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January 23, 2009

Reaching for Poetry

By Jeff Pyatt

Two weeks ago, Wall Street Journal columnist and former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan offered what she hoped President Obama would aim for with his inaugural address. "Will he reach for poetry? I hope so, if poetry is defined as no wasted words on the way to the thought and the thought is worthy and true."

This definition of poetry struck me as beautiful and, by her definition itself, poetic. But observing that Ms. Noonan can turn a phrase is nothing surprising.

Five days from today, we will honor the twenty-third anniversary of the spaceship Challenger exploding on national television. For the nation, it was a difficult time during which we turned to our President for an explanation and for comfort. And for the President, it was a difficult time during which he turned to a speechwriter.

As one of those schoolchildren to whom he directly addressed, President Reagan, with Noonan's help, said to me, "I know it's hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave."

On Tuesday, it was surprising that the same generation - schoolchildren 23 years ago - gathered on the National Mall and again heard traces of the words Noonan helped craft for Reagan. This time, however, there was no Challenger, just a challenge. And with familiar terms, President Obama reminded us how we became great nation and, in doing so, how we will remain a great nation. "[W]e understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted... Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things..."

The President did not simply set out to accomplish what an inaugural address is expected to do: unify the country; define his mission and the principles that will guide him; and show an understanding of the awesome power entrusted in him. Instead, he set out to weave together an address, both borrowed and novel, that historians will unwind for years to come.

In one of the shorter inaugurals in our history, it's astonishing how much our new President said. But, although it was a practice in the economy of words, there was a passage that seemed to say more than the rest. "Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old." This passage, which draws deeply on America's values and history to meet the challenges of the present and future, tell us much about how our new President views the world, and the people he now leads.

Of course, there have been some early criticisms.

Michael Gerson, who helped pen the previous two inaugurals, criticized the speech from his unique perspective as one of the few who've written them. "There were too many 'raging storms' and 'gathering clouds' and other things that any writer could consider cliché," Gerson said.

Perhaps. But nautical metaphors have been integrally connected to our nation, beginning with Thomas Jefferson, the founding father who loved them most and who is particularly important for this moment in history. After all, "We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists." A president navigating the ship of state is a reminder of the most remarkable strength of our form of government: In America, as happened three days ago, power transfers from one political party to another without war. Before Jefferson was inaugurated, such a thing had never occurred.

Another criticism may, for a while, remain unresolved: Was this Inaugural really absent memorable lines? If so, does a great inaugural address require a great line? The last three great ones - FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan - all had them. But, although it's worth asking and considering, for this speech, I believe, it's unnecessary. Some great lines are immediately recognized, others we have to ponder.

At least one passage in Obama's address stood out that may, upon reflection, resonate through history. In it, Obama challenged Americans to rise to meet a difficult moment. "[T]here is nothing so satisfying to the spirit," President Obama said, "so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task." With this line Obama not only reached for poetry, but achieved it. And for anybody who ever faces a difficult challenge, I hope they'll pull inspiration from it.

Judging inaugurals days after they've been delivered is by its nature shortsighted. But I believe Obama's address was the greatest speech of my life thus far, not only for who said it but also for what it said. I hope we look back on it one day and realize that it inspired a new generation of Americans to take responsibility for themselves, the nation and the world.

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