Barack Obama will officially take the office of President of the United States today at the inauguration ceremony. It’s required by the Constitution that a newly elected president take the oath of office before they can officially enter the presidency. Additionally, the new president delivers the inaugural speech, which is an opportunity to showcase the ideals that will shape many of their future policies.
Out of all the presidential skills needed to succeed, we know that President Obama knows how to deliver a speech. We also know that he can inspire and raise money through the Internet. What we don’t know yet is if he will have a successful presidency. But one thing is for sure: he has energized a group of people that has never played a major role in a U.S. election before: it’s us, Generation Y, aka- CSUN students.
The inauguration is the launching point for his presidency. It is a time of hope and promise and, for the moment, we don’t have to know all the details. He represents the hope that anyone who’s born in the U.S. can grow up to become president.
After eight World War II generation presidents and two more from the Vietnam War era, a new spin-off generation will be in charge.’ As Obama said in his June 3, 2008 speech, ‘America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.”
He will not only be our first black president, but our first Internet president. The Internet played a vital role in not only getting the issues out, but also bringing in campaign contributions and getting campaign merchandise into the people’s hands.
In one of Kennedy’s speeches he electrified the nation by posing a question directed at the youth of America ‘ask not what your country can do for you’hellip;’ So the real question today is what will Obama say to build upon his slogan ‘Yes We Can.’
‘We can, and we did,’ but now what? What can we do and how can we do it?’ He got the votes of many people that have their own priorities for America. His inaugural speech will help tell the world his priorities, but probably not how these things will happen, because this is just the beginning of the ‘honeymoon’ period, where everyone still thinks that they’re going to get what they want out of this president. That’s not going to happen because his base of support is too broad, too widespread across the political aisles.
What separates Obama from the rest of the pack is simple: he has not yet acted as an ideologue.’ He’s a liberal democrat that at least so far, has reached far beyond his base.’ He communicates and touches almost every kind of American. Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat, Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, gay or straight; Americans have risen above partisan interests and sent a global message.
He has broken down barriers, not just of race, but also of religion and political parties, and from the looks of his cabinet choices, appears like he means it. Reaching across partisan lines he has appointed former Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, kept Robert Gates as secretary of defense and Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his White House national security adviser.
In addition he is having the homophobic evangelical preacher Rick Warren giving the invocation, and his flip-side opponent, the openly gay Reverend Gene Robinson, an Episcopal bishop, who will lead a prayer at the Lincoln Memorial. All are bold and intelligent moves; they offset each other. And maybe he will be able to keep us united by future counter-weighting decisions.’
One thing for certain is this president will be different. This Inauguration bash is one for the record books. The President of the United States will party with the Beastie Boys.
‘We have never been just a collection of red states and blue states. We have been and always will be the United States of America,’ Obama said on election night.
