”WE OBSERVE today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom—symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning—signifying renewal, as well as change…
…For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God…
… Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
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…
Soaring eloquence. Stirring rhetorics. Lofty ideals. John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address has long served as a benchmark, nay, the very template of presidential inaugural speeches.
Thus, the unabashed paraphrase of it by Bill Clinton:Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal…
…Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues…
…Today, we do more than celebrate America; we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.
An idea born in revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge. An idea tempered by the knowledge that, but for fate, we—the fortunate and the unfortunate—might have been each other. An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity the deepest measure of unity. An idea infused with the conviction that America’s long heroic journey must go forever upward…
Thus, Barack Obama’s rise to the challenge of greatness: …At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.…
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…
…Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America, they will be met…
…On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord…
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics…
As eloquent were Philippine presidential inaugural addresses.
Thus, Manuel Luis Quezon’s at the time of the Philippine Commonwealth era: The event which is now taking place in our midst transcends in importance the mere induction into office of your Chief Executive. We are bringing into being a new nation. We are seeing the fruition of our age-old striving for liberty. We are witnessing the final stage in the fulfillment of the noblest undertaking ever attempted by any nation in its dealing with a subject people. And how well this task has been performed is attested to by the blessing which from fourteen million people goes to America in this solemn hour…
As we enter the threshold of independent nationhood, let us pause for a moment to pay tribute to the memory of Rizal and Bonifacio and all the heroes of our sacred cause in grateful acknowledgment of their patriotic devotion and supreme sacrifice. Fellow countrymen: The government which we are inaugurating today is only a means to an end. It is an instrumentality placed in our hands to prepare ourselves fully for the responsibilities of complete independence. It is essential that this last step be taken with full consciousness of its significance and the great opportunities that it affords to us.
Under the Commonwealth, our life may not be one of ease and comfort, but rather of hardship and sacrifice. We shall face the problems which lie in our path, sparing neither time nor effort in solving them. We shall build a government that will be just, honest, efficient, and strong so that the foundations of the coming Republic may be firm and enduring — a government, indeed, that must satisfy not only the passing needs of the hour but also the exacting demands of the future. We do not have to tear down the existing institutions in order to give way to a statelier structure. There will be no violent changes from the established order of things, except such as may be absolutely necessary to carry into effect the innovations contemplated by the Constitution…
…In the enormous task of fully preparing ourselves for independence we shall be beset with serious difficulties, but we will resolutely march forward. I appeal to your patriotism and summon your nobility of heart so that we may, united in the common endeavor, once more dedicate ourselves to the realization of our national destiny. I face the future with hope and fortitude, certain that God never abandons a people who ever follows His unerring and guiding Hand. May He give me light, strength, and courage evermore that I may not falter in the hour of service to my people!
Thus the Great Ferdinand Edralin Marcos’ Mandate of Greatness in his first inaugural: …This nation can be great again. This I have said over and over. This is my article of faith, and Divine Providence has willed that you and I can now translate this faith into deeds.
I have repeatedly told you: each generation writes its own history. Our forbears have written theirs. With fortitude and excellence we must write ours.
We must renew the vision of greatness for our country.
This is a vision of our people rising above the routine to face formidable challenge and overcome them. It means the rigorous pursuit of excellence…
…It is our people bravely determining our own future. For to make the future is the supreme act of freedom.
This is a vision that all of you share for our country’s future. It is a vision, which can, and should, engage the energies of the nation. This vision must touch the deeper layers of national vitality and energy.
We must awaken the hero inherent in every man.
We must harness the wills and the hearts of all our people. We must find the secret chords, which turn ordinary men into heroes, mediocre fighters into champions.
Not one hero alone do I ask from you – but many; nay all, I ask all of you to be heroes of our nation.
Offering all our efforts to our Creator, we must derive ourselves to be great again…
Lofty ideals. Stirring rhetorics. Soaring eloquence. And then, just last Wednesday…
Walang lamangan, walang padrino, at walang pagnanakaw. Walang wang-wang, walang counter-flow, walang tong.
Thus was President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, doing his best impersonation of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada’s “Walang kama-kamag-anak. Walang kumpa-kumpare.”
Was it the erudite Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiroz who said something like “from the sublime to the paralytic”?
…For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God…
… Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.
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…
Soaring eloquence. Stirring rhetorics. Lofty ideals. John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address has long served as a benchmark, nay, the very template of presidential inaugural speeches.
