Brief Thoughts on the Inaugural

Like millions, I watched the inaugural festivities yesterday.  I specifically looked for clues as to how the new president will govern.  Although he’s indicated a commitment to a ‘continuing campaign’, rhetoric must give way to governing.

First, it was a historic day.  There’s no denying that his election is a culmination of sorts, beginning with the Civil War, a failed reconstruction, nearly 100 years of segregation and a civil rights struggle that was a second chance at national reconstruction.  His election is a simple recognition that skin color ultimately matters little and that character, intelligence, virtue and industry are what carry the day. That’s essentially American.

Second, I watched President Obama’s face and body language leading up to the oath of office.  Clearly, walking out on the reviewing stand at the Capital would be daunting in the best of times - which these clearly are not.  He seemed confident and focused – perhaps a little too confident.  Up to the point of taking the oath and making his inaugural address, he could follow a script.  All movements were choreographed till that point, after all, so one could simply play his part under history’s direction.  

It was after his address that he seemed to hesitate.  He shook hands with – and indeed embraced – former President Bush and then he turned to the other side of the dais and stood stiffly before his wife in a momentary pause.  She looked into his face and appeared to murmur a few words before he kissed her on the cheek and then stiffly kissed his older daughter.  At that point, I detected uncertainty – or at least a realization of the enormity of the burden on his shoulders.  It was a moment like his appearence at Grant Park in Chicago after the election.  Even though he was surrounded by people, he seemed to stand alone on the platform and contemplate the moment – or himself. 

Third, his speech seemed to lack a coherent theme.  Some parts seemed positively Lincolnesque and Reaganesque – the emphasis on liberty, confronting enemies, accountability and a re-dedication to honest toil.  His comments to the Muslim world could not have pleased either Islamists or his far-left base.  Yet, there was an apparent commitment to a large federal government and massive intervention in the economy.  Whether his ideas in this regard are as far-reaching as those of Congressional Democrats remains to be seen.  His delivery was polished – as always. Yet, there was a patchwork – even improvisational – quality that I found faintly jarring.

Fourth, it seems to me that we still haven’t seen the real Barack Obama – if, indeed, we ever will.  Most presidents are ciphers to a certain degree – some more than others.  In spite of his smiling, congenial exterior, I rather doubt that we know this man very well at all.  Obama rose through the political ranks by adapting to his environment.  To my knowledge, he’s never distinguished himself from his environment or sought to define that environment.  And now he must do just that.  I don’t know if he has the ability – he seems to be a man who puts off decisions and seeks to straddle every side of an issue.  His Tuesday order on Gitmo seems entirely in character.  He didn’t order the detention center’s closure – he merely froze legal proceedings for 120 days while he thinks things over.

We shall see. And indeed we shall, for there are crises everywhere.  It remains to be seen whether our new president will shape events or merely be shaped by them.

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Tagged as: Inauguration, Obama