The first inaugural address of a President is among the most important and well-crafted speeches they deliver. It sets the direction and tone for their entire presidency. It can inspire the nation and indeed the world.
In two weeks, President-elect Barack Obama will deliver his. Given his well-known eloquence and the dire problems the nation faces, you can be certain this will be the speech of a lifetime.
I’m looking for some powerful rhetoric on energy and climate from you. No, I don’t expect those two subjects will be the primary focus of his remarks, and I expect he will talk more about energy than climate.
But both issues are among the greatest of our time, and Obama’s Cabinet selections make clear he is going to take strong action on both fronts. So does his post-election remarks, “The science is beyond dispute… Delay is no longer an option. Denial is no longer an acceptable response.”
Post your suggestions below. Whoever comes closest to what he actually says, wins the chance to post on Climate Progress [woo-hoo!]. Also, if anyone’s suggestion seems especially eloquent, I will send it to people who know Obama well enough to give you a (tiny) chance of making it into his speech.
Some suggestions to would-be speechwriters follow:
Memorable and persuasive remarks invariably use rhetoric, not logic (see “Why scientists aren’t more persuasive, Part 1“). The essence of the 25-century-old art of rhetoric is the figures of speech — Wikipedia entry here and About.com’s top 20 figures here.
You probably want to focus on just five figures:
Repetition: “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Alliteration: “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Antithesis (a favorite of Lincoln’s): “With malice toward none; with charity for all.” “The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
Metaphor: “The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans” and “the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty.”
Chiasmus (a fav of JFK’s): “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
[All but one of those are from inaugural addresses.]
Yes, chiasmus (and alliteration) are types of repetition. There are some four dozen figures of repetition, since it is the most effective strategy for persuasion — as anyone who has children (or is subjected to advertising) knows.
Anyway, keep it short and figurative. One liners are welcome!
[For the record, I don't work for PEBO or his transition, and this "contest" is not sanctioned by anyone on his staff. I reserve the right to tweak any suggestions I forward.]
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Joe, I’m curious about this report? I certainly hope the ice is coming back, but I doubt it.
http://www.dailytech.com/Article.aspx?newsid=13834
[JR: I'd need to see the original sources. This looks to be adding Arctic and Antarctic ice, which is not especially interesting since the two climates are very different and are the subject of very different climate predictions. It is the Arctic losing its sea ice that one needs to worry the most about from a sea ice perspective, for reasons that I have blogged. But ice mass loss is even more worrisome and that is clearly an accelerating trend.]
Joe,
Ok, I went to the source of Daily Tech’s article, the Arctic Climate Research at the University of Illinois, and their site had no mention of sea ice being at the same level as 29 years ago. Quite the contrary. Possibly a rogue reporter? http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/
[Ok, here's a shot at it:]
Today we stand at a crossroads, where we can accept a grand challenge to move forward toward a tomorrow of renewal for America, or shrink from this challenge, giving in to smallness and fear.
Shall we dare?
We must act to lower our carbon emissions and break our addiction to oil and coal. We can do both simultaneously, and in the process provide a new path to economic prosperity.
We can do this by investing in a new energy future based on the light of the sun, the power of the winds, and the light of our minds which shall illuminate new marvels of efficiency.
There is only one way – forward.
We all want a clean, safe social and business climate, but we can preserve these only if we embrace preservation of the earth’s climate, which embraces us and all we cherish.
If we endeavor with the energy of our spirit, we can enlist the energy of the sun, while easing the heating of our climate.
This is the way forward.
We won’t find the future with fossil fuels. We won’t find light in a continued addiction to oil and coal. That way can only lead us backward into a Dark Age.
We may now be uncertain, and fear the unknown.
But this forward path is our way to know our will, to know ourselves, turn the unknown into the known, as we find that we are one, and our problems are one, the solution is one, and the path forward to a renewed future is one.
If we have the courage and energy to attempt today, we can develop the clean energy to light our tomorrow.
By this light we shall renew our country and renew our souls. We shall honor all that we have gained, and gain a renewed honor.
This is not the time to be timid, but the hour to be bold. This is no day to be small in our achievement or in our hearts. The days of difficulty are precisely the days we must dare to dare.
This is how we shall achieve our renewed energy, and relieve the pressures on our climate. We shall secure our energy and economy, forward toward a bright future of renewal.
Joe, this offering is focuses on the essential imperative to bring all nations into the mitigation treaty that will take shape after Copenhagen. By recognizing, from the outset, international cooperation and compliance, President-elect Obama will be sending a message to Congress that his Administration will work as hard on the international front as in the Congressional debate and markup.
*I will pursue, with every means available to the Executive Branch, a path towards reducing America’s share of global warming gases entering the atmosphere.
But, climate warming is a global problem with global sources and consequences.
I call upon all nations to meet this challenge with us. Together, and only together, can we reduce global warming gases and assure a safe environment for our children and generations to follow.*
Don’t fear the problem; don’t fear the solutions.
We as a nation have been running from the challenge of climate change – no more!
Climate change can be the greatest opportunity our nation of innovators has ever seen – once we accept the challenge.
