A somber and resolute Barack Obama faced the euphoric inauguration crowd in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. The burdens of the presidency appeared to weigh heavily on his mind.
As they should. Obama takes high office at a low point in the world’s economic cycle, as one pastor put it, and the United States is at war. How can he pull the nation out of this crisis? The world is watching. The nation is watching. And his political foes are waiting for a chance to trip him up.
Still, Tuesday was a time for jubilation as Americans paused to soak in this remarkable moment. A man whose heritage would have made him unwelcome at white restaurants less than 60 years ago now holds the highest office in the land. More than a million people flowed into the nation’s capital to bear witness ó a patchwork of colors and cultures ó and they did so in a peaceful, harmonious manner. As 89-year-old W.O.T. Fleming of Salisbury said after watching the event on TV, why couldn’t life have been more like this all along?
Obama moved beyond the thrill of victory to addressing the business at hand. He delivered a strong speech that sent a message to leaders around the globe. The United States is ready to talk diplomatically again with those with whom relations have become hostile. But the new president does not intend to be a doormat. “Our spirit is strong and cannot be broken,” Obama said to terrorists and foes. “You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”
For citizens he had an equally serious message, calling for a “new era of responsibility” ó not of handouts, loopholes or excuses. The way out of these challenges will be paved with the values the nation has historically relied upon, he said: hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism.
The inauguration included an all-inclusive invocation by the Rev. Rick Warren and a powerful benediction from the Rev. Joseph Lowery, considered the dean of the civil rights movement. Perhaps only African- Americans can appreciate how directly Lowery addressed them. Only people who have sung “Lift Every Voice and Sing” ó known as the black national anthem ó would recognize its moving lines in the beginning of his prayer. “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears …” Yet he ended on a light note, referring to the day “when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow …”
He captured the mood of 2009 so far ó weary yet hopeful.
The presidency has a way of taking in a promising leader, chewing on him for several years and then spitting him out, worn and gray. Few escape without scars. All have disappointments. And most rely on history to put their work into proper perspective.
Obama starts his White House tenure at a disadvantage, with a deepening recession and war on two fronts. The expectations many have of him are impossibly high. But he won this job; he must push on. As eloquent and powerful as his words were Tuesday, his actions and decisions will matter more. If he sticks to the values he extolled and surrounds himself with people who do the same, he will stand on firm ground. And millions will stand with him.