Obama’s Hurricane Recession

When President Obama began his message to Congress last week with details of his economic recovery plan, his words were startlingly familiar—at least to many Floridians.

“We will rebuild,” he said. “We will recover.”

That Obama-speak was also hurricane-speak. “Rebuild” and “recover” are the watchwords of devastation. Those are the phrases that people in Florida (and no doubt in other hurricane-prone parts of the country) hear after each storm blows through, blows down the power lines, blows away the roofs.

It seems a fitting parallel. As with hurricanes, so with recessions: both expose a weak infrastructure.

If there’s a silver lining to this dark cloud, it’s that eventually, we do rebuild and do recover from the hurricanes. Let’s hope the recession follows the same path.

If Lincoln had blogged on Inauguration Day…

…he would not have found Obama’s language overly familiar. For despite what some were expecting, President Barack Obama’s inaugural address was not an echo of Lincolnian cadences. But what Lincoln would have recognized in Obama was a shared mastery in turning words into deeds.

Once upon a time that seems not to matter now, these barely-known candidates from Illinois were dismissed as being no more than adroit wordsmiths. But both have shown that carefully considered words can yield hoped-for actions. The right words, in the right hands, become instruments of power.

Had Lincoln blogged, he might have commented on the transformative power of Barack Obama’s inaugural words. Almost instantly, they put into motion a national mindset of we, the people, together, we can.

In Obama’s good words rest good deeds poised to be done—the kinds of actions that elicit in Americans what Lincoln might have called “the better angels of our nature.”

Granted, it’s just a beginning. But what a way to begin anew.

A Victory for Eloquence

It took months, weeks, days of grueling, grinding work to win the presidential election. But within two hours of doing so, President-Elect Barack Obama scored a major victory for the American language: he brought eloquence to the national stage once again.

In his acceptance speech, he made a graceful allusion to Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Then he drew directly from the closing paragraph of Lincoln's first inaugural address when he stated, “We are not enemies, but friends.”

The World Changes, trumpeted the headline in an Italian newspaper, announcing the election results. For all the power that Barack Obama will soon have to change the world, it will be the power of his words that will move many of us—not only to action, but to think.

Your thoughts? Click the Comments button if you’d like to have words.

Who you calling maverick? The debate Obama and McCain won’t have (so we will)

“Words mean something.” Sure, you’d expect to see a statement like that on a word-lover’s blog. Surprise—those three words belong to Barack Obama, as quoted in today’s New York Times.

But what exactly do words mean?

Audacity, meet maverick

When I was finding the right words for Smart Words, two that I included were “audacity” and “maverick.” This happened months before we knew who our presidential candidates would be. (Unlike blogs, books still take a bit of time a-borning.)

“Audacity” is boldness and adventurousness. “Maverick” is from Samuel Maverick, a Texas rancher who refused to brand his cattle; his namesake word means one who is an independent thinker.

Barack Obama is the author of The Audacity of Hope. John McCain will tell you he’s always been a maverick.

But after the Democratic and Republican conventions, one wonders if either candidate should claim ownership of either word.

McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin was one where “audacity” fits easily into the sentence. It certainly was bold, and no doubt will prove to be adventurous. Whether it was wise is another matter.

Barack Obama, meanwhile, refused to let himself be branded as an impossibility and became the country’s first African-American presidential candidate. Some would call that the mark of a true maverick.

“Words mean something.” But not always, and not only, what they set out to mean.

What do you think, fellow word-lover? I’d love to hear from you. Just click on “Post a Comment” on the next line…and let’s have words.