We can engage a generation of thinkers and earn the thanks of the next generation by working on and delivering against this opportunity – once we accept the challenge
The accomplishments of our space program in the 1960s came from the opportunity of the Sputnik launch – once we accepted the challenge
As your President, my commitment is to accept the challenge so that we as a nation can realize those opportunities!
Joe – thanks for reminding us once again of the importance of rhetoric, complete with examples.
Obama doesn’t need to convince you or me of anything on this issue. He needs to reach those who have been misled by deniers/delayers and a feckless press.
No one wants to believe that they contribute to a huge problem with ordinary, legal, everyday activities. No one wants to be blamed for wanting more of the “good life”. Call it a moral fear. It must be allayed and soothed.
No one wants to destroy the economy, either. You and I are calling for replacing trillions of dollars of yearly revenues, and trillions more of capital, with “wedges” of hybrid cars, CFLs, windmills, and solar panels. People might not like Big Oil and Big Coal, but they know that they get the job done 24/7/365. Fear of the unknown, the unproven, is real. It must be allayed and soothed.
So: Don’t fear the problem; don’t fear the solutions.
I want to hear him say that climate change is not an economic question, it is a survival question.
Yes or no.
I suggest Obama tell Americans the “summary of the summaries” of what our $20 billion U.S. tax dollars spent on climate research have told us (at http://www.climatescience.gov): namely that man-made climate change is real, and that it represents a very serious threat to life as we know it, not only for Americans, and for billions of others around the world.
He should go on to say that we must move from a climate of fear to a climate of hope; that this will be a huge undertaking–requiring the cooperation of all Americans, and of all Earth’s citizens. But undertake it we must–for the future of our children, and our children’s children. Never has so much depended on the cooperation of so many. Never has a challenge so great stood before mankind.
Working together, using the ideas of our best and brightest, we can change the fossil fuel path that we’ve been on. We can solve what is clearly, and quite literally THE existential challenge of all time. So, to anyone who asks, “Can we meet the climate challenge?” I say “Yes we can; yes we can… Working cooperatively, together, yes we can!”
More than anything, I think Obama needs to emphasize that we can bring change to what counts as politically possible. He has credibility capital on this issue, and he needs to leverage it, now.
Something like (but shorter and better):
Our chosen course of events
now brings us
face to face with,
not only our possible undoing,
of our own doing,
but an undoing
the cause of which
is so
insinuated into our habits and systems
as to appear essential,
perpetual,
impossible to change.
I asked you to believe
not just
in my ability,
to bring change,
but your own.
….
I’m asking you to believe again,
in our ability
to change
what is politically possible,
and also change a(n energy) system that is
antiquated, outdated,
unjust and unfair;
a process
that depends more on charity than solidarity;
believe that we can organize and govern
the collective action
to move us beyond
pollution –
passing for a ground sill of society,
pollution –
destabilizing our planet’s climate,
and our societies;
in the United States of America,
we will
organize and govern
this collective action,
we will build a new (energy) future,
a future that is
bright, healthy, and just
and we will
work toward this future with all peoples, of all nations
starting from an understanding of our atmosphere
–our one sky–
the atmosphere we and coming generations borrow, and borrow alike;
we will undo our undoing,
and turn our greatest challenge into our greatest opportunity.
Part 1 – may or may not be a part 2…
- – - – - – -
My fellow Americans,
While America has richly prospered, the wages of our wealth has been pollution, which has spread – like a cancer – to all corners of the earth. And it is waiting for the children we tuck in at night; it is their future it will steal, not ours.
My fellow Americans, it is unacceptable for that to be our children’s inheritance. As President, I am telling you it is unacceptable; as a citizen, I am telling you it is unacceptable; and as a father, I am telling you it is absolutely unacceptable! My daughters and your sons, our nieces and nephews, the kids down the block and those across the ocean – every child in our vast American family – deserves a better future and a cleaner world!
My fellow Americans, we must turn away from the pollution of the past. But let me tell you, there is no better way to start the next page in American history than by turning over a new leaf!
It is the scale of the challenge, that makes a triumph great. And there is no country that can rise to a challenge like the United States of America, and no people that can rise to a challenge like the American people. It will be difficult to make pollution history, no doubt. It will take audacious courage to change our lifestyles and rally the world – but it’s nothing we haven’t done before.
Last century, our elders rallied the world against the Axis powers so that we their children – and all the world’s children – could live in a world without tyranny;
the century before, our ancestors fought a Civil War to change their lifestyles, so that we their children would live in a land without slavery;
and the century before, our Founding Fathers had the audacious courage to declare Independence, so that we their children could live in a land of liberty.
So to those naysayers who say it can’t be done, I say: check our track record. Yes we can. We already have.
Others say – “maybe we can, if we go slow”. But slow is not the path of greatness; slow is not how leaders go. Not with the crisis before us; not with our children at stake. Now is not the time for what Martin Luther King called the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. We must act with the fierce urgency of now!
The torch of freedom – passed from generation to generation for two hundred and thirty-three unbroken years – has come to us. It is our time to make the change we want, and be the change we need.