President: 1. The President\'s Opening the President\'s

¶ … President: 1. The President's opening

The president's opening remarks functioned as a means of collectivizing his listeners, some of whom may not have voted for him or did not support particular policies or measures he has enacted. The best way of getting people who were not his supporters to listen to his address and to even consider taking him seriously was for him to emphasize the fact that he is an American just like they are. Hence, he cited a number of phrases that reflected the values which the country was founded upon, such as those existing in the Declaration of Independence and within the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, it appeared as though the president was framing his address and his own agenda as a continuation of these important historical American concepts.

The philosophy being suggested in some of the president's rhetoric in his inaugural address is that there needs to be unity and cohesion for America to get through current issues. Therefore, he spent a lot of time talking about doing things "together" and referring to himself as part of the unit of Americans. This philosophy reinforces the notion that America faces a considerable amount of problems, and that the only way to get through them is to do so as a unit. This philosophy is essential in keeping the nation as a nation, for one, as well as gradually introducing the concept to political dissidents of the president that they are still needed, and that the challenge America faces is both greater than the president and his opponents .

In his quote about mistaking absolutism for principle, the value of the democratic process that the president is referring to is the notion that in a democracy, it is okay for people to voice their dissent and opinions to those that are held by the majority (which is how individuals get elected into office). However, he is also suggesting that such dissent and antagonism is not the true reason for the nature of democracy. Mud-slinging and personal, pejorative words and sentiments against another are never useful for the democratic process. Those sentiments are much better placed providing useful, constructive criticism. Even better, those sentiments are valued for providing alternative means and solutions to issues that affect the people as a whole.

For the most part, the President managed to stay above the political and its myriad partisanship issues while addressing the core values of what it means to be an American in today social and economic climate. There are several examples that one can reference from this speech that support the preceding statement. The president devoted a plethora of rhetoric to invoking points of commonalities between Americans, such as the shared lineage of the founding fathers, that of the documents they produced, and the fact that the challenges the nation faces can only be successfully surmounted with a sense of unity in which the country's resources are pooled together to preserve its legacy.