Obama's Inaugural Address

I claim neither to be an Obama enthusiast nor critic; however, I do claim to have been affected by his inaugural address. The address thoroughly appealed to my—and most Americans’—emotions. Almost every line alluded to American greatness. For instance, the first sentences of paragraph 19 were especially allusive:

“As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.” (393)

 Obama’s sentences were deliberately crafted to inspire Americans to unite and persevere through the Great Recession. His words were intended to reenkindle faith in America. Obama proclaimed, “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.” (395) Like the iconic Gettysburg Address, which appealed to the emotions of a strifeful America at war with itself, Obama’s Inaugural Address will surely be studied for generations because of its consummate evocativeness and nonpareil sterlingness.