The Obama locamotive has arrived.
The soon-to-be American First Family (along with VP designate Joe Biden and his wife) brought a little gravitas to the pre-inauguration festivities in the U.S. with their whistle-stop trip from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., waving to the crowds from the back of an old vintage caboose that was supposed to echo the journey Abraham Lincoln made back in 1861.
He began with a speech in Philadelphia that challenged Americans to get behind a common purpose:
“What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives — from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry — an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.
Further in his speech he did what many politicians do – he cited examples of individuals who embody the challenges or issues of the day. But then he took it that one step further, illustrating the now trademark Obama rhetoric that takes ordinary stories, weaves them together and elevates them to nation-defining myths.
“[N]o matter who we are or what we look like, no matter where we come from or what faith we practice, we are a people of common hopes and common dreams, who ask only for what was promised us as Americans — that we might make of our lives what we will and see our children climb higher than we did…
“…But we should never forget that we are the heirs of that first band of patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.”
This is the second major address Obama has given in Philadelphia. In March 2008 Obama gave his now-famous speech on race, A More Perfect Union.
While Americans were watching the pageantry of the inauguration Canadians were watching it too.
Of course we were.
The alternative was to tune in to yet another meeting of the Prime Minister and the Premiers and Territorial Leaders. (side note: why the heck can’t we call the leaders of the territories premiers? It would save typing out that cumbersome phrase.)
They were meeting in Ottawa to talk about the economic downturn, depression, recession, crisis (pick your own cataclysmic noun) and to debate how to solve it (heaps of public money into infrastructure and capital projects; bricks and mortar are back in style) and, in the case of the provincial and territorial premiers (see, isn’t that easier?), to tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper and federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to spend the bulk of the money because it will be so much easier for the federal government to recover from a deficit.
Okay I just guessed that, based on a couple of GlobeandMail.com headlines and half-listening to the CBC radio news while cleaning the kitchen a couple of days ago.
These guys are so predictable.
If you want to actually find out what they did, try here or here or here.
Years ago during Bernard Lord’s first term as premier of New Brunswick, I was talking to one of his advisers about Lord’s rather low-key approach to governing. There were no grand statements or grand plans in the Lord years, it was just a regular day at The Office.
When I suggested that Lord was kind of boring, the adviser laughed and told me that New Brunswickers don’t want to see their government at work; they just want to know it’s working.
Now, that is true when it comes to stuff such as getting a driver’s license or paying property tax – I want ease of service – but where that adviser missed the point, and where so many politicians stumble, is in understanding that great politicians are not civil servants.
They are symbols.
We have bureaucracies to make sure the trains run on time.
We can only hope for politicians who know what to do when it pulls into their station.