O Bama's Speech

x in the city

That was one hell of a speech :eek:

he did not even look at a script, all from the heart

puts our leaders to shame, is it true that Biffo gets more money than Barrack?, thats madness.

therewillbe

Talk is cheap, Now let him back it all up by doing something to make the citizens of his country lives a lot better and then he may be able to sort out the mess his predecessor has left behind.

BroomBurner

Yeah, very inspirational. Makes you feel like it's the return of the Golden Age for America, like they will no longer be the elephant in the room they had become.

I'm excited about world politics now. When Bush was in power, it was just depressing.

spiderdan

Newstalk slating it!!

I thought it was very well delivered, although it did lack big sound bite, and I do agree he didn't get much feeling or emotion into it.

x in the city

O Bama is a natural leader, people instantly listen to him, he makes people stop in their tracks

Dave!

x in the city wrote: »

That was one hell of a speech :eek:

he did not even look at a script, all from the heart

puts our leaders to shame, is it true that Biffo gets more money than Barrack?, thats madness.

Does he not use teleprompters?

I thought it was good... not as amazing as I had hoped for, but meh

turgon

x in the city wrote: »

he did not even look at a script, all from the heart

There were teleprompters there, the same ones they use in the State of the Union address, they look like clipboards atop polls.

galwaydude

He must have done something right, grown women in my office shed buckets full. Then again its the dawn of a new america. We hope anyways. I may be irish but i was proud to be in america today. Long live Obama.

pepsicokeacola

dont care for america, americans or obama, but it was a good speach and hopefully with a mixed raced person holding the highest political position in the world(presuming there is no iluminati) then it might lead to greater tolerance.

yanks love the drivel about the founding fathers and all that stuff. mention them and its like signing that 'clap your hands' song.

Tristram

Good speech.

therewillbe wrote: »

Talk is cheap, Now let him back it all up by doing something to make the citizens of his country lives a lot better and then he may be able to sort out the mess his predecessor has left behind.

Agreed.

murfie

Disappointing i thought. Nothing like speeches of history. But expectation are far to high for everything Obama will or can do. This might be a reality check for many.

jmayo

pretty good right enough.
He worked in enough points that things would be different to days when the eejit sitting behind him was in control.
There is hope after all.
He didn't sweeten it but laid it out plainly.

I liked the way he worked in the fact that some of the people that built America were indeed slaves, that his father would have been treated as second class, that the dead of Arlington sacrificed themselves for something, that America needs to wake up, the fact that the US needs to start looking at renewable energies, the facts about the strength America had was through being viewed as beacon and need to go back to it.

Short and not so sweet but set out his stall well.

Austin 3:16

Yeah he had a telepromter either side of him, thats why he was looking side to side and not straight ahead. A great speech nonetheless. Don't listen to newstalk, hook has been slating Obama from the start, he can't stop now. Hook is barely qualified to comment on rugby not to mind global politics. My advice to you would be to listen to Matt Cooper, he can interview people, unlike Hook, without shouting over them before they have a chance to make their point and he can also remain objective.

jmayo

Just watching that gobshi** Bush finally leaving.
How much wealth has he wiped off the balance sheets of the world.
How many lives throughout the world does he leave wrecked and in ruin, how many has he helped send to their death thorugh his follies ?

nesf

His rejection of unilateralism was an interesting thing to throw into the speech.

scheister

i taught it was well done gave me a feeling that america future may be bright after that twat that was in power for the last 8yrs. speaking of bush he looked board while he was there.

ShiverinEskimo

scheister wrote: »

speaking of bush he looked board while he was there.

He was probably thinking what colour to paint his new livingroom - the same thing he was probably thinking when he made his inauguration speech.

jmcwobbles

I thought it was a great speech, full of hope and determination, hope he lives up to the hype

LMAO when he fluffed the oath though

RichTea

jmcwobbles wrote: »

I thought it was a great speech, full of hope and determination, hope he lives up to the hype

LMAO when he fluffed the oath though

Very strongly worded and grounded speech.

The oath was interesting as it proved that Chief Justice Roberts is a clutz who can't remember a 35 word oath.

sdanseo

RichTea wrote: »

Very strongly worded and grounded speech.

The oath was interesting as it proved that Chief Justice Roberts is a clutz who can't remember a 35 word oath.

I reckon there was a pair of them in it Edit: hmm, maybe not: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=A_9TLuqvyP8. Biden fluffed his, too.

jimmay

U...S...A...
U...S...A...lol
Great day..'things can only get better', (D:Ream)
I am delighted and proud to be an American citizen today and I hope and believe America can regain their positive reputation abroad.
It was nice that Obama's speech wasn't too strong in terms of addressing his "foes". I think it was a good tone and offers the best chance for change.

OBAMA!!!:D

Manic Moran

He is certainly a lot easier on the ears than Bush is. Seemed a good Inaugural speech. Didn't say anything of note, but you wouldn't really expect anything from the Inaugural podium. I'm actually a lot more interested in the various press releases, executive orders, and other announcements which will be forthcoming in the next week or so.

As for who messed up the Oath (Not that I can overly blame anyone, it is rather a momentous occasion with a fair bit of an audience), it seems to have been both parties. Obama came in a little early on the first line causing the first oops, and Roberts reversed the wording a little later on resulting in the second stumble. Either way, big deal. I think we got the general intent!

NTM

sceptre

RichTea wrote: »

The oath was interesting as it proved that Chief Justice Roberts is a clutz who can't remember a 35 word oath.

Just watched it, leaving aside Roberts misplacing "faithfully" and Obama pretty much covering for him after the "WTF are you doing, you plonker" pause, what was Roberts thinking when he said "President to the United States". I trust for the next swearing in, the CJ will change his mind about not bringing a printed version of the oath with him (if I remember rightly, Rehnquist always brought notes)

Biden managed to fluff his lines on his own.

All done, either way.

DublinWriter

I didn't find the speech very inspiring.

It certainly lacked any 'hooks', such as Kennedy's 'ask not what your country can do for you...' etc.

Overall I think the aim of the speech was to press all the right buttons in terms of issues and play down expectations; most people are expecting Obama to invent a cure for cancer and disclose Area 51 alien spacecraft in his first week in office.

I thought that Elizabeth Alexander's poem wasn't very good and verged on being kitsch.

Manic Moran

what was Roberts thinking when he said "President to the United States". "President to the United States

In fairness, when I caught that, I went and looked it up to make sure it actually was wrong. I wouldn't have put it past the Founders to say 'to' instead of 'of' as a reminder that the President is supposed to serve the People and not the other way around.

NTM

Ludo

sceptre wrote: »

Biden managed to fluff his lines on his own.

Biden didn't fluff anything. All seemed fine to me.

nhughes100

I think the speech was a bit flat, but I personally got the impression that the time for talking is over, Obama has done the speeches and now it's time to get down to work. I felt a bit sorry for all the people who queued in the cold to hear something a bit more inspirational and there was an air of "is that it?" at the end but enough speeches, we had enough of them during the primaries, party nominations and actual election.