“What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god.” (William Shakespeare, “Hamlet“)

“Well, man may be an angel. But he damn well must be a killer angel.”
(Sgt. Buster Kilrean from the movie “Gettysburg“)

For perhaps the last time in his Presidency (barring some catastrophe) George Bush will have the undivided attention of the vast majority of his fellow citizens tomorrow as he stands on the steps of what promises to be a bitterly cold and snowy Capitol to take the oath of office for his second term.

What will he say? What CAN he say?

Will he, like Lincoln, seek:

“...to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations…”

Or, will he issue a call to battle, as John Kennedy did so eloquently in 1961:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Will he speak to the New York Times, Washington Post, and other critics of his policies-especially in Iraq? Here’s FDR in 1945:

We shall strive for perfection. We shall not achieve it immediately—but we still shall strive. We may make mistakes—but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.”

Personally, I’d like to hear something like this, from of all people Jimmy Carter:

Let our recent mistakes bring a resurgent commitment to the basic principles of our Nation, for we know that if we despise our own government we have no future. We recall in special times when we have stood briefly, but magnificently, united. In those times no prize was beyond our grasp.

But we cannot dwell upon remembered glory. We cannot afford to drift. We reject the prospect of failure or mediocrity or an inferior quality of life for any person. Our Government must at the same time be both competent and compassionate.

More likely, given the passions he has aroused both for and against him, the President may say something along the lines of this quote from Lincoln’s first inaugural address:

Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North (blue), or on yours of the South (red), that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.

He could also use another, more famous passage from that same address:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

George Bush is plain spoken, as unpretentious a man that has ever occupied the White House. His first inaugural Address was noteworthy for its stylistic beauty and ambitious rhetoric. The delivery left much to be desired. Since then, Bush has developed a distinctive speaking style and his speechwriters (as well as he, himself) have, judging by his outstanding acceptance speech at the convention, found the right pitch and tone for the President’s rhetoric so that it is capable of inspiring and moving an audience. This didn’t seem possible four years ago, as Bush’s choppy delivery and stumbles over pronunciations doomed the speech to mediocrity.

Bush will have the stage. I hope he can grab the audience and garner some momentum so that he can accomplish some of his ambitious goals over the next 18 months.