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The first draft
As the General Services Administrator has now certified Joe Biden’s win over Donald Trump, the transition of the presidency has finally begun to roll. And that means planning for inauguration day on January 20 is top priority.
With that in mind, the Biden team has started to work on his inauguration speech. The Times has been fortunate to obtain a copy of the first draft of the speech from sources within the team. The theme of the speech is inclusiveness. This will be represented in the speech itself by including a phrase or phrases uttered by every US president from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Donald Trump. Why not have some fun and try to match the words to the presidents who spoke them?
So let’s take a look at it:
“My fellow Americans. Let me say straight away; I am not a crook; rather Ich bin din Ukrainer, a citizen of the free western world.
“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America. As my dad used to say to me, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,
“To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the United States. Let me add this. I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.
“Too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. I’ve looked on a lot of women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times. And yet you can put wings on a pig, but you don’t make it an eagle; but then again, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
“The buck stops here, as my old high school principal used to say. And our long national nightmare is over, because the future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave,
“And I say to Americans that the freedom of the individual and his willingness to follow real leadership are at the core of America’s strength. My Sunday school teacher always encouraged me to transfer power from Washington, DC and give it back to you, the American People. From this moment on, it’s going to be America First.
“I have always felt that a people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. My grandfather always used to remind me; ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, But we must remember peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
“And may God bless America.”
The Times has reviewed the draft speech and concluded it needs a lot more work. Maybe the Biden team should recruit Melania Trump to advise it on how to make a quality speech that doesn’t hijack other people’s words.
How did you make out on matching your words and presidents? There were some gimmes, but a few to dig harder for. (The presidents are Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump}.
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