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.
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address (via jdel) (via inauguration) (via bijan)
Initial reaction: the speech didn’t quite ‘hit.’ But short of arriving at the podium and parting the sea, I’m not sure Obama could have really done anything to live up to expectations. I get the sense that Americans have very recently begun to see a way out of the financial crisis - in no small part due to the Obama administration’s actions and pronouncements during the transition. Perhaps its a lull before the storm or maybe its a genuine early sign of recovery. To me, it limited the parallels between this moment and the one in which FDR delivered his 1933 inaugural.
Maybe we should still be scared, but I get the sense that we’re not. These things have a way of re-enforcing themselves, so count me among the optimistic.
In any case, the real work now begins; godspeed.
