The Barack Obama Inaugural and Courtesy to George W. Bush
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I commented last week on the notion that Barack Obama was mean—or at least insufficiently courteous—to his immediate predecessor in his inaugural address. (Reagan speechwriter Peter Robinson, for example, dings Obama for this, among other perceived failings with the speech.)
But as the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg points out (and as a quick look at previous inaugurals bears out), obligatory expressions of thanks to one's predecessor are a relatively new, post-Watergate phenomenon.
BTW: On Facebook? You can keep up with Thomas Jefferson Street blog postings through Facebook's Networked Blogs.
- Read more by Robert Schlesinger.
- Read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
- Read more about the Inauguration.
Tags: Inauguration | Barack Obama
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (4) | Print
Reader Comments
Palin 2012
Watch out Barack Hussein Obama(hmm, that name sounds familiar), Sarah Palin 2012..Yeah!!!!!
Huh?
BTW-- he didn't mention Bush. At all. A generational misunderstanding perhaps? People expecting Obama to show respect to his elders, and Obama instead speaking to the youth and everyone else who voted for change? The audacity.
Mia
Had none of the things Obama had said in his anaugural address about his predecessors not been the truth, Obama would not be President.
I'm over it.
advertisement
