On the morning of January 21, the Capitol’s west front was teeming with the red, white and blue of a million little flags and the promise for progress as President Barack Obama was publically sworn into office.
This inauguration was, as spoken by the president himself, a testament to the enduring strength of our Constitution, our commitment to democracy and our adherence to the idea that all men are created equal.
The president’s speech laid out some different points of interest his administration will be pursuing within the next term. Keeping true to the sentiments made in his first inaugural address, Obama stressed the need for “collective action” or working together as a nation to achieve our goals.
Equality was another key theme in the address. For the first time in history, the issue of gay rights was discussed in a presidential inauguration.
Obama showed his support for same-sex marriage by saying, “if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”
He also called for equal pay and treatment for women, something that would resound three days later as the Pentagon lifted the ban on women in combat.
Conservatives chastised Obama for appealing only to his liberal supporters and pushing a partisan agenda. Indeed, many of the points of the President’s speech promoted a liberal course of action in running the country.
He proposed that changes be made to our immigration laws so that immigrants that view America as a land of opportunity can build a new life and “bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.”
Obama also referred to the issue of climate change, more than likely as a response to the devastation left by Hurricane Sandy, saying, “some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms.”
Some media outlets responded to the allegations that Obama’s agenda is partisan by claiming that the country is moving more “center-left” in terms of ideological identification, and that the president was merely advancing the mainstream political beliefs held by the majority of the country.
According to polls, the majority of Americans are adopting more left-leaning opinions on some of the hot issues facing the US. The Gallup Poll shows 46 percent of Americans are against the legalization of gay marriage and 53 percent support it (Nov 2012). The National Journal reported that 77 percent of Americans wanted no cuts to Social Security, 79 percent wanted no cuts to Medicare, and 33 percent wanted no cuts to defense (Dec 2012). CNN took a poll on Jan 15 that had 53 percent of Americans supporting a path for undocumented immigrants and 43 percent in opposition.
The most recent NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll shows a profound change in the American opinion on abortion. For the first time, the majority of Americans that believe abortion should be made legal in all or most cases.
SOURCES
http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16627455-in-second-inaugural-obama-appeals-to-his-progressive-base?chromedomain=firstread
http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2013/01/barack-obamas-inauguration-speech-full-text-and-video
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/24/16681072-valor-knows-no-gender-pentagon-lifts-ban-on-women-in-combat?lite
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/21/16626932-nbcwsj-poll-majority-for-first-time-want-abortion-to-be-legal?lite
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50139495n
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/boehner-obama_n_2536693.html