# Witnessing: Obama's inauguration. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 20, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163 "2009-01-20T18:22:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/1 "2009-01-20T18:22:12Z")
I’m at work and was unable to hear or watch but have at least read [the text](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28751183/) of his speech. I can only assume that he delivered it well. Those of you who have heard it, what did you think? Did it hit the mark? Does it clue you in as to what directions he intends to lead and if so does it inspire you to follow in that direction? ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/2 "2009-01-20T18:52:44Z")
Nice nod to atheists in there. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/3 "2009-01-20T18:54:32Z")
My first reaction was disappointment actually. He delivered it well as expected but I just found it rather bland and a rehash of his earlier rhetoric. I was expecting something more literary and full of memorable phrases. I guess my expectations were too high but I really did like his victory speech: especially that lovely passage about the 106 year old woman. I can’t think of any passages in this one which were truly memorable though the last one about Washington was good. On thinking about it a bit more the speech probably wasn’t written for the history books but for a national audience with many who have probably heard Obama only a few times and a global audience many of whom will have heard him for the first time. It was a straightforward restatement of his basic ideas without too many potentially confusing rhetorical flourishes. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/4 "2009-01-20T19:07:44Z")
A good leader is not produced through words but actions. Already we have seen Obama go back from his Iraq troop promise. From immediately to six month, to now 16 months. A good leader doesn’t HIINT at what direction he’ll go he states it plainly and without hesitation. You can talk all you want but you can’t inspire someone to do something he has no control over. I guess I am just sick of politicans that use words and think that is enough. As Marcia Brady said “results…And that’s what you’ll get if you vote for me results.” ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/5 "2009-01-20T19:11:12Z")
Nothing jumped out as a phrase for the ages, but I think he did what he needed to do. For the domestic audience, he acknowledged the country’s sad economic situation but cast it as an opportunity to rethink the status quo, rejecting the idea that this is the time to think small, stay the course, and put off things that need to be done. For international observers, he promised changes in the way we project our power and influence across the globe, while making it clear that we would not roll over for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/6 "2009-01-20T19:20:45Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > A good leader is not produced through words but actions. Already we have seen Obama go back from his Iraq troop promise. From immediately to six month, to now 16 months. > **[Obama to Order Iraq Withdrawal on Day One, Axelrod Says](https://abcnews.com/ThisWeek/Inauguration/story?id=6674817&page=1)** > > Incoming White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said this morning that President-Elect Barack Obama will fulfill his campaign promise and begin on Wednesday the process to withdraw America forces from Iraq within 16 months. “Incoming White House senior adviser David Axelrod said [Jan. 18] this morning that President-elect Barack Obama will fulfill his campaign promise and **begin on Wednesday the process of withdrawing America forces from Iraq** within 16 months.” Obama was never going to bring everyone home “immediately.” That’s preposterous. > [@](#): > > I guess I am just sick of politicans that use words and think that is enough. > > As Marcia Brady said “results…And that’s what you’ll get if you vote for me results.” This is a thread about a _speech_. If you want to talk about results, how about starting a new one after he’s been president for more than two hours? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/7 "2009-01-20T19:26:29Z")
**Markxxx** yeah … no results yet even after he’s delivered his inauguration speech. Wottal loser he is, eh? No, an inauguration speech is not the speech to give lots of policy specifics. It is the place to frame the actions that you will be attempting to take for at least the next hundred days and the place to put your administration’s goal in context for all of America first and all of the world second. I think this speech did this in a workmanlike way. No, not earthshaking rhetorical flourishes. Instead a sense of the difficult road we have ahead, and the work he believes that needs to be done, coupled with a confidence that we will succeed in getting there if we keep to our better ideals and focus on what needs to be done. ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/8 "2009-01-20T19:32:29Z")
It is a powerful speech that was delivered by a gifted orator. The speech reads as powerfully as Obama’s delivery. My favorite excerpts from the speech that seem to foreshadow Obama’s goals as president: > [@](#): > > Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. > [@](#): > > …a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. 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 – I particularly appreciate Obama’s assessment that our failure as a nation is a collective failure. We need to look inward to fix what ails us. > [@](#): > > Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. And finally, I thought this was a powerful statement. > [@](#): > > …know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. [http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/20/obama-speech-text.html](http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/20/obama-speech-text.html) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/9 "2009-01-20T19:38:32Z")
