Inaugural Rhetoric
Alrighty, in the interest of historic occassions, and since some of you are already chatting about this I decided to post the speech and video here. Some of you are already “twittering” about his tropes, and structures, diction, and the weaving of his ideas. And Michelle Elias was there!
Inauguration speeches are important for presidential administrations because they must accomplish several things simultaneously: first, they must bring together a divided electorate, healing a usually bruising campaign; second, they must outline in broad terms the aims and goals of the incoming administration–terms for success or failure; and thirdly, they must speak to the people of the world at large who are very interested in the US policy because any US policy will surely effect them–even our choice to not get involved has massive implications.
Below is the video of the historic day. I don’t think the National Mall has ever had so many people in it at one time. I’m used to seeing it deserted. But 20 degree weather couldn’t keep out the nearly 2 million today.
“My fellow citizens:…” get the full text from the the UPI newsservice.
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This speech is excellent and powerful. The words are eloquent and as a whole, it is packed with tropes and has great rhythm. Obama also knows how to speak boldly, and very well.
I looked up Bush’s speech in 2001, and it’s funny how “America’s ideals that have always kept us going” seem to change a bit between political parties and at the dawn of a new era.
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