Inaugural Day 2009

Al Sikes

The opportunity for more than a transitional moment

January sun is a wonderful visitor. But on January 20, 2009 it hardly seemed necessary on the Capitol Mall. What Tom Brokaw called a “whale of a crowd” surely produced the heat of a second sun. And President Obama offered a verbal warmth characteristic both of his talent and inaugural yearnings.

God and Lincoln shared Inaugural Day with the Obamas. While they have shared the day with most incoming Presidents since 1865, their role was magnified on that Tuesday.

By now millions of words will have been written about the new President, the ceremony, his family, and the probable historic implications. People who write for a living have already moved on to the weighty issues sharing the White House with the new first family. But I would like to both look back and forward before this day is overtaken by our noisy culture.

Transcendence, for me, is largely in the spiritual realm. The Trinity Forum, however, specializes in finding glimpses of God in history and literature. Perhaps January 20 offered such a moment. When George W. Bush became President, he also brought a “unifying message” to the inaugural podium. I would guess that such a message is a staple of first inaugurals, particularly when there is a change in the political party that occupies the White House. But how often are message and messenger paired well? Infrequently.

President Obama is a superb messenger. He has, in the secular sense, transcendent skills. While George W. Bush’s underlying desire for unity was explicit in his words and implicit in his graceful exit, his rhetorical skills often made him a flawed messenger. When President Jimmy Carter attempted to shift some of the responsibility for difficult times, in what has become known as his “malaise speech,” the perception of his leadership strengths declined even further.

Yet on January 20 President Obama chose to include the voting public in his critical assessment; put aside, he said, “childish ways.” He called for responsibility and sacrifice. Good for him. His message and his transcendent talents as a messenger may bring us to more than a transitional moment.

In 1966, Time Magazine’s cover declared: “God Is Dead.” Before and after the Time cover, America’s elite contingent has too often acted as if that were true. Perhaps, just perhaps, President Obama will help bring us to a collective moment of understanding and grace. If he does, he will leave no greater legacy.

The messenger, however, has moved on. His days will be filled with controversy—that is the nature of politics and governance. Days of raw emotion will return. It will fall on us individually and collectively to elevate the human condition. But if we draw only on ourselves, this moment will be lost.

Elizabeth Alexander, the poet chosen by the President to write the coda for our public ceremony, has given us some direction:

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm, or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

Al Sikes is Chairman of The Trinity Forum.

1 Responses (comments are closed) • Features, Leadership, Public Square, Fri 23 Jan 2009