Semi-poison pill comment: If Obama really wanted to strap on a bigger pair, he would have said “atheists” not this namby-pamby “non-believer” shit. ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/10 "2009-01-20T19:47:01Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Semi-poison pill comment: > > If Obama really wanted to strap on a bigger pair, he would have said “atheists” not this namby-pamby “non-believer” shit. I think it was an attempt to be inclusive of agnostics. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/11 "2009-01-20T19:51:35Z")
President Obama spoke of our _forebearers_, not of our forefathers. The only time he spoke of men without including women was when he mentioned founding fathers about the drafting of the constitution. Our president is a feminist. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/12 "2009-01-20T19:54:45Z")
> [@Ensign\_Edison](#): > > I think it was an attempt to be inclusive of agnostics. I suppose so, I just don’t like that term. It seems to set forth that “Believing” is the one true way, and throwing a “non” on there is a semi-marginalization. I’m not a “non-believer” because there is a God that I choose not to believe in; from my viewpoint there \*is \*no God – to believe or dis-believe in. Not like every time I hear this I get the urge to climb a clock tower with a rifle or anything, it just irritates me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/13 "2009-01-20T19:59:42Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I suppose so, I just don’t like that term. > > It seems to set forth that “Believing” is the one true way, and throwing a “non” on there is a semi-marginalization. > > I’m not a “non-believer” because there is a God that I choose not to believe in; from my viewpoint there \*is \*no God – to believe or dis-believe in. > Not like every time I hear this I get the urge to climb a clock tower with a rifle or anything, it just irritates me. That’s a mighty fine hair to split, and one that, as a fellow atheist, I disagree with (what do you think the root of “atheist” is, if not “not + theist”?) Would you agree that God is a nonentity? If so, aren’t you a nonbeliever? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/14 "2009-01-20T20:04:34Z")
Apparently Obama’s walking Bush to the helicopter was a very gracious gesture. Personally, I think he just wanted to be sure W was actually leaving… ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/15 "2009-01-20T20:05:41Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Semi-poison pill comment: > > If Obama really wanted to strap on a bigger pair, he would have said “atheists” not this namby-pamby “non-believer” shit. Baby steps, friend. Baby steps. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/16 "2009-01-20T20:08:36Z")
I thought it was a powerful speech, but it was powerful in a blunt, hard-hitting way. The times, IMHO, don’t really call for soaring rhetoric. This was more of a ‘here’s what we’ve got ahead of us, so let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work’ sort of speech. I thought it was very effective. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/17 "2009-01-20T20:11:05Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > Personally, I think he just wanted to be sure W was actually leaving… I know that’s how I felt. I was very, very glad to see them get on that helicopter. Sayonara, disgraced ex-President Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/18 "2009-01-20T20:17:33Z")
I think he meant “four bears.” Evidently there are some bears involved. Maybe that was a nod to the gay community? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/19 "2009-01-20T20:18:57Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s a mighty fine hair to split, and one that, as a fellow atheist, I disagree with (what do you think the root of “atheist” is, if not “not + theist”?) Would you agree that God is a nonentity? If so, aren’t you a nonbeliever? > > Daniel Believe me, if there was a different way of putting it - one less _the_-centric - I’d buy in. But since I speak English, and the term “atheist” is from the Latin root, and I can sort of make sense of it, I’ll buy into that a lot heartier \*(hardier? heartier? – neither look right to me) \*than “non-believer.” Personally, I prefer “skeptic” or “realist,” but even those are too broad, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![spazurek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@spazurek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spazurek)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163/20 "2009-01-20T20:19:37Z")
A pattern I’m seeing is that Obama is much more effective speaking about specific issues than he is making grand statements. Evidence: (1) In each of his debates, his best moments came when responding to a question, not during his opening/closing statements. (2) I found both this speech and his Democratic acceptance speech to be generally pedestrian and uninspiring. (3) His speech on race issues after the Rev. Wright controversy was his best ever (in my judgment). It took on that single question and worked through it with intelligence, sensitivity, and wisdom. It was incredibly inspiring – not in the ‘I’m ready to take on the world!’ sense but in the ‘holy crap, he might actually make headway on this problem’ sense. To me, this bodes well for his presidency. Obama excels in the hardest part of governing: appreciating the subtleties of an issue and identifying areas of common ground between opposing sides. This doesn’t give him a lot of material for passionate speeches, but I anticipate that it will make him a very effective leader. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/witnessing-obamas-inauguration/482163.md?page=2)