January 22, 2009

Malia and the Inaugural O-ration: A Pundit is Born

I’m not sure how things will play out for the 44^th president of the United States. But Malia Obama has a future in the punditry biz.

Even the least capable lip-reader could make out the First Daughter informing Dad that his Inaugural O-ration was a “good speech.” Meaning it had apparently cleared the “better be good” bar reportedly set by the new boss’s tough young advisor.

Whew.

Thirty-some miles away, I had come to pretty much the same conclusion.

What defines a good speech? I’m not entirely sure of 10-year-old’s Malia’s standards.

But to someone who has made a decent little living at ghostwriting, it means – on the down slope – not great. Sorry, but they’re not chiseling this one next to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address down at the Memorial. No “malice toward none,” “nothing to fear” or “ask not” moments here.

Not only did the oratory not quite get the gold, it often reached too high in going for it – from Yul Brynnerish (“So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans”) to campy (“the winter of our hardship”).

If it’s historic you want, you’ll just have to let the nature of the day speak for itself. (And yo. Conservative, liberal, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief: If you weren’t moved at the sea of humanity waving from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, stick a fork in yourself, you’re done.)

But on the upside, O’s first outing as the Top Dog otherwise hit the marks on my checklist.
 

Need a little stylin’. Check. A tribute to “the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things . . . who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.” A closing that sang with the rhythmic cadence of the black church: “Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter . . .”

Must speak to the audience and its times. You got it. Encouragement to a nation facing “a sapping of confidence.” To a jaded public, the promise of “an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that . . . have strangled our politics.”

Kennedy-esque invitations of cooperation to our friends and signals of resolve to our enemies (“you cannot outlast us”). A recitation of priorities from infrastructure to science to energy to health care to education to Iraq and Afghanistan – without falling into State-of-the-Unionish laundry lists.

And, in contrast to a style that reached for FDR and JFK (and missed), a tone that, politically, was purely and appropriately Goldilocks – just right. Praising risk-takers and talking tough on security. Hailing the market’s “unmatched” ability to generate prosperity. Refusing to “apologize for our way of life.” Chastising those who “blame their society's ills on the West.”

Not to mention, in what should be a “duh” moment for the GOP, smacking the nail on the head regarding America’s expectations of Washington – “not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works.”

Most importantly, you’ve got to provide a clear headline. Here you go: O’s call to a “new era of responsibility,” a recognition of our duties as Americans that are the “price and promise of citizenship.”

I’m not sure little Malia the Pundit’s checklist was quite as sophisticated as mine. But for a beginner, her bottom line was right on target.

And in terms of what it needed to accomplish, so was her dad’s speech.