Shortly after noon on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. President Obama then gave an 18-minute inaugural address, talking about the problems that America currently faces and what he will try to do to address those problems as America goes through what he called the “gathering clouds and raging storms” the country finds itself in.
Photo: Political Science Professor Gabriel Sanchez
Political Science professor Gabriel Sanchez watched the inauguration speech and shared his thoughts at the dawn of the Obama era:
“I felt as though President Obama very directly communicated to the American public that the next several years are not going to be easy, as we are facing some tremendous challenges as a nation,” Sanchez said. “Despite the very serious tone of the speech I thought that President Obama did an excellent job of instilling confidence among the population that he can lead us out of this dark period of American history.
“Obama needed to be honest with the American public regarding the challenges we face, but also needed to sustain the sense of hope and energy around a sense of change that he so effectively captured during his campaign. I think that he pulled this off in his speech today, and this does a great job of setting the stage for his first 100 days in office.”
Another theme Sanchez saw in President Obama’s inaugural speech involved Americans taking collective responsibility for the problems the nation is now facing.
“When he asked us all to confront our ‘collective failure to make hard choices’ I think President Obama gave us a preview of what the next several years may look like under Obama’s presidency.
“Righting the ship and overcoming the huge obstacles we face will take a collective effort from all of us, and I think we must be prepared to make personal sacrifices in the years ahead in order to improve our situation. This segment of the speech reminded me of the classic line from JFK’s inauguration speech – Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”
The speech also gave a hint to the starkly different approach to domestic and foreign policy President Obama plans to take, compared to President Bush’s policies.
“I think (Obama) clearly indicated that his administration will base its policy decisions on research and efficiency and not ideology,” Sanchez added. “When Obama noted that ‘the question we should be asking is not whether government is too big or too small, but whether it works,’ he, to me, is indicating that public policy that is not working well will be cut, regardless of the partisanship of those who created the policy. This reflects the need for prioritization that will be apparent in these tough economic times.”
As the speech ended, Sanchez was left with a feeling of trepidation, yet hopeful optimism for the future.
“We face some significant challenges as a nation, but I think that with the inauguration of President Obama today, we can confidently say that we have the right person to lead us forward.”
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816; e-mail: bhendrix@unm.edu