Adulthood
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 2:46PM I watched the inaugural ceremonies with a great sense of relief. A dear friend put it best: It is as if we’ve had our collective heads held underwater for eight years and finally we’ve been allowed to lift our heads up and breathe. I was impressed with President Obama’s inaugural address and I’d like to parse it out.
The theme that ran through it was adulthood. The key phrase was his quote from the bible, arriving a sixth of the way through the address: “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.” Truly, the United States has been childish, as a government and as a people.
Childish in its self-centered arrogance and exceptionalism
Childish in its ignorance
Childish in its unilateralism
Childish in its petulance at dissent (Freedom Fries, anyone?)
Childish in its uncontrolled anger
Childish in its unquestioning acceptance of authority, no matter how misguided
Childish in its fawning over celebrity
Childish in its desire for unearned wealth
President Obama repeatedly touched on the themes of adulthood, responsibility, and hard work, invoking the efforts of previous generations.
“Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”
“…we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned.”
“It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.”
“Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.”
“But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed.”
(Referring to soldiers) “We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.”
Making hard choices, facing the unpleasant, earning one’s reputation, taking risks, thinking beyond the self, making sacrifices for future benefit; these are the activities of an adult.
“For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.”
This is not the president who, after the September 11th attacks, told Americans to go shopping.
“But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old.”
Here President Obama throws the much blathered but little obeyed precepts of the corporate conservatives back in their faces.
“What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”
This is an adult talking to adults about the mature pleasure of a job well done.
“This is the price and the promise of citizenship.”
We are citizens after all, and not passive consumers. The benefits of citizenship and community require personal effort.
Naomi Klein, in her excellent book Shock Doctrine, writes about despots taking advantage of people in their traumatized, infantilized state. People in shock tend to regress to childlike behaviors, making them vulnerable to emotional manipulation. Despite the panic brought on by our foundering economy, President Obama did not play the paternal card. He was not a father alternately scaring and comforting children. He spoke to us as an equal speaks to equals, reminding us of our shared duties and responsibilities.
This approach gives me confidence about how the Obama administration will conduct its business.
Next essay: Lead pipe clues in the inaugural as to Obama administration policies.
Reader Comments (1)
Well put! Love the list of childish things. I too felt it was an incredibly refreshing change to hear a call to responsibility and service. It's the speech we should have gotten from his predecessor, but we didn't, because Shrub isn't himself an adult, and we have suffered from his childish responses to events here and abroad for 8 long, nightmarish years. Like a naughty toddler, he has finally, FINALLY, gone off to his room, but of course he's left the new President with a god-awful mess to clean up. Personally I hope somebody figures out some way to hold both Chimp and Darth, not to mention Rummie and the rest, responsible for at least some part of the giant mess they made, but at the moment I'm simply beyond relieved that adults are in charge again.