IT WAS FAR FROM THE best speech Barack Obama has ever delivered. As an inaugural address, it won’t be mentioned in the same breath as inaugural speeches by Presidents Lincoln, Roosevelt (Franklin), Kennedy, or Reagan. And Obama uncharacteristically rushed through the speech as if he was impatient to get the swearing-in ceremony over with.
But it had some interesting and even surprising moments. When he talked about moving beyond “worn out dogmas,” Obama echoed Bill Clinton’s effort to claim new political ground between conservatism and liberalism, what he called a “third way.” He had a few lines presumably aimed at pleasing Republicans. And while he heralded a “new age” in America and the world, he didn’t make a very strong case for it.
In his campaign and during the transition, Obama didn’t have many kind words for the free market economy. In his speech, however, he did. “Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched,” he declared. He praised “the risk takers, the doers, the makers of things.”
Okay, Obama didn’t get carried away about the joys of capitalism. He said the economy needs “the watchful eye” of government to keep it from spinning “out of control.” Still, as one who wondered if Obama understands why free markets are so important, I was mildly, though perhaps only momentarily, relieved. I suspect some Republicans were as well.
On the war on terror, Obama delivered the words that any incoming president would have to. He was Churchillian – no, to be honest, it was faux Churchillian. To terrorists, “we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.” Good stuff, but what else could he have said?
Like a lot of politicians, Obama is in love with the word “new.” He referred to “a new era of peace” and “a new life” and “a new way” and “a new era of responsibility.” And near the top of his speech, he declared that Americans must “prepare for a new age.” Really? The way he described the coming age it sounded a bit old.
My guess is that Obama succumbed to the notion that he must “define the moment” we’re in and then spell out where he thinks we should go. If that was his intention, he failed. Calling for “á new era of responsibility” — and this was his core point — places him among the traditionalists, not futurists.
What’s crucial to Obama’s new era? He answered that with a list: “hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism.” And he admitted that “these things are old. These things are true.” Indeed, they are. But they aren’t the ingredients of a “new age.”
Obama didn’t clear up most of the questions about his agenda, such as whether he wants tax incentives in his stimulus or plans to tackle Social Security in the next months. He stated some of his (mostly) liberal domestic policy goals, and this gave the speech the feel of a State of the Union speech at times.
Still, from a conservative viewpoint, the speech could have been a lot worse. That’s not an accolade, but neither is it a pan.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
