Whether separated by seven decades or two centuries, some truths remain self-evident.
FDR's iconic 1936 Madison Square Garden speech (the basis of one of our Spare A Dime songs, a bit of which we quoted yesterday) and President Obama's 2nd inaugural address were made for each other! Here's our mash-up:
FDR: Tonight I call the roll -- the roll of honor... written on it are the names of millions who never had a chance...for whom opportunity had become a will-o'-the-wisp. Written there in large letters are the names of countless other Americans of all parties and all faiths -- Americans who had eyes to see and hearts to understand, whose consciences were burdened because too many of their fellows were burdened, who looked on these things 4 years ago and said, "This can be changed. We will change it."
BHO: Together we resolve that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune...we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice -- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.
FDR: "Peace on earth, good will toward men:" democracy must cling to that message... It is that which makes it possible for government to persuade those who are mentally prepared to fight each other to go on instead, to work for and to sacrifice for each other... Above our political forums, above our market places stand the altars of our faith -- altars on which burn the fires of devotion that maintain all that is best in us and all that is best in our Nation.
BHO: We the people declare today that the most evident of truth is that all of us are created equal -- that is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.
FDR: That is why we need to say with the Prophet: "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." That is why the recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility, not for ourselves as individuals alone, but for our Nation. That is the road to peace.
BHO: You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time, not only with the votes we cast, but the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideas. Let us each of us now embrace with solemn duty, and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.
Image below: The Statue of Liberty's "light of freedom" on display during Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition.
FDR: Tonight I call the roll -- the roll of honor... written on it are the names of millions who never had a chance...for whom opportunity had become a will-o'-the-wisp. Written there in large letters are the names of countless other Americans of all parties and all faiths -- Americans who had eyes to see and hearts to understand, whose consciences were burdened because too many of their fellows were burdened, who looked on these things 4 years ago and said, "This can be changed. We will change it."
BHO: Together we resolve that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune...we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice -- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes: tolerance and opportunity, human dignity and justice.
FDR: "Peace on earth, good will toward men:" democracy must cling to that message... It is that which makes it possible for government to persuade those who are mentally prepared to fight each other to go on instead, to work for and to sacrifice for each other... Above our political forums, above our market places stand the altars of our faith -- altars on which burn the fires of devotion that maintain all that is best in us and all that is best in our Nation.
BHO: We the people declare today that the most evident of truth is that all of us are created equal -- that is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.
FDR: That is why we need to say with the Prophet: "What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God." That is why the recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility, not for ourselves as individuals alone, but for our Nation. That is the road to peace.
BHO: You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course. You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time, not only with the votes we cast, but the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideas. Let us each of us now embrace with solemn duty, and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.
Image below: The Statue of Liberty's "light of freedom" on display during Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition.