The morning after...

It's now been a full day of US President Barack Obama.

The press has focused on three issues:

1. Evaluating his inaugural address (and the next day too) and the inauguration ceremony itself.
2. Evaluating his first day in office -- is he really up to the job?
3. How will it address the issues it must now confront, during its first hundred days and beyond. More broadly, what kind of presidency can be expected -- policies, image of the Presidency -- what kind of changes in government and American life?

1.

The speech was impressive in that it set out a path--mood setting--without really presenting any specific agenda items or plans. While it was in some ways a rebuke of the atmosphere of the last eight years (the George W Bush presidency), it was also an announcement that there's a (new) reality that America needs to confront, both domestically and internationally. Unfortunately, I didn't hear it live, but I did view it later and read it online.

Instead of commenting on the entire speech--you may read it for yourself--two sections deserve special comment.

(a) the popular call for a sense of personal responsibility that many others have commented upon:

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.

It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.

... What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

(b) Far more interesting for me was his comments about the role of government:

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

I believe that no society can function without a supervisory body, a government, to maintain order and 'fairness' and to ensure the provision of common/community services. While I'm not sure without a government, it will be a "Hobbesian hell" where people are eating each other up, it does seem clear that society can't function efficiently without it. For better or worse, government is part of our lives. If that's indeed a given, then the question is how can it be structured to better ensure the greatest good? Bloated uncaring government bureaucracies are a drag. Insufficient oversight (complete laissez-faire) will also be a drag on functioning (as witnessed by the financial meltdown created by an ideological mindset of self-regulated financial sector under Bush).

People need to be held accountable for their behavior and actions. At the same time, they also need to know that things beyond their control, but necessary for their functioning will be taken care of. Leaving side the major responsibility for defending the country and maintaining social order, governments also need to protect their most vulnerable population(s) by providing them with the basic services to live a dignified life including health care, education, social services.

This will be of even more importance as America seeks to pull itself of the morass of its economic downturn ("depression"), as well as its international standing. Everyone will need to feel a sense of ownership and honestly pull their own weight. The automatic sense of unique or special entitlement must end, for everyone is responsible for righting the boat without regard for station.

2 & 3

He has certainly assembled an impressive supporting cast of cabinet members and advisers. Few are shrinking violets and when (if?) confirmed the meetings will probably be loud and boisterous affairs with everyone expressing their opinion. Will Obama be able to sift through the expected conflicting advice and distill the best policy/decision? No matter how experienced the supporting cast, Obama will still has a steep learning curve.

He needs to avoid making a "Bay of Pigs" incident--something planned in the previous administration and left over to the next to enact--which tripped up JFK and probably lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Unlike few before him, he has a large number of crisis balls in the air to juggle. FDR needed to address the economic situation--The Great Depression. JFK had a foreign policy issues around the Cold War (including Cuba, Vietnam). Obama needs to address foreign and domestic issues.

Eventually, the glow and "honeymoon" will end when the effects of the hard decisions sink in and the inertia of resisting changes reach a crescendo.

The morning after is just the first day of the presidency and the start of the journey. We'll see.