Not Really Listening

Today is the first full day of a new era in American politics. Whether you support President Obama or not, there is no denying his importance in history as the first African American to occupy the oval office.

I listened to his inauguration speech, and was struck by his eloquence and oratory skill. It’s possible that it was just a relief from the often painful public addresses that his predecessor made, but the speech was enough to almost make me feel proud to be American. That’s a particularly impressive feat given that I’m not American, and don’t reside there.

So what is it that makes him such a good orator?

• He appeals to deep seated emotional chords;  in this case hope.
• His quiet dignity; he was magnanimous in victory, and gracious to a tee.
• His humility; there was no grandstanding, there were no sound bites, this was a message delivered as a whole, not a string of short messages designed to sound good in five second chunks.

A very good friend of mine said before his inauguration, that Obama was very reminiscent of an early Blair as a political leader. Neither he nor I are particularly fond of Blair’s legacy so as you can imagine that was not an endorsement, rather a warning that nothing is actually likely to change. Having listened to his inauguration speech, I can quite safely say that Blair was never even in the same league; he never delivered such a clear message, and he didn’t seem capable of saying anything without peppering it full of pithy but ultimately meaningless sound bites.

It’s better to be an optimist than a defeatist or pessimist, so here’s to a new, better era in American and world politics.

God bless the USA.

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