FDR and Obama's Inaugural Addresses

Q: Explain the major similarities and differences between FDR's and Obama's Inaugural Speeches. Feel free to comment on similar happenings and circumstances, but also on similarities and differences in structure and content.

A: Both our past president Franklin D. Roosevelt and our current president Barack H. Obama have been faced with difficult times in our country. They have both stated that there is a great need of change and it will not be an easy task. The country is in a state of a failing economy and citizens losing what they have. It is time to have a change and it has to happen now.

In Obama's Inaugural Speech he states, "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. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; business shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet." In this one paragraph he sums up many of the greater seen problems we our currently fighting in our society. The first step in changing these problems is addressing them before any action is made. As FDR said, "...it can never be helped by merely talking about it." Action needs to made, but it has to come from the citizens as well, not just our president.

Past President FDR states in his first Inaugural Speech many of the same problems that need to be faced. He says, " They concern, thank god, only material things." Which was true at the time. It was mainly around money and how much we did not have. He states, " Values have stricken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone."

During the 1930's, the United States of America was facing the same difficulties that are repeating again today. The similarities between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack H. Obama's Presidency Inaugural Addresses have many of the same qualities for they have to face very similar problems in our society. Although, they do have differences as well. Today, we are faced with more global warming and are doing more harm to the earth then almost 80 years ago. FDR's speech did mention the need to care more for the earth and "go green" a little more, but Obama is wanting to make many more changes and a much bigger effort to change what is happening to our o-zone layer and to our world. Another difference would be the fact that we just elected an African-American would also mean that he had to make a bigger effort to convince the public that he is going to change our country and help our people.

The differences in the two Presidents also shows through their writing and how they present their speeches. I have not heard FDR's speech but I have read it in text and he does make many good points about what needs to change. Listening to Obama's speech during his inauguration was very uplifting. He shows how much he wants to change our country's problems and make our world a better place. I think that he is going to make a difference and be a great president. He has the ideas and plans that will help. His speech in text also seems much more inspirational and determined then FDR's. Fortunately, they both make good points and both have determination to get things back in place and back into peace.