Guest Blogger: Jordan J.

I’d like to wrap up our unit of inaugural addresses. The President’s inaugural address is a way to restate their goals that they have been campaigning and state to America what exactly they are trying to accomplish in their term. After listing to everyone’s presentation of the different president’s inaugural addresses I wanted to look into how much the presidents actually stick to what they say in their address once they start their term. One example is how President Obama talks about the removal of troops in his inaugural address. “We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan” (President Obama). Although he says that he wants to remove the troops, he has found that that is easier said then done, and he is sending more troops to Afghanistan. This is nothing against President Obama it is merely an example of something that many presidents have done. This makes me wonder if what inaugural addresses actually stand for. Has the new technology of televisions and internet turned a once historical event into just another way for the president to gain popularity with Americans? Or is what the President says in their inaugural address what they really believe they will try to accomplish for the country? One side of me believes that over the years inaugural addresses have just turned into another way to gain popularity, because now with the internet and televisions Presidents have more viewers watching their addresses which give a prime opportunity to gain popularity. On the other side I feel that Presidents are speaking on what they honestly feel they are going to do for our country, but when in comes down to it they have to change what they originally said for the sake of America. Please comment I want to see how everyone else feels about this.