Obama’s inauguration

The inauguration speech of a new U.S president and his swearing in ceremony makes for pretty worthwhile watching.  It not only tells us about the great pomp and faith the nation of America bestows upon their new leader but also gives us an indication of things to come.

Obama’s speech to me was not incredible, unlike some of the speeches he made on his campaign trail this one incorporated everything to make everyone happy. It can be called hard line or with an edge by as many reporters from fox news as they want but in fact it was utterly noncommittal on either economy or war.

While he sought a new way forward in his message to the worlds Muslim nations, the peaceful overture was preceded two sentences earlier by a threat of “we will outlast and defeat you”

While he promised to make jobs and tear the economy forward and tried to simplify his teams economic decision making process in front of the nation he is to lead, real business decisions are far more complex than “If this creates jobs and returns homes to people we will nod yes lets go with that”

The only thing of interest to me frankly was the look on Dubya’s face and the black anthem read out by the Reverend after Obama’s foray at the mike. It went like this

“God of our weary years,

God of our silent tears,

Thou who has brought us thus far on the way;

Thou who has by Thy might

Led us into the light”

Its now upto Obama to show his nation and the world what “change” he can bring, his start has been non commital at best, but then the politics of DC are a far cry from the politics of campaign trails. His personal overture to Dubya to see him off to the helipad was perhaps extra insurance that he does not somewhere on those steps change his mind?