I’m sure several people are busily working on President Bush’s Inaugural Address. I think they should borrow this from Andrew Jackson’s Second Inaugural Address (emphasis added):
Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in His hands from the infancy of our Republic to the present day, that He will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people.
Yes. In language closer to Bushspeak, “My fellow Americans, pray that I don’t screw the world up too badly while I’m here.”
I am reminded of another inaugural speech – Abraham Lincoln’s first. Well aware that a vast number of Americans were against him, he tried to soothe the masses with the following statement:
“While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.”
Mr. Lincoln did not speculate on the amount of injury that might be inflicted should the “wickedness and folly” of a malignant administration continue for four more years.
I fear the people have lost some of their “virtue and vigilance”.