Rise & Opine offers a Swarm of opinion from California and beyond on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
The first speech of Obama's second term
It may have been a holiday for some, but editorial writers were watching President Barack Obama's inaugural speech and offering these takes:
-- The San Francisco Chronicle said the speech reflected how much has changed in four years, with the president pushing same-sex marriage, gun control and efforts to control greenhouse gases.
-- UT San Diego (once known as the Union-Tribune) says that "President Barack Obama's second inaugural speech was tough to watch without groans and guffaws." But then it barely quotes from the President's remarks, making one wonder if it was written last Friday and plugged in to fill a hole.
-- The Long Beach Press Telegram and affiliate papers noted how black American culture permeated the ceremony, but "not in obtrusive way." That normalcy, the editorial stated, "is indeed what was momentous about Monday's symbolic events. We live in a country in which race, while a fact of life, is at last not the be-all and end-all of an American's life."
-- The Bakerfield Californian noted the president's soaring rhetoric, "but beneath the luster was a recurring acknowledgement of opportunities missed and goals unrealized."
-- The Santa Rosa Press Democrat praised the president's priorities. "There are some things that are worth fighting for, and the president did a good job of identifying them on Monday -- another landmark day in the life of our nation and our 44th president."
-- The Los Angeles Times' Doyle McManus says it was hard to find an olive branch in the president's speech.
-- The Bee noted that Obama made a pledge to turn the corner on climate change in 2008, but did not act aggressively. Overall, it praised the speech, especially its themes of inclusion and equality. View the editorial and other commentary, including a Jack Ohman cartoon on the inauguration, here.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.