Obama's Inaugural Address Inspirational with a Few Disappointments

In his historic inaugural speech, President Barack Obama gave the American people a bold vision for the future. He clearly doesn't take his responsibilities lightly, and he expects us to be serious about this, too.

Obama recognized several times that this is an extraordinarily difficult time for the United States. "Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms." He called on all of us to face these difficulties. "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

This was an excellent call to action. Change cannot come about just by government action; it will take everyone working together for the good of all to fix the economy, to mitigate global warming, and to achieve energy independence.

Obama went on to be more specific about the economy: "The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good."

Again, this stresses working together, and helping each other. Good! But this statement worried me a little: "The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth."

Bold and swift action, yes, absolutely, but I'm not too sure about growth. Our economy has been based on continual growth for decades now, and that growth has been based on consumerism. Can we really expect the economy to constantly grow, regardless of resources? Ecological economist Herman Daly says not. "As long as our economic system is based on chasing economic growth above all else, we are heading for environmental, and economic, disaster." We need to replace the growth paradigm with sustainability.

Obama also made strong statements about national security: "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred." "We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense." These statements saddened me, as Obama is still defining us as a country at war. We need to get out of the war and fear business. These statements are too close to those of George W. Bush. For instance, "But we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms." (September 12, 2001) Sorry, guys, but we do, as a nation, need to acknowledge that our way of life has flaws. We use (and waste) far too many of the earth's resources, and we put out far too many pollutants. That still doesn't give anyone the right to attack us, but the fact is that our way of life has to change, like it or not.

The President did acknowledge this later, though, making his speech seem a bit conflicted: "And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect."

Overall, the speech did address the major issues that we will be facing in the months and years to come. Obama was at his strongest in calling us to work together to face adversity. "Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter."

SOURCES

Associated Content, "Text of President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address", http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1404737/text_of_president_barack_obamas_inaugural.html

Herman Daly, "Special Report: Economics blind spot is a disaster for the planet", http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20026786.300-special-report-economics-blind-spot-is-a-disaster-for-the-planet.html

WikiQuote, "Remarks by the President in Photo Opportunity with the National Security Team, September 12, 2001", http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush