The issue: Monday’s presidential inauguration.
Our view: Meeting the challenges our country faces will require a team effort, and the president must pledge to be a part of that team over the next four years.
Barack Obama set the stage for a new beginning during his inaugural address in 2009.
“Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed,” he said four years ago. “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin the work of remaking America.”
Obama was typically eloquent in his remarks. He brushed aside the assertion that the nation’s best days were behind it, and he called on Americans to join in the effort to build a brighter tomorrow.
Obama covered a lot of ground during the 18-and-a-half minutes he spoke, calling his inauguration as the nation’s first black president a moment to recall “that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” He also paid tribute to those who “endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.”
Obama sent a message to the world that he planned a new day in American foreign policy.
“To the Muslim world,” Obama said, “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”
He warned “leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict” that they would be judged by what they built, not what they destroyed.
On the home front, he called for an end to “the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
And though we’d hoped Obama envisioned a new way of doing things, those grievances, recriminations and dogmas remain. They must be put aside if we are to address — finally — our unsustainable national debt.
Obama and his Democratic colleagues in Congress must work with Republicans to adjust Medicare spending and benefits so that it will continue to insure future generations of retirees. And the GOP must work with Democrats to cut spending on our national defense.
Without cutbacks in these two areas, we’ll never take control of our spiraling debt. To do anything less is just counting paper clips.
Obama faces enormous challenges in his second term, but most Americans seem to understand Washington can’t continue to spend money as it has during the president’s first term. They also need to understand, of course, that Obama won’t be able to do this job alone.
As Obama said in his last inaugural speech, meeting the challenges our country faces will require a team effort. He must pledge during Monday’s inauguration to be a part of that team over the next four years, and we must all roll up our sleeves and do our part.
The time for putting off unpleasant decisions concerning Medicare and defense has passed, indeed.
Opinion
Time to get to work, all
- Opinion
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May 18, 2013: Cheers & Jeers
Commissioner earns respect of inmates
Kyle Stacy sends this Cheer for Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman:
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House of Burgess: The revolution will be printed
Another major milestone in the history of 3D printing was reached earlier this month when Cody Wilson, director of the nonprofit Defense Distributed, announced he had conducted the first-ever successful test firing of a completely 3D-printed gun in (where else?) Texas. Wilson then uploaded the plans online. These files were then downloaded over 100,000 times over the next 48 hours. That was, until the State Department intervened.
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Hayden: From good to great in education
On the campaign trail last year and early into his administration, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said repeatedly that his goal as governor would be to take Indiana from “good to great.”
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Mom’s simple advice still presents a valuable challenge
Most moms don’t base their advice on scientific research. Instead, their words of wisdom come from a greater source — the heart, where they store and process life experiences. Unfortunately, some folks don’t receive the gift of maternal guidance, for various reasons.
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Wolfsie: Making bird calls
One afternoon in 2011, my friend Eric spent a couple of hours over lunch explaining Twitter to me and I thought I understood it all, but as you’ll see from my first few tweets, I wasn’t very confident: “Is anyone getting this?”
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Letter to the Editor: May 13, 2013
Good people wouldn’t do this to their neighbors. This common refrain is being heard over eastern Howard County where industrial development is planned for our farmland in the form of massive wind turbines.
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Vasicek: Mother’s Day stresses
For two hours, the lady sitting next to another airplane passenger boasted about her grandchildren, producing a barrage of photographs. She finally realized that she had been talking the whole time, so she tried to make amends:
“Oh, I am sorry! I have monopolized the conversation. I will listen to you now. So please tell me: what do you think of my grandchildren?” -
Letters to the Editor: May 12, 2013
How fortunate, that after years of trying to bring top-notch wind energy companies to Tipton County, this great choice is here for us — just at the right time. Tipton County badly needs the revenue from clean wind farm companies.
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Cheers & Jeers: May 12, 2013
“A big cheer goes out to Kokomo for those who parked along the route to cheer on the bikes and to the riders who participated in the 11th Annual Ride For The Troops on Sunday, April 28. Despite the rain, we had a excellent turnout of 457 bikes!"
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Day: Sports as I see it
Most of us have times when we want to vent our anger about things that happen for no good reason whatsoever and there are some who just don’t give a darn about what changes we have each day. Take me for example. There are things going on every year in sports where we are the ones who buy the tickets, yet we have no say about what’s happening
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May 18, 2013: Cheers & Jeers
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction
Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind
Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
