Obama’s second inaugural (updated)
There were, I think, three main elements to President Obama’s second inaugural address (other than its brevity at just 19 minutes, which was the only truly surprising thing about the speech):
First, there was his identification of what — or who — is at the root of our problems:
- “The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few …”
- “For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.”
- “We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky or happiness for the few.”
In case you didn’t catch his drift, I’ve supplied some emphasis. There are just a “few” people who are keeping the rest of us from … what exactly? Does anyone actually believe only a “few” Americans (even granting the president poetic license to mean a “few” as a relative share of a nation of more than 315 million people) are happy? Or enjoy freedom? Or experience financial success?
To understand his exaggeration of the cause of our problems requires the second element of the speech, which is the gross mischaracterization of the positions of the president’s political opponents. Here are two examples:
- “No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.”
- “… we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future.”
Who, exactly, claims that a “single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need,” or that a “single person can … build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores”? Who has claimed that such a solitary trainer of teachers or builder of roads exists?
And who, exactly, believes our nation “must choose between” programs for retirees and, say, education? The GOP presidential nominee who wanted to restore the Medicare spending cut to fund (on paper) Obamacare? The Republican leaders whose proposals for Social Security involve slowing the growth of benefits?
Who are these unreasonable people who hold these radical beliefs?
Figments of Obama’s imagination — that’s who. This is the kind of willful misrepresentation of opposing viewpoints that is the stock-in-trade of Obama’s rhetoric.
Hand-in-hand with this misrepresentation is the projection onto others of the kind of behavior Obama himself regularly displays: “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle” — kind of like saying you won’t extend tax cuts for everyone else unless taxes go up on the “few” — “… or treat name-calling as reasoned debate” — kind of like calling the other side “hostage takers.”
Finally, there were the policy prescriptions to which Obama alluded. This was the element of the speech that made it sound akin to a State of the Union address. There were allusions to, though no detailed proposals for, reforming government, the tax code and schools; addressing climate change via sustainable energy sources; support for gay marriage; attempting comprehensive immigration reform; pursuing the kind of gun control measures he proposed just last week; and, most of the blue, shortening the time it takes to vote on Election Day.
Take these elements together, and it was a speech being received (with some degree of shock) by liberals as a thoroughly liberal speech. And (with far less shock) by conservatives as the same.
Why it took liberals aback, I don’t know. The notion of Obama the Centrist has appealed only to those who believe he really should govern as a socialist. But it does not portend any more of a spirit of cooperation during the next two years than we’ve seen during the past four.
– By Kyle Wingfield
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
278 comments Add your comment
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 21st, 2013
1:16 pm
It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law…
I could be wrong but I’m having serious doubts that Washington crossed the Delaware so that the sodomites could be unleashed upon your children’s classrooms, but then again, I consider our founders to be dignified and decent people. Unlike little obozo does.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:16 pm
Bruno,
He still passed ObamaCare.
Road Scholar
January 21st, 2013
1:17 pm
Kyle: Was McConnell there? Did not see him on tv.
captguitarman
January 21st, 2013
1:18 pm
Bruno. They will never acknowledge the race card because it is and indispensable tool for them when logic and reason begin to prevail in a discussion, debate, argument. It is an intellectually lazy ploy for the bigoted, prejudiced, and intellectually lazy, and they use it because it works. Oh, you’re for “cutting” entitlements? . . . you must be a racist. It is just about that simple – no fuss, no muss, no evidence or logical or reasonable or credible support required. It is a slur eagerly and knowingly used even if void of any truth, because it succeeds by putting logic and reason immediately on the defensive. You need to get ready for four more years of it.
As to the speech. I know this falls on deaf ears, but the Pub/Cons do not want to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They want to restructure them so that they will be available for future generations instead of just the bills. Nothing proposed by the Pub/Cons would affect any one over the age of 55.
Unlike the Prez and his supporters, the Pub/Cons know that the central government, nanny state, welfare state cannot be grown exponentially without being paid for, or it will ultimately lead to economic disaster. And the deficits have become so large, so incomprehensible to most Americans (which helps the Dem/Libs in promoting them), that confiscating the wealth of all of the “rich” to pay for them would be like spitting in the ocean. There are just no enough of them.
No. The Middle Class is where the real money is (as far as getting meaningful tax increases – the fiscal cliff tax increase was a joke that can only run the nation for 8 days per year), and sooner or later, the Middle Class will have to be tapped to pay the bills or hold off economic collapse. This is the ugly secret of the Obama presidency, and one day history will judge. The welfare state cannot be grown exponentially and indefinitely for free. One day, the chickens will come home to roost. Economics 101.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:19 pm
The turtle could not handle being there but your Speaker is there.
indigo
January 21st, 2013
1:19 pm
Barry – 12:13
Considering the huge interest payments we’re making on George’s two credit card wars and big tax breaks for the rich, I’d color them Bush blue.
td
January 21st, 2013
1:20 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 21st, 2013
1:09 pm
Gas prices? How absurd. The President does not set gas prices. And have you looked at the 11 year trend. http://www.atlantagasprices.com/Retail_Price_Chart.aspx I would be ashamed to have make a silly claim in a post like that.
