THOMAS SOWELL: Political Speeches
If making speeches is one of the tests of a President of the United States, then Barack Obama has passed his first test with flying colors. He has understood the varied constituencies, and the various hopes and fears he had to address. He said the kinds of things that all these constituencies wanted to hear.
As a speech, it was the best inaugural address since Ronald Reagan. This is not to judge the substantive merits or demerits of what he said. Anyone who judges any political speech by its substance— much less by what actions follow— is likely to be disappointed.
However, a political speech is more than just a theatrical performance of the moment. The ability to make a speech that connects with a wide range of people can be a political power in itself.
That power enabled Ronald Reagan to put through legislation that created “the Reagan revolution,” even though his party never controlled both houses of Congress while he was in the White House.
Nobody wanted the Gipper to go on the air and say that he was one of those in Congress who was obstructing the President’s program. In addition to the powers that automatically come with the office, the President has what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit” from which to shape public opinion.
That bully pulpit was nowhere used more powerfully than by TR’s cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt. During the famous “first hundred days” of FDR’s administration, so much far-reaching legislation was rushed through Congress that it is doubtful if most Congressmen ever read it all, much less had time to think about it.