State of the Union Transcript Database

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http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/sou.php#axzz2JJ7RUZ00

2013 Inauguration: Not looking back, but moving forward

          
Inauguration

Jarrod Clay

            Standing in front of a sea of American flags and “Obama” chants, President Barack Obama stepped to the podium and addressed the nation for the 57^th Presidential Inauguration. Obama, the first African American President, has now officially started his second term in office. His first term had plenty of peaks and valleys, and it was apparent early in his speech Obama is not looking back at the past four years, but is prepared for push forward into his second term.

            Given all that has happened the past four years, especially the events that have happened within the last few months including the fiscal cliff scare, the Newtown, Conn. school shooting and the new ban on assault weapons, plenty of eyes and ears were on President Obama. That being said, many including myself were interested in how the President would handle his second inauguration speech, and how the American people would react. With the 2013 Inauguration on my television and my laptop in front of me I listened and watched carefully for what the President said and how the nation reacted.

            From the time Obama stepped to the podium, it was clear he was not focusing on the previous four years. In fact, the President mentioned his first term just one time when he defended his support for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

            “These things do not sap out initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risk that make the country great,” Obama said.
            Rather than looking back, it appeared Obama was focused on moving the nation forward. While the official slogan for the 2013 Inauguration was “Faith in America’s Future”, the major theme that surfaced time and time again during Obama’s speech was togetherness. Seven times throughout his speech Obama referenced American moving forward together, and how if the nation hoped to move forward, it would have to be as one, undivided nation.

            “Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free.  We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together,” Obama said.

            When Obama repeatedly used the term “together”, he was referring to more than just the people of the nation, but to the government officials. In fact, the President said its time for Congress to put party differences aside and get things done on Capitol Hill.

            President Obama said like those in Congress, when he is sworn into office he takes an oath, “an oath to God and country, not part or faction”. This basically says the nation needs to put its political differences aside and work together for the good of the nation. To me, this was very refreshing to hear.

            Many, including myself were somewhat surprised at how little the President spoke about the past term, but it makes sense considering Obama will deliver his State of the Union Address in just about a month.

            Overall, Obama spoke very little about policies, especially the ones most people probably assumed he would like the economy and gun control. In fact, he only specifically spoke about 2 political topics, and both were surprising to hear about in an inauguration address.

            President Obama made it clear that one of his main goals would be to face the threat of climate change and further pursue the path to finding sustainable energy sources. The other surprising subject Obama mentioned was gay rights, becoming the first president to ever mention the topic in an inauguration address.

            “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law - for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama said.

            During his address, Obama repeatedly spoke about the importance of the people of the United States, so given the current state of the nation, how did the American people perceive Obama’s inauguration speech?

            Personally, I believe one of the best ways to decide how the people feel about a subject is to take a look at social media; after all, social media dominates society. This also gives you a wide variety of opinions from both ends of the political spectrum.

            Some television reporters made a fuss that there were not as many people in attendance as four years ago, but I think that is to be expected. First of all, it’s going into Obama’s second term and while it is still a historic event, it’s not nearly as historic as it was four years ago.  While, yes, the attendance was down, there were still thousands filling the National Mall.

            Back to the how America used social media to express their thoughts on the Presidential Inauguration. As soon as television coverage began Twitter and Facebook exploded with politically charged updates from all around the world.

            “Presidential Inauguration” was not only trending nationally on Twitter, but worldwide as well. Multiple other phrases were trending nationwide including “inaug2013”, “POTUS” and “First Lady”.

            Scrolling through thousands of tweets by using searching trends such as "POTUS", I received a full report of the inauguration ceremony by people on both ends of the political spectrum. This is exactly why I feel social media is a great way to gage the public’s feelings about an issue, because people tend to remove their filters once they decide to update their status.

            There were plenty of status updates and tweets pouring in criticizing the Obama administration’s performance the past four years, and many still seemed to bitter about the Mitt Romney loss in the 2012 election. One negative status that stands out to me says very little, but so much at the same time- “1459 and counting”. Without directly saying anything about President Obama, this person's Facebook status clearly shows their personal feelings towards the President by starting a countdown to the end of his second term.

            Just as there were plenty of negative updates during the inauguration; there were just as many positive tweets and Facebook updates. The tweet that stands out possibly more than any other to me not only referred to the Presidential Inauguration, but the fact that it was held on Martin Luther King Day- “Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Obama is that dream.”

