The Right President at the Right Time

I had to let my class out early this morning and we pulled the kids out of school to go home and watch the inauguration together. Incredibly, BYU scarcely even recognized that the inauguration was taking place and offered no accommodation to students and faculty to view the proceedings or even alter previously scheduled events and classes. And the kids' school--ostensibly a civic-minded school--did absolutely nothing to take advantage of the opportunity for their students to witness history in the making. I guess it was better that we got to view the inauguration ceremony as a family anyway. President Obama's speech was (dare I say "predictably"?) eloquent: I think that few presidents in recent history have so thoroughly appreciated the art of oratory and so mastered its potential to bring listeners together. There is a sense in which a nation such as ours--in which we are not bound together by ethnicity or race or religion--requires us to continually reforge the bonds that give us a common, shared identity as Americans. Presidential rhetoric plays an essential role in this ongoing project (I continue to believe that it was not just president Bush's policy decisions but his inability to master the rhetoric of leadership that proved fatal to his tenure). There's no doubt that there are tough times ahead but I'm absolutely convinced President Obama is the right man for the job.