Ruminating Out Loud

Via, The Economist, an interesting diagram on the usage of the words hope and change in inaugural addresses by Presidents of the U.S.:

“While hope has found a place in each of the 26 inaugural addresses, change is used more sparingly. Seven inaugural speeches did not contain the word; six more made use of it just once. Presidents coming to office during economic booms, such as Calvin Coolidge and Warren Harding in the 1920s, Dwight Eisenhower and then George Bush junior, have been heavier users of hope than those who were inaugurated during leaner times.”

It was only a little more than a month ago that a nation collectively lived through euphoria and the reaffirmation in the American ideal. In the interest of reliving this momentous historic demarcation, I enter here President Obama’s inauguration speech. I believe it serves us all well to remind ourselves of the hopefulness experienced in those moments as we go though the tough times now and ahead.

…Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old.

These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.

In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.

The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.

At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it.”

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; 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; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

You would think that the honorable Justice Clarence Thomas would find in him the strength to at least stay awake through the inauguration speech. Well, if you thought that, you would be wrong. Thanks to this high resolution photography on that historic day, you can have a glorious view of a people attentively hanging onto every word the president said and those like Justice Thomas who disgraced themselves.

Asleep at the Inauguration

It is no surprise to most, who frequent these pages, that I am particularly fond of how well folks at The Boston Globe put photo-essays together. Previous examples can be found here and here. They continue to impress. Photographs from the inauguration can be found here:

He stood

beaming hope

on a day icy cold

preaching truth.

He stood

with a nation

tall and proud

born again

vivacious and free

basking in memories golden.

He stood

with echoes of past

on shifting sand

a union

built on blood

of distant shores

in suffering shed.

He stood

with a people brave

seekers of liberty

free and gallant

in pursuit of happy.

He stood

with humanity

of corners of the world

yearning liberation

freedom and food.

He stood

the 44th president

confident and bold

in a future bright.

.

The official Obama inauguration poster. You can buy it here.

Obama's Inaguration Poster