Originally Posted By vbdad55 No one will confuse Mr Obama with being non religious and obviously it will influence his views. Now he does acknowledge that we are a nation of many religions as well as non believers. Hopefully that acknowledgement will set well with some as opposed to being offended. However his speech is packed with a spirit that drives him. "We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness. " .........This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny. .......... .......that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us,..
Originally Posted By Sara Tonin I watched the inauguration this morning from my workplace, which happens to be Navy Hospital in San Diego. Rather than have everyone trying to watch from the pc's on our desks, we were told if we were free and wanted to watch the ceremony that the command auditorium would be open and the BIG screen was on. Now, to say that San Diego is conservative is an understatement. And to say that the U.S. Navy is a conservative sector of the population is a HUGE understatement. So I didn't expect the number of people who showed up to watch. There was a crowd. And an authentic cross section of the population of our country was represented. I was moved by the applause of this group during a televised event. When the call was made for the justice to swear in the 44th president the crowd in our auditorium rose, uniformed (at parade attention)and civilian alike. I was proud of my country like at no other time. Whether we agree or disagree in this country we can transfer the power of our government without bloodshed. And while I always feel proud to witness the transfer of this power, today was special. It reafirms the idea that any boy born in this country can become president of this country. I have grandchildren who appear Black and grandchildren who appear Caucasian...and I now REALLY feel that any of them can aspire to the highest office of this nation. I'm Proud of my people today...my American people.
Originally Posted By Mr X Political expediency. And I don't mean that to sound as cynical as it does. But it's a reality these days (iirc the "god" references in Presidential speeches started with Reagan..before him, not so much?). Nothing to do with whether or not Obama is a very religious guy (no reason to doubt that he is), but it's a political reality that he's better off going overboard with the rhetoric than not saying enough about "god". If he goes overboard, no problem. Little or no backlash to be sure (even the Atheists are forced to duck and cover, since they would be shunned for daring to question anyone's beliefs), but if he doesn't mention god ENOUGH in any given speech...hell to pay (earthly hell, I mean ). One interesting point on rhetoric here, I find it funny that the Presidents always seem to conclude these days with "god bless you, and god bless the United States of America". I assume that by "you" they are referring only to Americans? If not, why say "America"? Why not "god bless you, and god bless all the nations of the world", or something like that? Seems more Christian, don't it?
Originally Posted By Tony Manero "Political expediency" You know maybe it's not a great thing for one single guy to be political expedient all of the time. But maybe it isn't such a bad thing for a nation to practice a bit of political expediency, in as much as is possible to effect the way said nation is viewed around the world. I have never seen before the likes of this.I mean I heard on the radio this morning that there were in excess of 35 thousand articles of news created on Obama yesterday.Estimates are that this exceeded the last time around 20 fold. This guy here is really getting a lot of people's hope up all over the globe. It's exciting and scary at the same time. I'm just saying the United States has not always made her global public reputation much of a priority in the recent past. But we have to do it and still protect ourselves, and that's the hard part.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>And I don't mean that to sound as cynical as it does. But it's a reality these days (iirc the "god" references in Presidential speeches started with Reagan..before him, not so much?).<< As I recall, Jimmy Carter was deeply religious and offended a fair number of non-Evangelicals by the way he spoke about his faith. Of course, Lincoln (everything's about Lincoln this year, what with the 200th and all) was famous for invoking Providence in his speeches. There've been plenty of others along the way, too. As far as I know, the only president who didn't talk about God was William Howard Taft. He was a Unitarian, and refused to discuss his faith in public. Some people accused him of being an Atheist, and he refused to confirm or deny it. He wasn't a great president in a lot of ways, but I admire him for that. >>One interesting point on rhetoric here, I find it funny that the Presidents always seem to conclude these days with "god bless you, and god bless the United States of America". I assume that by "you" they are referring only to Americans?<< I think it was George H. W. Bush who started ending *all* his speeches with "God bless America" or some variant thereof. Before him, you'd hear it occasionally, but he made a habit of it.
