President Barack Obama, in his inaugural address, told the American people about the challenges facing the country today are of crisis proportion. Guided by the founding principles with which America was built as a nation, he promised the citizens of America and the world that his government will overcome these problems. He took note that every administration is faced with problems of different gravity and complexity and his will be no different. He offers hope and unity when he saw fear and conflict in the face of Americans.
For Obama, America may be great and powerful, but these alone are not what will give jobs with fair wages, accessible and affordable healthcare and decent retirement through sound social security. Honesty, caution and transparency are demanded of those who hold public office for them to gain the trust of the people in their government. Taking the economy into perspective, he said that the crisis is not because workers are producing less, creativity has stopped, and need for commodities have dropped. Market forces drive the economy, for the best and for the worst.A strong economy will definitely create wealth. Government must exercise prudent control and ensure that the gains will benefit all. Equitable sharing of wealth and equal opportunities for all is his “re-affirmation of the enduring spirit that all are equal. ” Obama believes that America must change that way it had conducted itself and do away with political philosophies that are not doing the country any good. Instead, Obama thinks that America should work harder, aim higher, be both movers and doers like its forebears whom he said “toiled, endured the lash of the whip, plowed the hard earth.”
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He reminded the American people of those who died in defense of precious freedom from “Concord and Gettysburg to Normandy and Khe Sanh. ” He attributes the greatness of America to its people. He said the greatness was something “earned and never given” to its selfless people and to a country that is “bigger than the sum of individual ambitions [and] greater than all the differences of birth, wealth or faction. ” It is upon these qualities that Obama begins the work that is necessary to push the economy forward, once again.
He is bound not only to create jobs but provide the basics to be able to accomplish the first, such as infrastructures, science and technology, health care, alternative fuel sources, education and skills training that all fit the needs of the times. Obama has faith great things can be done if everyone will unite and rally around a common goal. In the pursuit of economic prosperity, Obama’s government also seeks to protect the rights of individuals among which is a guarantee of his safety and security.
Like the founding fathers of America who shed blood to guarantee the freedoms every American now enjoys, Obama makes a solemn vow to every citizen and every nation of the world that America will take the lead when their peace is threatened. He is of the conviction that arms are the last resort in conflicts, however, victory comes with strong alliances and lasting principles. The might and power of the America is not enough to protect it but Obama assures that neither will his country use it indiscriminately.
He will dispense the power judiciously, coming from what the president says is the “justness of cause and force of example which is the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. ” He is looking at Iraq and Afghanistan and the possibilities of peaceful pullout. America will cooperate in keeping the world safe and secured but all threats to peace will be dealt with force. Terrorism will be met with the fiercest resistance. Obama assures that America “will not waiver in defense” of peace and justice “with spirit [that] is stronger and [which] can not be broken” warns that the enemy that “they cannot outlast us and we will defeat you.”
Obama spoke of his new policies of government that reflects the old values of the founding fathers. President Obama will not compromise the safety and ideals of America. It will not be a choice of one over the other or a middle ground of both. Both safety and ideals go together. America separated from Britain in bitter circumstances in the cause of freedom, in the words of the Declaration of Independence they will hold Britain as “they hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war and in peace friends. ” Today Britain remains a loyal ally in its fight against tyranny and injustice.
President Obama calls on “old friends and former foes” to work with America in mutual defense and act against the use of nuclear weapons and destruction of the environment. Obama pledges to once again lead the way in “ushering in a new era of peace. ” He recognizes that America is not just for the Americans but for the whole world. His government will defend America and its interests, as well as those of the world that is parallel to America’s. Obama declares “we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but seize rather gladly.”
Once before, the founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence had similarly intended, to “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor. “ President Obama recognizes the strength of multi-racial America today. From its conflict-ridden history, American came to be a strong nation. The president says that “as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself. ” America, therefore, postures itself ahead of the line with the rest of the world – desirous of a future of peace with honor.
America will extend its helping hands not only in times of war and but also in times of peace. He asks both the poor and the wealthy nations to work together on issues like the proper utilization and care for the world’s resources. He notes that it is about time that everyone should drop attitudes of apathy and instead be more conscious in preserving what could be handed down to the generations that will come after the present one. Times have indeed changed and in retrospect American has gone this far and this long. Its 44th president had been sworn in to the highest office of the land.