Is that all you got? Obama controls drilling on national land so go ahead and tell us how that would not have effected gas prices. You can fool yourself if you wish to but everyone knows the truth.
Bruno
January 21st, 2013
1:20 pm
He pi$$ed you cons off raising your blood pressure and showing the world your inability to problem solve andenhanced whining ability! You show no respect, whether for the man or office.
Though it may be difficult for someone of your emotional level to comprehend, many of us are sincerely concerned about the financial direction our country is heading in. All you and your cohorts in Washington care about is winning some meaningless PR war. You Libs need to grow up.
clark kent
January 21st, 2013
1:22 pm
There’s a war on for control of your mind.
And you liberals are losing.
MarkV
January 21st, 2013
1:22 pm
td @ 1:13 pm
Your “excuses” for the election victory of Democrats are quite laughable. Next you will want to replace elections with opinion polls.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:22 pm
bruno,
Perhaps you should listen to our President because deficit reduction is part of his agenda.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:25 pm
Or read his speech Kyle provided you.
Get informed before you sound like a uninformed fool.
yuzeyurbrane
January 21st, 2013
1:25 pm
I didn’t think Jay was allowed to post on Kyle’s blog?
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 21st, 2013
1:29 pm
How about 8 million cons staying home because the northeastern rich elite flip flopping moderate big government governor of taxachussets didn’t represent them?
How many votes less did obozo get from 2008, 4 million?
Not a mandate by any stretch of the imagination.
td
January 21st, 2013
1:30 pm
MarkV
January 21st, 2013
1:22 pm
td @ 1:13 pm
Your “excuses” for the election victory of Democrats are quite laughable. Next you will want to replace elections with opinion polls.
Nope, the Republicans are about to kill the effects of the motor voter law that allows Dems to bus millions to the polls that otherwise would not show up by allotting Elcetorial college votes by Congressional districts in key swing states in the midwest.
Bruno
January 21st, 2013
1:30 pm
Perhaps you should listen to our President because deficit reduction is part of his agenda.
get–It’s this simple: At no time in our country’s history have federal revenues been anywhere close to what we’re spending now. Our biggest revenue year ever was in 2008 when we collected a little more than $2.5 T. Raising taxes on the “rich”, which is Obama’s “plan”, isn’t going to get us anywhere close to closing the deficits unless spending is cut drastically.
Aesop's Fables and other Lib Economic Theories
January 21st, 2013
1:31 pm
bookman is just in search of some intelligent conversation away from the psychobabble at his place.
Bullet County
January 21st, 2013
1:32 pm
Kyle, I’m sure the economy will improve as soon as Newton Leroy and M. Bachmann finish paying off their campaign debts.
Just Saying..
January 21st, 2013
1:33 pm
“…to trot out ObamaCare, his signature initiative, as an “accomplishment”.
Well, wouldn’t be polite to take the spotlight from President Romney…
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:34 pm
Bruno.
Which part of it will be addressed do you not understand?
Your speaker cut and ran from a 4 trillion dollar cut for something he passed.
Bruno
January 21st, 2013
1:36 pm
by allotting Elcetorial college votes by Congressional districts in key swing states in the midwest
You know, td, for all of the belly-aching that the Dems do about the Electoral College, you would think that they would embrace proportional allotment rather than a winner-take-all approach.
Th whole purpose of the Electoral College is to prevent a few mega-population centers from deciding every election. Urban interests and rural interests are usually very different. If we went with a straight poplar vote, then rural interests would never be represented.
Mike
January 21st, 2013
1:36 pm
Get,
I do not consider myself a “con” or a “kook”. As a matter of fact, I have voted for democrats in several elections and still do today. Twice I voted for Bill Clinton and once for Jimmy Carter. (I was young and he was from Ga.).
What I don’t like about President Obama is he seems to be a grinning, backslapping, well oiled, politically manufactured being, who really has no idea what he is doing. He is getting by with a lot of props and help behind the scenes but I am not at ease or comfortable with all the vagueness that surrounds a man like this.
He seems to spend a lot of time trying to keep stirred up this “class warfare” thing while telling us he is bringing us together. This type behaviour is usually that of a manipulative person. A trouble maker, if you will.
Other than that, I’m sure he is a great guy!
Peace Bro, I’m out.
jconservative
January 21st, 2013
1:36 pm
The president of a company for which I once worked asked me what I thought of his annual meeting speech. Graciously as I could, I told him “not much”. He, just as graciously, told me to become president of the company and I could give my “much improved speech”.
Pizzaman
January 21st, 2013
1:37 pm
I sure hope Hillary runs in ‘16. Neal Boortz will un-retire the day she announces!
