By Jon Kraushar
Communications Consultant

Only Barack Obama and his team of speechwriters know what will go into his inaugural address. We do know that the theme for Obama’s inaugural ceremonies is “A New Birth of Freedom,” a phrase from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Obama will be sworn in as president on January 20, 2009, just weeks before the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth.

A little over a week before the election, The New York Times and other media reported that a draft of Obama’s inaugural address had already been written and published in a book over the summer by John Podesta, the head of Obama’s transition team, leading to charges of presumption and arrogance on the part of the Obama campaign. Podesta denied that what he wrote was actually a speech draft for Obama and his denial seems to me plausible because when he wrote the book he was advising Senator Hillary Clinton in her primary campaign against Obama.

It further seems unlikely that Obama, author of two best-selling books, would so completely delegate the writing of what will be the most momentous speech of his life to just one other person—let alone someone who could take credit for it in a book.

So let’s explore some clues about what might go into Obama’s speech based on a review of his election night acceptance speech and by picking out phrases from the inauguration speech of his political hero, President John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy used soaring language that Obama will probably emulate. JFK is a role model speaker among 20th century world leaders and he remains like a sainted figure for progressives like Obama and Bill Clinton, both of whom would dearly love to be placed in the political speech-making pantheon where JFK holds first rank.

Lincoln, too, was a legendary speaker and Lincoln’s phrase “a new birth of freedom” is likely to be in Obama’s speech. So might other parts of The Gettysburg Address, such as the language about war and honoring dead soldiers for their “last full measure of devotion.” But clearly, while Obama will use Lincolnesque language and could pull other quotes from Lincoln’s speeches or from the words of great black Americans including Frederick Douglass, this will be an Obama speech, not just a cribbing of Lincoln and others.

So, where else is Obama likely to go in his inaugural address?

Whether or not Obama uses the actual word (I’m betting he will), some reference to a “dream” will probably be expressed in Obama’s speech, as it has been expressed in many great speeches, notably in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have A Dream,” which may be mentioned by Obama. Indeed, Obama’s first book is entitled “Dreams From My Father” and Obama’s swearing in is just one day after the celebration of the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. 

After reviewing Obama’s election night remarks, and with the educated guess that he’ll try to emulate John F. Kennedy’s speech in style and structure, I’ve identified eight themes Obama could choose from to include in his inaugural address.

If we combine these eight themes, in their order, with phrases Obama has already used and add other phrases he is likely to use, we have an inaugural address that has a good chance of capturing what we might hear.

Theme #1: United We Stand, Divided We Fall

On election night Obama said that by voting, all kinds of Americans united around “…the dream of our fathers and the power of democracy.” He referred to “…young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled.” This celebration of demographically diverse America coming together blends well with what Obama described as “…the hope of a better day” and “…the change we seek.” It also lends itself to a phrase like “united in our diversity”—diversity being a touchstone word in Obama’s progressive philosophy.

Hope and change will remain the two defining ideas Obama will continue to use to shape the messages of his presidency. Those words are a given in his inaugural address. And speaking of hope and change, since Obama is the first person of color elected President of the United States, he will speak of the amazing road traveled by African-Americans from Lincoln’s time to ours.

As has been Obama’s gracious approach, he will avoid glorifying himself but rather will hail his election to the presidency as an indication of how far race relations have come since Lincoln and a nation once bitterly divided over slavery. Obama won’t congratulate himself; he’ll congratulate the American people for this progress, which he’ll say made his path to the presidency possible. He will refer to his own racial and personal history and will say that his journey is also America’s journey. This will be a deeply unifying message.

On the other hand, on election night Obama cautioned about division saying, “Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.” He will repeat this concern and he will give his definition of “the common good” and the need to unite around a “common good” for a better country.

Look for the phrase the “common good” to be used not only in this speech but also by the entire Obama transition team in the coming weeks leading up to the inauguration. This is a phrase they want to embed in the national consciousness to help sell their policy initiatives.

Incidentally those repeated “p” words used by Obama—partisanship, pettiness, poisoned, politics: the technique is called alliteration and, as with other rhetorical devices, it helps us to listen and remember phrases. You’ll hear alliterations in Obama’s inaugural address.

Kennedy said, “United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.” There you have two other rhetorical devices sure to be used in Obama’s speech: contrasts and repeated words or phrases.

Theme #2: We Face Challenges

On election night, Obama said, “Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime—two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”
Kennedy said, “Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need—not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation,’ a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.”

Obama will list the challenges America faces and they will be in similar categories to Kennedy’s “common enemies.” Naturally, Obama will be optimistic about our ability to overcome those “enemies.”
We already know the main challenges Obama will reference which will include stimulating the economy and stimulating economic opportunity for more people, the war against terrorism, whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere, the environment, health care, and education. Given his own mixed-race background, Obama will also speak to the opportunity of improving race relations and using that effort to bring new hope, change and energy into the American experience.

Obama may deal with some or all of these issues by talking about the need to close various “gaps” such as the wealth gap, health care gap, education gap, clean energy gap, etc. He may say that even in our economically distressed times, we should remember that America’s greatest capital is our human capital.
In Kennedy’s speech—and most probably in Obama’s inaugural address—it will be worth noting that each man used the language and cadence of the Bible. Kennedy’s quote about “rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation” is from Romans 12:12 in the King James Bible. Obama, plagued by rumors that he was not a Christian will certainly have at least one Bible quote in his speech.

To show his openness to religion in general, he may well quote from other religion’s holy books. He will talk of the need for understanding, communication and bridge building among the world’s different religions, races and nations.

Although Obama is part of a political party zealous about separating “church and state,” Obama’s inaugural address and his subsequent speeches will be full of the style and even some of the language heard in church pulpits every Sunday in America.

Obama is keenly aware of the power of his speaking to “preach” political change to both the “converted” and the “unconverted.” And, like Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. before him, Obama will harness that power and he will do it from the “bully pulpit” as president, beginning with his inaugural address.

Communications consultant Jon Kraushar is at www.jonkraushar.net.

(Coming tomorrow, Anticipating Obama’s Inaugural Address (Part 2 of 3)