"...every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.
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That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many.
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this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control - and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
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the nuclear threat...the specter of a warming planet...those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents...the bitter swill of civil war and segregation...the old hatreds......those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict...those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent...starved bodies...indifference to suffering...consume the world's resources...our darkest hours... our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship...the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. ..."
DRO would consider Obama's speech to be a very dark speech, with lots of dark words. You would consider it a list of American carnage. I think you are both being too harsh on Obama and Trump. I think reciting the challenges we face is a common thing in inauguration speeches, and as with Obama and Trump, that list is followed by bold statements calling for unity and predicting great successes. The 2008 and 2016 speeches were very similar. I'm intrigued by the different reactions. I guess people really do hear what they want to hear, even when the same thing is said.