Road Scholar
January 21st, 2013
1:37 pm
Bruno:”..many of us are sincerely concerned about the financial direction our country is heading in. ”
So when are you going to start acting like adults and stop the insults, provide positive comments on solutions, or even run for political office? As Bush said: “It’s haaaarrrrrddddddd! Yes it is and engaging in insults and mean criticisms on a blog are sooooooo constructive, isn’t it?
Just Saying..
January 21st, 2013
1:37 pm
“I didn’t think Jay was allowed to post on Kyle’s blog?”
Feeling threatened?
Thank goodness this isn’t Florida…
CC
January 21st, 2013
1:39 pm
“This President is all about making history.”
I can certainly agree with that! Hitler, Mussolini, Marx, Stalin and Mao made history, too.\
Bruno
January 21st, 2013
1:39 pm
Well, wouldn’t be polite to take the spotlight from President Romney…
Hey, a bad idea is a bad idea is a bad idea, whatever it’s source.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:39 pm
Mike,
“who really has no idea what he is doing.”
ObamaCare, saved our economy and car industry, ended both failed occupations, won in Libya with zero us casualties, etc….
Proves you dead wrong.
Pizzaman
January 21st, 2013
1:39 pm
Shock of all shocks! None of the Obama bashers have claimed there was a Koran inside the Bible covers. Yet!!!!!
Just Saying..
January 21st, 2013
1:39 pm
” …President Obama is he seems to be a grinning, backslapping, well oiled, politically manufactured being…
If only…
MarkV
January 21st, 2013
1:41 pm
td @ 1:30 pm
The Republicans already took their shot to restrict access to voting. It did not help them enough, and it will not help them in the future.
JamVet
January 21st, 2013
1:43 pm
This President is all about making history.”
I can certainly agree with that! Hitler, Mussolini, Marx, Stalin and Mao made history, too.
THIS is the degree of depravity and senselessness that exists in the fanatical Republican.
md
January 21st, 2013
1:45 pm
“Perhaps you should listen to our President because deficit reduction is part of his agenda.”
Talk is cheap. He’s had several opportunities to cut the deficit including the recent fiscal cliff negotiations.
Did he? Nope, but he seems to have you (and many others) fooled, so his tactics must be working. Tell you what you want to hear and you’ll keep defending him. He knows how to play the game and the suckers are eating it up.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:45 pm
Look, I know you watch all the critics and negativity on rw media and focus on that but you can’t ignore the good things our President has done.
No scandals, no endless witch hunt hearing from the rw, no collapses, no new occupations, etc….
Peace and prosperity are coming.
This President is competent and setting a great example for future Presidents.
Kyle Wingfield
January 21st, 2013
1:45 pm
yuze, et al.: Jay posted on here by accident and asked me to take down his comments, as I’ve done. No harm, no foul.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:47 pm
md,
Did your speaker cut and run over the 4 trillion cut?
Bruno
January 21st, 2013
1:47 pm
No harm, no foul
I found the experience to be rather traumatizing.
Just Saying..
January 21st, 2013
1:47 pm
“THIS is the degree of depravity and senselessness that exists in the fanatical Republican.”
The current use of “Cliff” analogy does seem more and more appropriate…
marm
January 21st, 2013
1:48 pm
Just goes to show how uninformed people are. The President has absolutely no control over the price of oil. The price is set by OPEC and driven up by the commodities market. If you have doubts, check what the price does every time there’s unrest in the middle east. Canada is one of our major suppliers, and look at how much they pay.
JamVet
January 21st, 2013
1:49 pm
And I would certainly be remiss if I didn’t wish a farewell to one of the Lunatic Fringe’s Most Revered Oracles – Sir Kneel Boortz.
Hopefully Herman “I was too young to be involved in the Civil Rights movement” Cain will carry that lunatic banner high!
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:50 pm
Looks like your house will vote for raising the debt limit.
Where did that “leverage” go cons?
Just Saying..
January 21st, 2013
1:51 pm
“…other than its brevity at just 19 minutes, which was the only truly surprising thing about the speech…”
Uh, Bill Clinton was unavailable. Accept your small triumphs…
Mike
January 21st, 2013
1:52 pm
Jay can’t be comin up in here and throwin down like that. Kyle has to protect his “turf”.
Way to go Kyle!
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:52 pm
Actually, gas was cheap because bush collapsed the global economy and demand was low.
Now, demand is high but oil will eventually run out.
Then what cons?
JamVet
January 21st, 2013
1:53 pm
B, maybe he was just punking those here who have been permanently banned from his place like Aesop, tibs and Lil BB!
J/k, and no harm no foul!
Mike
January 21st, 2013
1:53 pm
Drill Baby Drill….That’s what dude.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:53 pm
I don’t see anything wrong with Jay posting here or Kyle posting at Jay’s.
Freedom.
Kyle Wingfield
January 21st, 2013
1:55 pm
Folks, posting on the wrong blog is an easy mistake to make in our system. Let’s get back to the topic at hand — and ICYMI, I’ve revised the OP completely.
getalife
January 21st, 2013
1:55 pm
mike,
We are drilling more than ever.
So what happens when it runs out?