TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
AP: 98722485-d20c-4277-adfb-d188823fb9d7
President Barack Obama deliver his Inaugural address at the ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Did it warm your heart, or frighten you?

BY Dave Ross  on January 22, 2013 @ 6:10 am (Updated: 6:25 am - 1/22/13 )

The conventional wisdom is that people on the left loved the inaugural address, and people on the right found it ominous, with all that mention of equality.

And it's true, Mr. Obama's inaugural speech used the word "equal" or "equality" seven times; more than Reagan, both George Bushes, more than even Clinton, Johnson, Kennedy, and FDR.

I can understand why that might warm hearts on the left, and stop hearts on the right.

But he also used the word freedom seven times - a word cherished by the right. Which reminds us that we hear words differently based on who speaks them.

Like this line: "Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity."

I know that welcoming foreigners to this country seems like a liberal idea, but what he's saying is every immigrant who embraces American ideals makes our country ... how does that line go again?

Said George W. Bush, "And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals makes our country more, not less, American."

And Obama again, "For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it."

I know it worries some people to hear Barack Obama referring to class differences.

But as George W. Bush said in 2001, "While many of our citizens prosper, others doubt the promise, even the justice of our own country."

We've heard it from the same podium before!

Mr. Obama also said, social programs like Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security - they don't sap our initiative; they strengthen us.

Which is a way of saying "How can we love our country and not love our countrymen?"

That was what Ronald Reagan said in 1981. "How can we love our country and not love our countrymen, and loving them, reach out a hand when they fall, heal them when they are sick, and provide opportunities to make them self-sufficient so they will be equal in fact and not just in theory?"

Equal. There's that word again!

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (81)


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  • Lonestar wrote...
    Suzan Del Bene
    January 22, 2013 8:14 am
    It is unfair that you have $50 M and a $ 4 M lake front mansion. In the interest of equality, you should give your money to the poor people in the 1st district and turn your house into a homeless shelter. God bless.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Splinge wrote...
    Doubting...
    January 22, 2013 8:18 am
    I have never been "rich" in terms of money, but have never wanted. I have been confident in the American dream even through the housing bubble in 2008, because history tells us we will triumph. I do have doubts in this leader and his plans, as history is very clear of the outcomes we can expect from his actions and lack of fiscal responsibility. The end is very clear in past cultures that won't control their currency, it has NEVER ever ended well. And that's putting it mildly.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Splinge
    January 22, 2013 9:36 am
    Remember BOTH political parties had a hand in taking the USA off the Gold standard (roosevelt and Nixon)
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    Newt was impressed
    January 22, 2013 8:21 am
    Newt Gingrich, who ran for the Republican presidential nod last year, said he liked the speech. "I thought it was very, very good," Gingrich told Politico. "I didn’t think it was very liberal. There were one or two sentences obviously conservatives would object to, but 95 percent of the speech I thought was classically American, emphasizing hard work, emphasizing self-reliance, emphasizing doing things together. I thought it was a good speech."
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    @ Flounder
    January 22, 2013 8:33 am
    Stop hacking my account!

    Flounder the FATTY

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    You are nuts, AJ
    January 22, 2013 8:39 am
    .
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    You are NUTS FLOUNDER!!
    January 22, 2013 8:41 am
    Just nuts! You keep hacking my account and making me post things against my will! NUTS I tell you.....and FAT!!!!!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood wrote...
    i can totally tell who the real william lawn is. i don't know who the other
    January 22, 2013 9:29 am
    Person is, but I do wish they would stop. These blogs can deduce themselves to childish back and forth and we are all guilty at one point or another, but the guy who posts under your handle is just so dumb.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    But I am really YOU!
    January 22, 2013 9:45 am
    No, I am FLOUNDER! I AM AJ MCCARRELL, I am hacking lawn! Woo hoo! I am a fat Flounder righty welfare queen!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • sportsguru wrote...
    gaymarriedchristianfromhollywood
    January 22, 2013 10:01 am
    That's AJ Mccarrell, when he can't beat you, he becomes you to irritate you like a squealing little 2 yr old and expect you to believe that he runs an company while posting all day long,lol. You should see him on Linda Thomas thread, my god like an elementary school kid who's in love and don't know how to communicate it other than negatively, it would be cute if he was 5 yrs old instead of a grown a55 man.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • William Lawn wrote...
    sportsguru
    January 22, 2013 10:15 am
    Of course I am AJ MCCARRELL! I love the idea that you know this! AJ McCarrell is hacking my account and making me post things against my will. Thank you sporty for being the only one who understands this.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • irony wrote...
    what 0bamanomics says is ...
    January 22, 2013 10:34 am
    that hardworking americans need to pay more taxes so poor people can give up and get welfare. what reagen meant was people would have an equal opertunity so they could have a chance to succeed, not an equal outcome for different work.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mnpat wrote...
    Dave you need to register yourself as a socialist or....
    January 22, 2013 11:38 am
    find another form of work other than cohost of "Morgue in the Morning".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Zoeller wrote...
    The real question should be -
    January 22, 2013 11:55 am
    Who was that man in a red dress dancing with Mr. Obama?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    It was Rick James's
    January 22, 2013 12:10 pm
    long lost twin.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGBH6o4M

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    The conventional wisdom is...
    January 22, 2013 5:52 pm
    nothing a progressive should refer to being devoid of wisdom.

    So where is the option that I found it neither heart warming or ominous? How about dishonest? It was a typical Obama speech full of dishonest straw men arguments...although I'm sure the non-thinking, low information drones that support Obama were inspired.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • mpgunner wrote...
    The suckering of America continues...
    January 22, 2013 5:58 pm
    Obama doing what he truly does best. Talking. Saying words that someone else wrote to try to make people "feel good".
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • ohyea53 wrote...
    warms the heart!
    January 22, 2013 8:47 pm
    No that was acid reflux.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }