A New Birth of Freedom

“For more than two hundred years America’s citizens have witnessed the Inauguration ceremonies of the President and Vice President of the United States. From the first Inauguration of George Washington, in New York City, in 1789, to today, as we prepare for the 56th quadrennial Presidential Inauguration, the swearing-in ceremony represents both national renewal and continuity of leadership. As each president has offered a vision for America’s future, we reflect on the heritage of Inaugurations past,” states the official government site for the Presidential inauguration.
This past Tuesday, Jan. 20, President-elect Barak Obama made his way onto the inaugural platform in Washington, D.C., in front of 240,000 guests and broadcast to millions while he was sworn in as America’s forty-fourth United States president.
“It never dawned on me I would do something like this. It is a historic, momentous event. Everyone feels this is something no one expected,” said Jennifer Griffith, the No.2 staffer at the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, in an article written by Les Blumenthal.
Dr. Dennis Pope, a Political Science professor from Middlesex County College said, politically speaking, others are not as convinced of the monumental nature of the 2008 election. Once you get past the euphoria, Obama’s election is not the turning point in American politics that many are contending it to be.
“When you actually look at the elections returns, he defeated McCain by 7 percent of the popular vote. Also, despite the mantra of “Change” and expanded participation, voter turnout in 2008 (56.8 percent) was only 1.5 percent higher than in 2004 (55.3 percent),” said Pope.
The election of an African-American to the U.S. presidency is a great historic milestone, but since 1932, our political system has run on thirty to forty year cycles as it relates to political parties and the presidency.
From 1932 to 1968, Americans favored Democratic control of the White House and mildly liberal policies. The Eisenhower administration (1953-1960) was a Republican break, said Pope. With the election of Richard Nixon in 1968, a Republican cycle began with the public being inclined to support slightly more conservative initiatives.
“If you follow the cycle, the Republican era was at its end this year. Of course there were twelve years of Democratic presidencies, but Carter and Clinton were really not what you would call liberals. Both were moderates,” said Pope.
“To build an economy that can lead this future, we will begin to rebuild America. Yes, we’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges and schools by eliminating the backlog of well- planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects, but we’ll also do more to retrofit America for a global economy,” said president-elect Obama in his Thursday Jan. 8 speech given at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
One of the many problems modern presidents face today is that public expectation exceeds the ability of the president to get results. There is usually an element of disappointment with evaluations of presidential performance, said Pope.
Nicolas Davila, a 19-year old English major from MCC said it is all well and good that president-elect Obama wants to change the terrible things that have happened in the past 8 years, but as a president he can only do so much.
“What the American people seem to forget is that the president only has so much power. Just because he says he wants to implement a policy doesn’t mean that the House and the Senate will let it pass,” said Davila.
On the other hand some say that they feel that this is the beginning of a “New America.”
Edward J. Kidney, a 22-year old Liberal Arts major from MCC said Obama is open-minded enough to look at all sides. People love to typecast Obama as some kind of celebrity because he’s a charismatic speaker and motivator “Change is a group effort. If Obama can motivate people to actually change, then I’d say he’s won half the battle already,” said Kidney.
According to New Jersey Senator Rush Holt’s office they received more than 10,000 requests for tickets to the 2009 Presidential Inauguration ceremony and that was just in N.J. Thousands of people spanning all 50 states have been going to their local representatives attempting to get access to this historic occasion.
“An estimated 1 million to 4 million people are expected to descend on Washington for Obama’s inauguration Jan. 20. Most of them will be on the National Mall, where they’ll watch the ceremony on huge video screens, or lining the parade route down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House,” wrote Les Blumenthal of McClatchy Newspapers.
Pope said there are basic philosophical differences concerning what government should do in the face of an economic downturn. One school of thought is that government activity (and spending) should increase, which would in turn stimulate economic activity. The alternative view is that tax cuts will provide more money in the pockets of consumers and allow the private sector to expand.
“From his recent announcement, Obama has indicated that he’s going to offer a “mixed bag” of government spending and tax cuts. So he appears to be steering a middle course. The big question here is can you “homogenize” these two competing approaches? Or will spending and tax cuts work at cross purposes?” said Pope.
In a recent speech made by Obama he stated, that the true test of the policies his administration will be pursuing won’t be whether or not they are Democratic or Republican ideas, whether they are conservative or liberal ideas, but whether they can create jobs, grow the economy and put the American dream within the reach of the American people.
“…This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth,” said President Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.