Inspiration
- Obama straight-up promises that all these challenges "will be met" (6.4). Or, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard would say, he promises to "make it so."
- Obama states that America's "greatness is never a given" (8.1).
- Basically, it takes a lot of hard work to be this awesome as a nation, and it's up to the American people to do that work in order to make progress.
- Obama then references people in the past who took risks and—you guessed it—worked hard to make the country what it is today. "Your grandpa walked three miles through the snow uphill both ways…so that you could play Pokémon GO."
- The president-elect declares an end to an era of "protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions" (11.6).
- Lots of folks took this as a not-so-veiled criticism of the Bush administration. Sure, he could be referencing some other non-Bush era, but…not super likely.
- After listing some promises about improving the nation's economy, infrastructure, and education, Obama has a message for the "cynics" (13.3): haters gonna hate, and we'll keep grinding.