When Barack Obama took the oath of office in 2009 and addressed the nation during his first inauguration the air in Washington was bitter cold. An estimated 2 million people crammed the streets or watched on large-screen TVs in a throng that stretched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument. The city was paralyzed.
They were there to witness the historic start for America’s first black president, one who promised hope and change through two tough campaigns.
Monday in a smaller but still festive ceremony, the 44th president, hair noticeably flecked with more gray, began his second term in more subdued but no less hopeful fashion. Officials estimated a crowd of 600,000 to 800,000 joined the festivities, still much higher than average for a second inaugural.
Speaking on a brisk sunny day, far more welcoming than the chill of 2009 (which perhaps was a harbinger of his future political battles), Obama, 51, spoke of an end to a decade of war, economic prosperity ahead, and the importance of freedom. When he took office four years ago, America was engaged in wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan while also facing the most daunting economic crisis in decades.
Monday, Obama didn’t dwell on first term accomplishments, which is fitting. Still, American troops are no longer fighting in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan is winding down. Economic recovery has been slow in arriving, but appears to have gained more solid footing over the past year. He did say that “This generation of Americans have been tested by crises that steeled our resolved and proved our resilience.”
Now what?
Inaugurals are historically more about broad themes and igniting supporters. Obama did both, while casting few specifics for immediate consumption. He spoke of rebuilding the middle class, evening the economic playing field for all Americans, climate change, immigration reform, and gun control. There’s also a nuclear threat in Iran and new terrorism in North Africa to contend with. It’s an ambitious agenda that ensures future political conflict, after four years of partisan gridlock.
He addressed that, too.
“America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive, diversity and openness, an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention,” Obama told those assembled on the day the nation honors the life of slain civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it, so long as we seize it together.”
He asked a thus-far intractable Congress to find compromise over the next four years. He called upon the public to make their voices heard in hopes of sparking movement in Washington. He said Americans have “the obligation to shape the debates of our time.”
What he didn’t say though is that the administration will also have to compromise as the economic recovery continues. Tax revisions and spending cuts must still be addressed. The fiscal cliff was averted, but the debt ceiling looms.
The window for flowery speeches has now officially closed on all sides. It’s time for Washington to stop talking. It’s time for action.