Thus, the unabashed paraphrase of it by Bill Clinton:Today we celebrate the mystery of American renewal…
…Today, a generation raised in the shadows of the Cold War assumes new responsibilities in a world warmed by the sunshine of freedom but threatened still by ancient hatreds and new plagues…
…Today, we do more than celebrate America; we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.
An idea born in revolution and renewed through two centuries of challenge. An idea tempered by the knowledge that, but for fate, we—the fortunate and the unfortunate—might have been each other. An idea ennobled by the faith that our nation can summon from its myriad diversity the deepest measure of unity. An idea infused with the conviction that America’s long heroic journey must go forever upward…
Thus, Barack Obama’s rise to the challenge of greatness: …At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.…
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…
…Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America, they will be met…
…On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord…
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics…
As eloquent were Philippine presidential inaugural addresses.
Thus, Manuel Luis Quezon’s at the time of the Philippine Commonwealth era: The event which is now taking place in our midst transcends in importance the mere induction into office of your Chief Executive. We are bringing into being a new nation. We are seeing the fruition of our age-old striving for liberty. We are witnessing the final stage in the fulfillment of the noblest undertaking ever attempted by any nation in its dealing with a subject people. And how well this task has been performed is attested to by the blessing which from fourteen million people goes to America in this solemn hour…
As we enter the threshold of independent nationhood, let us pause for a moment to pay tribute to the memory of Rizal and Bonifacio and all the heroes of our sacred cause in grateful acknowledgment of their patriotic devotion and supreme sacrifice. Fellow countrymen: The government which we are inaugurating today is only a means to an end. It is an instrumentality placed in our hands to prepare ourselves fully for the responsibilities of complete independence. It is essential that this last step be taken with full consciousness of its significance and the great opportunities that it affords to us.
Under the Commonwealth, our life may not be one of ease and comfort, but rather of hardship and sacrifice. We shall face the problems which lie in our path, sparing neither time nor effort in solving them. We shall build a government that will be just, honest, efficient, and strong so that the foundations of the coming Republic may be firm and enduring — a government, indeed, that must satisfy not only the passing needs of the hour but also the exacting demands of the future. We do not have to tear down the existing institutions in order to give way to a statelier structure. There will be no violent changes from the established order of things, except such as may be absolutely necessary to carry into effect the innovations contemplated by the Constitution…
…In the enormous task of fully preparing ourselves for independence we shall be beset with serious difficulties, but we will resolutely march forward. I appeal to your patriotism and summon your nobility of heart so that we may, united in the common endeavor, once more dedicate ourselves to the realization of our national destiny. I face the future with hope and fortitude, certain that God never abandons a people who ever follows His unerring and guiding Hand. May He give me light, strength, and courage evermore that I may not falter in the hour of service to my people!
Thus the Great Ferdinand Edralin Marcos’ Mandate of Greatness in his first inaugural: …This nation can be great again. This I have said over and over. This is my article of faith, and Divine Providence has willed that you and I can now translate this faith into deeds.
I have repeatedly told you: each generation writes its own history. Our forbears have written theirs. With fortitude and excellence we must write ours.
We must renew the vision of greatness for our country.
This is a vision of our people rising above the routine to face formidable challenge and overcome them. It means the rigorous pursuit of excellence…
…It is our people bravely determining our own future. For to make the future is the supreme act of freedom.
This is a vision that all of you share for our country’s future. It is a vision, which can, and should, engage the energies of the nation. This vision must touch the deeper layers of national vitality and energy.
We must awaken the hero inherent in every man.
We must harness the wills and the hearts of all our people. We must find the secret chords, which turn ordinary men into heroes, mediocre fighters into champions.
Not one hero alone do I ask from you – but many; nay all, I ask all of you to be heroes of our nation.
Offering all our efforts to our Creator, we must derive ourselves to be great again…
Lofty ideals. Stirring rhetorics. Soaring eloquence. And then, just last Wednesday…
Walang lamangan, walang padrino, at walang pagnanakaw. Walang wang-wang, walang counter-flow, walang tong.
Thus was President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, doing his best impersonation of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada’s “Walang kama-kamag-anak. Walang kumpa-kumpare.”
Was it the erudite Inquirer columnist Conrado de Quiroz who said something like “from the sublime to the paralytic”?
