The Post asked a diverse group of people with strong Colorado ties to comment on President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Andrew Romanoff: A call to action
The man more than matched the moment.
Americans have been hungry for a new administration to take charge, and President Barack Obama wasted no time in doing just that. He delivered a swift and sobering summary of the nation’s challenges, and an equally stirring call to action.
President Obama advised his fellow citizens to underestimate neither the enormity of the problems we face nor our ability to solve them. “Starting today,” he instructed us, “we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”
The president’s address echoed several of his predecessors’, including Franklin Roosevelt’s first inaugural. “In every dark hour of our national life,” FDR said, “a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.”
Barack Obama has earned not only the support of the American people but also the goodwill of the world.
Andrew Romanoff is former speaker of the Colorado House.
Greg Moore: A positive vibe
The exchange of power is an awesome event in itself, but the swearing in of the first black president just proved how far the country has come.
There is a sense of hope for the future and pride that America could do this. I have not felt this much togetherness since 9/11.
I hope the country can keep it going. President Obama did a good job speaking of history and the great distance the country has traveled on civil rights, and he was eloquent on the challenges facing us.
I am not sure the speech will go down as one of the greats, but it matched the seriousness of our times — and that recognition was enough. The vibe going forward feels very positive.
Greg Moore is editor of The Denver Post.
Dottie Lamm: Yes, we can!
Yes, we can!
In President Barack Obama’s speech, he said the word “I” only once. He was inclusive without being condescending. He challenged us to rise to our best because we have it in us, not because we have failed.
He hailed our uniquely American youthful energy. But he nudged us beyond our occasional self-involved adolescence.
It is time to grow to full adulthood, to take responsibility, to retrieve the past values upon which this country was built, while looking and marching firmly toward the future.
He reminded us that we are all in this together, no matter our background, our “station,” our race, our culture or religion.
Our challenges are complicated, confounded — some unprecedented.
But can we overcome?
With the hard work to which we are accustomed, and a willingness to sacrifice, to which we are not:
Yes, we can!
Dottie Lamm is former first lady of Colorado.
Gary Hart: Our patriotic duties
We salute the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands. The Founders created a republic, and republics throughout history have always depended on citizen duty and public participation.
John Kennedy’s call to do something for our country and Barack Obama’s insistence that we “seize gladly” performance of our duties to our nation come directly out of that ancient heritage.
This is not a liberal nor a conservative idea. Duty is a patriotic idea, an idea that extends well beyond military service in wartime. It includes paying reasonable taxes for demanded public services. It includes commitment to the “noble ideal” of equality and justice for all, usually described as America’s promise.
President Obama simply reminds us that we live in a republic that insists that we earn our rights by performance of our duties.
Former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart lives in Kittredge.
Leah Daughtry: Obama calls us to “live a better life”
As the great-great-granddaughter of slaves, I was particularly moved by the section of President Barack Obama’s speech where he spoke of our ancestors and the sacrifices they made so that we could “live a better life.”
I thought of my great-great-grandfather, who was emancipated by Lincoln and worked hard to build a life for his family in freedom. I thought of the many other hard-working, way-making, door-opening, path-cutting Americans, many of whose names I’ll never know.
Some say that these could not imagined the inauguration of President Obama. But I beg to differ: I think that it is precisely because they could imagine Barack Obama, or Ken Salazar, or Mike Honda, or Steven Chu that they got up every day, in the face of enormous opposition and obstacles, to fight for their dreams and the country they believed in. They fought and they built not only for themselves, but for their future — our present.
And today, on the turned page of history, President Obama has called us to do the same.
Leah Daughtry was the chief executive of the Democratic National Convention Committee.
Terrance Carroll: Mass of people was overwhelming
I’m a native Washingtonian, and to see the people from the Capitol steps spread out all the way down to the National Mall to the Washington Monument, to the Lincoln Memorial to the Tidal Basin, to see how thickly packed those people were was absolutely amazing. That people were this invested that they would brave a cold winter’s day in D.C. to attend, that spoke volumes about the character of Barack Obama and the people’s confidence in him. That’s more than any speech could have done.
In the speech itself, I was struck by how President Obama didn’t shy away from the challenges we face and how difficult the times are ahead. But in that great challenge that we face as a country, he found a way to be hopeful and optimistic about where we are and the opportunity that we have before us as a nation.
One of the most moving parts was his closing, talking about Washinton on the banks of the Delaware River, and how he incorporated that challlenge for the rest of us, to go out into the freezing river and make a difference and reclaim our country.
Terrance Carroll is the first African-American speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.
