Ask not why many inaugural speeches are so humdrum
WASHINGTON — Quick quiz: Recall a phrase, any phrase, from either inaugural speech of one of America’s most accomplished political orators, President Barack Obama.
Come up empty? Sad!
Fact is, inaugural speeches are usually not the finest hours in speechmaking, with some towering exceptions brought to us by Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and one or two others. Most are a lot of word candy, tasty to the crowds but empty calories for history. It’s one thing to be eloquent, another to say something for the ages.
And when an inaugural speech does grab hold of the public imagination, history tends to remember it differently than the way it was received at the time.