Nothing can more significant than the fact that America is still free, a legacy of the fallen heroes. Their spirit lives on in the men and women who fight for democracy in distant shores, who help save lives in disaster-stricken communities, who risk lives and limbs to take strangers out of death’s clutches from the 9/11 attacks, and those willing to sacrifice so others may live. From the heroes in war to the heroes in peace, America has not let go of what Obama calls “the gift of freedom. ” They worked hard and gave so much to preserve the gains of freedom and democracy.
What the Constitution declares to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” President Obama promises to “carry forth the gifts of freedom and deliver it safely to future generations. ” America is faced with new challenges and responsibilities. These are the issues that President Obama places high importance on. These are the realities of the current times that Obama are finding solutions to. From uncertainty, the future will be shaped on how well America will use the time-tested inner resources and strength that have pushed the American on throughout their country’s history.
The Obama government is confronted with economic difficulties, threats to peace and security, effects of environmental neglect, among many other problems. The American patience, honesty, hard work, sense of fairness, courage, inquisitive minds, love of country and unwavering faith in God and fellow Americans, should be made to prevail. These are the cost and rewards of a privileged American citizenship. How much the Americans have developed through the trying years, has made the words “liberty and justice for all” and that “all men are created equal” more meaningful and true.
These truths were made self-evident when Obama who said his father “might not have been served at a local restaurant 60 years ago” became America’s first African-American president. On this same president’s shoulder lies the shaping of the future from uncertainty and hopelessness. President Obama is faced with problems that he has to deal with in order to move the nation forward. He was left with a country which is not completely done with a protracted war in the Middle East. He will decide on the future of Iraq and Afghanistan and the continuing role of America in the War on Terror.
He hopes to end the decades of hatred and hopes to heal the wounds of conflict. As president of the most powerful nation on earth he has choices and he hopes to use the best of them in accordance with the enduring spirit of old such as courage with justice. The economy of America is in shambles. If this can happen to the great and powerful nation like America, what would keep it from happening to the others. Truly the economic crisis has hit a global scale. Unemployment rose when millions have lost their jobs, a consequence of the collapse of many businesses.
Under such circumstances people would barely afford the rest – housing, education, health care, and social security. This would render the weak and feeble-hearted helpless, but not the American who was shaped in the tradition of hard work and honesty. Again, Obama has promised that America will take the lead. He has met with his economic team on Day One. America must likewise respond to the problems posed by environmental degradation and neglect, such as the greenhouse effect or global warming, extreme weather conditions and depletion of the earth’s resources.
He must end the indifference of industrialized nations or those he termed as the “nations that enjoy relative plenty. ” He has recognized the “greed and irresponsibility of some” and this time he must be ready “to make hard choices to propel the nation” forward in the new age. He must employ the old values of “courage and fair play” to meet this challenge of the world in a time of peace. Equality has never been more felt than on the day Barack Obama took his oath of office.
The multitude that showed up in his inauguration was happy that finally there were no more lines that divide. America now has a president who represents the best in the new American. The new American is able to transcend color and creed in a “patchwork heritage” which is the president’s own description of the new America. It is also a conglomeration of cultures from all points of the globe. Getting America to respond as one before it hopes to lead the rest of the world is vital to the agenda Obama has set to accomplish.
Unity, equality and selflessness are the defining characters of the new generation of Americans. With these qualities the enormous task of ushering the new kind of peace and prosperity in America and elsewhere in the world can be achieved. President Obama guarantees that the government will do its duty and calls upon all Americans for their support. He believes that it is the collective “faith and determination” of its people in their government that will make America succeed in meeting all the challenges.
From the time of the founding fathers to the inauguration of its 44th president, America has come a long way, not without sacrifices, not without hard work. President Obama has taken things in perspective and knew that without the guiding spirit of the old values, America would not survive the crisis his presidency was met with. The racial divide which was marked with the long struggle of his kind is no longer a painful issue to deal with, given his election to the highest post of the land.
Peace and security, the economy, the environment, health care, and education are the more pressing problems that demand the government’s immediate attention, and attend to them the president has promised to do. The Obama story and discourse is a welcome development of the American. He had transcended barriers to become what he is today. In his watch, the whole world is still, perhaps in anticipation of new beginnings. For President Obama it is simply a choice of hope over fear, unity over discord.
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Development of America. (2016, Aug 04). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/development-of-america/
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