MEMORABLE LINES….Steve Benen on Obama’s inauguration speech:
I was talking to someone last night about Barack Obama’s inaugural address, with my friend criticizing it while I defended it. He challenged me to recite, from memory, one sentence — a full sentence — from the speech, just eight hours after it had been delivered. I couldn’t….
Hmmm. I can: the promise to overseas thugs and dictators that “we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Granted, that’s not a whole sentence, but neither was “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” or “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” There were some other nice lines in Obama’s speech too, but that was the one that struck me as the most memorable phrase in real time, and it’s still the one I remember today.
Will I still remember it in six months? No telling. I have a lousy memory. But it’s still a pretty good line.
