What Lies Ahead for Obama -- And the Rest of the World

By David Corn, MotherJones.com. Posted January 21, 2009.

As Obama did throughout the campaign, he found a way to hail the glories of America's past while poignantly addressing its sins and flaws. It is precisely because the country has "tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger," he maintained, that it can handle its present troubles. That may or may not be so, but coming from Obama -- who had drawn hundreds of thousands of black Americans to Washington to share this historic experience -- the sentiment has deep and rich resonance. As he pointed out, "a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."

Obama now has the unenviable double duty of telling the public the disheartening truths about current crises he inherits and inspiring it to overcome these difficulties. The inauguration ceremony at the Capitol reflected the sensibilities of the Obama culture. Aretha Franklin sang "My Country 'Tis of Thee." (Franklin's performance wowed the crowd, which barely reacted to the invocation of fundamentalist super-pastor Rick Warren, who noted that Martin Luther King Jr. is "shouting in heaven.") Itzhak Perlmen, Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill, and Garbiela Montero played a version of the Shaker song "Simple Gifts." Oprah Winfrey, Beyoncé, and Sean Combs sat in the first rows. But at the end of the speech, Obama turned to the original commander-in-chief, George Washington, for inspiration.

During a dark moment of the American battle for independence, when "the enemy was advancing" and "the snow was stained with blood," Obama recounted, Washington ordered a message be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger came forth to meet it."

Obama had begun by speaking of ominous storms; he ended referring to a dark winter. It was a speech of bad weather. The rhetoric soared at moments but it never shined. The take-home message was no shocker: we have lots to do below cloudy skies. This was not a speech of surprises, and it remains to be seen if any portion will become a only-thing-to-fear-is-fear-itself catchphrase.

But it was a speech in sync with the moment. During the campaign, Obama issued an invitation to voters: join me in a crusade to change Washington and, then, the nation. That is how to obtain health care reform and how to end the Iraq war, he insisted. It's not about me, it's about you, he said. But now that dark clouds have gathered, he's no longer leading a movement of political change, he's fighting for the survival of the US economy. And he insisted in this speech that he cannot do it without other Americans pitching in. What they are to do was unclear -- other than to stay true to the America values of "hard work, and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism." Yet what he was signaling was that in the days, weeks, and months ahead -- as Obama endeavors to move his far-reaching agenda through Congress -- he will need as many Americans as he can rally to push, and perhaps push hard.

Once Obama concluded his address, his fellow citizens began leaving the mall, and dust rose from the cold ground of the capital. As Obama sat and listened to the benediction delivered by the Reverend Joseph Lowery, a veteran of the civil rights struggle (who noted that Obama "has come to this high office at a low moment"), the new president could look out at the Washington Monument and see a haze engulf its base. Thousands were leaving to return to their daily lives. When the dust settles, Obama will begin the most difficult of tasks. Hope and virtue may not be enough.

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David Corn is the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones and the co-author of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War and is the author of The Lies of George W. Bush. He writes a blog at davidcorn.com.

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