I haven't read it yet but listening, it was obvious that some parts of it were meant to reach out to the Republicans. Actually, I think that so far he's doing a good job of appeasing without compromising himself. I hope the administration is able to keep that up. :)

In short, I thought the speech was a pretty good compromise between all the disparate factions, which is what inauguration speeches are supposed to be.

Oh, for sure. I was really pleased with the performance of the speech, and I'm a fan of political speech-giving. I think its a case of our expectations being too high, based on some of his previous, really stirring speeches.

But I totally agree with this:

Barack Obama could read a string of fortune cookie messages and some people would come away thinking they'd heard the Gettysburg address.

Because in the moment, that speech felt better than it was, you know?

(Btw, I love that icon. I'm always fangirling your icons *g*)