Obama's Speech

As soon as the applause had died down, an African American standing man near me on the Mall said to his friend: "I thought the speech was shit." Another woman said, correctly, that "we had heard it all before at other events".

Having given so many dynamic speeches he had set his own bar very high. What he tried to do at his inauguration was tell Americans that they had to sacrifice to make gains, while making them believe this was well within their capabilities. The emphasis on sacrifice was too weak however. 

For the record, I pinged Jimmy shortly after the speech and made this very point. I'm not being biased here, I honestly thought the speech was shit. To paraphase Jimmy "there was no hook". 

I thought the speech was all over the place the there was no clear message. 

Finally, the author of this article brings up a point that worries me. "the emphasis on sacrifice was too weak". All we have heard for 3 months (from both parities) is "bailout", "stimulus", "tax break"... the sense I get from the majority of Americans (most of whom are Obama supporters) is that the reason we are in this economic mess is because someone else focked up. Wallstreet, China, Bush, Unions, Banks, Credit Cards, Student Loans, Health Care, Energy etc etc list goes on. 

Yeah, times are tough for many Americans, but I had a long conversation with my grandfather last week and the point he reiterated was that we are nowhere near a depression, we have so much, we expect so much and really do so little. 

If we really are going to fix all the problems Obama mentioned in his speech people really need to sacrifice. I don't think people are yet willing to give up anything. Quite the opposite if you ask me, they want "Mo money, Mo money, Mo money!"