Eloquence Unmet

Listening, as most of us did, to today's Presidential inauguration and the many, many observations leading up to it, I was struck by a contrast in eloquence. Here we have a new president who is well-spoken, intelligent, and about as unlikely to say "nucular" or "strategery" as anyone could be, but few, if any,. able to boice what is so significant about today. I am used to the news media tripping over their own tongues as they are more taken with their own boices than with what they say. I will mention a glaring instance of this below. But thanks to telebision we have documented in the sound of cheering and chanting what I just am not hearing articulated more clearly: what we are all so astounded by and grateful for.

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning one of the repoorters interviewed a woman from Sweden who reported that with the election of Barack Obama she has decided to become an American citizen. She said she had not found any reason to before. I was on the edge of my seat when she answered the question why Obama had changed her mind. At last, I thought, someone will say it. But she did not. She stumbled around sentiments about change and respect overseas and my heart bled for her. She was no more articulate than I had heard before. And it was clear from the anchor's and reporter's questions that they did not get it either.

It is my conviction that what knocks us all off our feet on a day like today is that our country actually did something we truly did not think it could or would. We not only elected an African American president, but a man whose middle name is Hussein. 9/11 is only seven and a half years ago. Does this reveal a nation more tolerant, more inclusive, more discerning than I thought it was? I find myself thinking, with jubilation, "We did it! We actually acted on our best qualities! I am impressed not only by what we did, but that we did it at all.

The new president's speech was excellent, I thought. I was impressed that when he listed all the religious views in our culture, he actually mentioned non-believers! If that ain't enlightened, I don't know what is.

The one down moment of the coverage this morning came when, obsercving that former VP Dick Cheney had had an accident and had to use a wheelchair to attend the festivities, Brian Williams said Cheney probably regretted looking like Dr. Strangelove. To be honest, I thought "Mr. Potter" but beyond that, the new president's call for inclusion was blasted by this comment. If you don't understand why, imagine if Williams had compared YoYo Ma to Charlie Chan or Itzhask Perlman to Fagin It meant that someone who used a wheelchair could only be compared to the negative, forgetting that long before an African American stood up there on the steps of the CVapitol, a disabled man did. If the wicked alluysion is the best we can do in 2009. maybe it is just as well Franklin Roosevelt hid his disability. He might still have to. How much more approopriate if Cheney had called to Williams' mind that famous wheelchair user.

So I see this country as having taken a leap forward in maturity, but nothing worthwhile is ever without a need for improvement. Our new president calls on us all to embody the values of reaching for the common good. How about we start with media shallowness.