Quotation from the Inaugural Address

I listened to the inauguration address on the radio, watched excerpts on the news, watched the video below, and read the printed speech. I conclude that it is a very good speech. I was surprised at how much better it was when I could see President Obama than when I heard it on radio, and it reads best of all.

The clips on the news do not do justice to the speech, and that must be the result of a deliberate choice by the president (with the aid of his speech writer(s)). The speech strives for a mature statement of complex challenges to be met with firm resolve and serious measures. It substitutes sonorous cadences and historical and biblical references for sound bites.

There are a couple of quotations that relate to the subjects of this blog>

• "The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. All this we will do."
• "To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."