High Expectations for Obama's Inaugural Address

CNN reports that expectations are "monumental" for Barack Obama's inauguration address tomorrow:

President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural address is one of the most anticipated speeches in decades, with many expecting his words to be chiseled into marble some day.

Obama has said he has been studying previous inaugural addresses -- including President Abraham Lincoln's and the speeches President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave as he took office amid the Great Depression ....

Obama has already demonstrated his ability as a master orator, and many observers are looking for the new president's address to equal the great speeches by presidents Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

"He's got to give that great, soaring speech." CNN contributor David Gergen said. "I think the pressure is really on because of the historic nature of this presidency and also because of the extraordinary moment in which we find ourselves with this terrible recession."

I'll be teaching all day tomorrow, and my classes are in "smart" classrooms, so I'll likely be showing a little live streaming before I get into some of the lecture material (or at least that's what I'm hoping to do ... I'll play around online for some webcasts in the morning).

Obama will make a phenomenal speech, without question. His oratorical skills are probably halfway responsible for getting him to the Oval Office. The other half is the complete abandonment of a non-partisan press, a media establishment that has turned this era of change into a personality cult unheard of in the history of modern democratic governments.

Sister Toldjah suggests she's not interesting in watching Obama's speech, and with good reason:

How many of you will watch the inauguration tomorrow? I’m leaning towards not watching it. Not because I can’t appreciate a presidential inauguration in and of itself, and not because I don’t appreciate the historical significance of this particular inauguration. And no, far lefties, it has nothing to do with “jealousy.” But I’m seriously disgusted and disappointed with how Obama has treated the inaugural process with inviting the comparisons to Lincoln, as Betsy suggested above, which is just a another example of how he always paints himself as someone else and disrespects the office of the presidency in the process.