            In the thousands of tweets and statuses I saw there was one theme that continued to show up time and time again. Conservatives and Liberals alike updated their Twitter and Facebook pages with statuses such as, “I'm not the biggest fan of the #POTUS, but he has my utmost respect and my prayers!” Even famous athletes and celebrities chimed in on social networking sites including PGA golfer Rory McIlroy who said, "I must say.. I love watching Barack Obama make speeches #inspiring".

            The common theme was that no matter the party affiliation, most people support and respect President Obama because he is just that, the President of the United States. As someone who fully supports this idea, this was something great to see happening by the thousands. President Obama is the leader of the greatest nation in the world, and will be for the next four years. Whether or not you agree with his politics, President Obama should have the respect and support of the nation.

            In his speech, Obama spent very little time focusing on the past, and according to thousands of people on social media websites, they are no longer focused on the past either.

Although it was just one ceremonial day, the Presidential Inauguration seems to have inspired a nation to come “together” and move forward.

Inauguration Story

TO: Burnis Morris

From: Jarrod Clay

Subject:  Feelings toward President Obama at he inauguration

Scope: Generally, heading into a presidential inauguration there joy and excitement from the winning party, and disappointment and cynicism from the losing party. But this year is a little different. Given all the recent events such as the fiscal cliff, Newton shooting, and debates on gun control, how will Obama handle his inauguration, and should there even be such a big event given he has already served one term in office.

Need: There is arguably more political tension between parties now than at any other time in history, and as the president Obama must be able to somehow draw the close together. I feel that this inauguration is key on how the next four years will go for the president.

Methods:  This story can be documented in many ways. First, obviously watching the speech and listening to what that President has to say will be key, but not only that, but how will the crowd respond.  In this day in age, social media is also a great way to draw conclusions of how President Obama is being viewed by the people, so looking a Twitter and Facebook during the speech will be a great way to gauge how the people feel about the President.

Sources: The number one source will be from the President during his speech, what will he say, and how will he say it. Twitter and Facebook will also be a key to see how the average person feels about the President and his speech. Reading what political experts from both sides of the political spectrum will also be a great way to see how Republicans and Democrats alike feel about how the next four years will go.

Presentation:  This will be almost like a three part story. The first part will focus on the speech itself, how the president approaches the current events and what he says about moving forward for the next four years. Along with that will be how the crowd at the speech reacts to president Obama. The second part will be focused on how the general public reacts by monitoring social media. This will not only give a read on the general public, but an unbiased reading as well. Finally, the third part will be that of how the President is perceived my political experts from both sides of the political spectrum.

NY Times OP-ED

"Hypochondria: An Inside Look" is an OP-ED written by actor, filmmaker and author Woody Allen, who has gained a bit of a reputation for being a hypochondriac, but in the column Allen disputes the claims saying his ailment is much different. For much of the column, Allen tells of different instances in which he was sure he had come down with some kind of disease or infection. As he continues to describe these instances, he makes the claims of him being a hypochondriac look like the truth.

However, Allen points out that he is an alarmist, which he claims is different from the "crackpot" hypochondriacs because he does not imagine his ailments, they are real. He does indeed have plenty of ailments, but they are nowhere near as bad as what he initially believes, and multiple times he is left embarrassed and in disbelief on a hospital bed. 

The piece is very well written and meets the guidelines laid out by the NY Time, but the one aspect of this piece that makes it very unique is the humor Allen uses to connect with the readers. 

"I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn't" is a moving OP-ED piece by Sohaila Abdulali, an Indian novelist who was raped at the age of 17. In the Indian culture, like many others, victims of raped are often misunderstood and misconceived. While many victims are ashamed and feel that have lost their honor, or dishonored their family, Abdulali is not the normal rape victim.

While she said she is not proud of the fact that she is a victim, she is also not ashamed. She lashed out against the misconceptions towards victims, and the silence many of them keep. She has become a symbol for how to overcome such a traumatic experience. She says rape is without a doubt horrible, but it is not necessarily horrible for the reasons many people believe it is.

"It is not horrible because you lose your 'virtue'. It is not horrible because your father and brother are dishonored. I reject the notion that my virtue is located in my vagina."

This piece is very moving and well written. It speaks to women of all ages, in a all societies. Women around the world got through the same things she went through, but feel there is no way out, but by having this column placed in one of the most well known newspapers in the world, Abdulali speaks to those women. 

First post

My name is Jarrod Clay, and this is my first post on this account for JMC 414. I will covering and investigating the Cabell County Sheriff Department. For live tweets of events and tweets regarding my beat follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/jarrod_clay