Obama made a high-profile debut with a stirring speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Expectations for today's Inaugural Address were as high as the Washington Monument. It was assumed the master orator was going to hit one out of the park. He didn’t. The address failed to inspire. It was only a two-bagger. Obama seemed a tad flat, especially compared to bubbling Biden. The President may be co-star of a new Marvel comic book, but he was no Superman today. Perhaps it was the chill in the air, but the crowd at the National Mall seemed restive. The place cleared out quickly after Obama’s speech.
The millions of Americans who watched Obama online were frustrated by the herky-jerky broadband reception. Computer monitors at odwyerpr.com’s worldwide headquarters sputtered and froze during the big speech. It didn’t matter if the feed was from CBS, MSNBC, CNN, New York Times or Wall Street Journal.
The President called for 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.”
Obama has sky high approval ratings. The former senator needs to avoid the blunder of George Bush, who failed to call for national sacrifice and service in the wake of 9/11. That goodwill was squandered.
Obama’s time to rally America is now.