In depth
President Barack Obama signalled a decisive break with the Bush years on Tuesday, vowing a “new era of responsibility” in which he would rebuild the economy and restore America’s standing in the world.
Moments after taking the oath of office to become the 44th US president, Mr Obama declared the country “ready to lead again” and set out policies on issues ranging from the economy to climate change and the struggle against Islamist extremism.
"The world has changed, and we must change with it,” he told an exuberant crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered in Washington’s National Mall to mark the inauguration of the country’s first African-American president. “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
In a gesture of unity, Mr Obama and former president George W. Bush embraced at the end of the ceremony, before the new president accompanied his predecessor to the helicopter that took him from the political scene.
But the new president made clear he was setting a very different political agenda from Mr Bush. He declared: “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.”
Speaking as the US faces its most serious recession for decades, Mr Obama said the crisis and attendant “sapping of confidence across our land” were “a consequence of greed and irresponsibility” and a “collective failure to make hard choices” and prepare for a new age. His speech explicitly made the case for his plans for a huge economic recovery package – priced at $825bn – and Mr Obama warned that although the market’s power “to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched ... without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control”.
In an allusion to recent US economic conduct and its role in the world he said: “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility ... we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world ... We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”
In one of a series of allusions to the Bush administration’s “war on terror”, Mr Obama said: “As for our common defence, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.”
While stressing that America “would not apologise” for its values and way of life or waver in its fight against terrorism, the president said the country would work with “old friends and former foes”.
He added: “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.” He proclaimed that US “power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please”.
Making an implicit reference to Bush climate policy, Mr Obama added: “We will restore science to its rightful place.”
Mr Obama, who takes office with record popularity ratings in the US and in the world, aimed much of the address at his global audience, emphasising co-operation rather than Mr Bush’s clarion call of free elections.
Tips: Obama's oratory
The history of the American republic is one that can be traced through its rhetoric: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent ... ”; “We shall overcome”; “Ask not what you can do for your country ... ”; “Ich bin ein Berliner”; “I have a dream”; “It’s morning in America”.
“Ethos” was the name Aristotle gave to that part of rhetoric that establishes the speaker’s bona fides. “Logos” – or the actual argument – was only one among three of the persuasive appeals; “pathos” – manipulating the audience’s emotions – was just as important. Think of it this way. Ethos: “Buy my old car because I’m Jeremy Clarkson.” Logos: “Buy my old car because yours is broken and mine is the only one on sale.” Pathos: “Buy my old car or I’ll twist the head off this kitten.”
The formal terms used to describe rhetorical figures haven’t changed because the figures haven’t changed. They still work the same way on the human ear and the human heart as they did in Aristotle’s day.
Take the “tricolon”, for example – three terms in ascending order such as “I came, I saw, I conquered”; or, to borrow an instance from American rather than Roman history, Lincoln’s second inaugural with its line “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right ... ” This is perhaps the most famous rhetorical figure, other than the so-called “rhetorical question”, and Obama, like most politicians, is addicted to it.
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