President.

[YvonneCa]

16. Great post. And...

...thoughtful insight. :)

[Grateful for Hope]

25. Thank you..

:thumbsup:

[YvonneCa]

28. You are quite welcome...

...:)

[cooolandrew]

15. Exactly, the election speeches were to motivate a movement, but the inaugurations speech was setting...

the agenda of serious and hard business. It was time for bringing expectations to a moderate level but still strengthening determination to get through the worst.

[EraOfResponsibility]

17. The Republican blonde bimbo parrot on McLaughlin Group was trashing the speech today

saying it didn't live up to his usual soaring rhetoric. Fuck her.

[Clio the Leo]

18. Try READING it.....

... EVEN BETTER!

I have a suspicion that he chose some of the words knowing that it might someday be written in granite. (and yes, I realize I'm being presumptive)

[YvonneCa]

21. I did. My local paper...

...printed the whole speech out over a full two-page spread. You are right (and I can picture the granite at some distant future date. ) :7

[JoePhilly]

19. I think the delay in crowd response, due to crowd size, hurt the initial impression.

And I was watching it.

But each time I hear a line from it ... I'm more and more impressed.

[YvonneCa]

22. So am I. I guess it's a trade-off. Pictures of that...

...crowd sent a message all their own. I think the crowd scenes were a message equal in stature to the speech.:patriot:

[VADem11]

24. Crowd response

was mainly due to the delays in the audio. I was standing by the Washington Monument and the audio was behind the video by a few seconds. I was wondering how it sounded from people watching on TV.

[zulchzulu]

20. It is indeed historic on so many levels

Maybe there isn't the "big sentence" that some wanted to find, but it is indeed a seminal address to the country and the World that this country is back.

[YvonneCa]

23. Here's a big sentence for you:

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

President Barack Obama



And, yes, WE are back. ;)

[FrenchieCat]

26. Here's another big sentence.....

"To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

and the shorter one that comes right before it.....

"know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

[YvonneCa]

27. Those are great sentences. :) n/t