Taking the oath of office for a second term, President Clinton outlined a wispy 21st Century “land of New Promise” on Monday and issued a here-and-now challenge to Republicans to put aside partisan bickering.
From a podium high on the Capitol steps, Clinton addressed a chilled but festive crowd who had come to celebrate one of America’s most solemn occasions, even though his inauguration lacked the drama and excitement of his first swearing-in four years ago.
Gone was the ambitious quality of 1993’s agenda, with its hope of health care reform, welfare reform and vast changes in other domestic programs. Instead, Clinton spoke more like a candidate than a president.
The mood reflected a keen awareness that, with divided government and a president under severe attack, little can be accomplished without cooperation between the executive and legislative branches.
The 42nd president used his address to echo Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech on the same day that America recognized the slain civil rights leader’s birthday.
Clinton’s 22-minute inaugural address may have fallen short of King’s rhetorical power nearly 34 years ago, but it nevertheless was a King-like call for national reconciliation and a visionary message of what America could be.
“The greatest progress we have made, and the greatest progress we have yet to make, is in the human heart,” he said, in a remark referring to racial division in America.
He recalled Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s “timeless wisdom” when he said shortly before his death, “It is wrong to waste the precious gift of time on acrimony and division.”
Clinton added that America “must not waste the precious gift of this time.”
As thousands of bundled-up spectators braved a January chill in front of the flag-draped Capitol, the 53rd inaugural in American history went off smoothly with traditional pomp and ceremony and patriotic themes. Rev. Billy Graham gave the invocation, singer Jessye Norman sang a medley of patriotic tunes, and poet Miller Williams read an original poem about hope and history.
Graham, giving the invocation for his seventh inaugural, got into the spirit of the occasion, praying that as Clinton and Republican challenger Bob Dole both urged during the campaign, “May this be a time of coming together to deal with the problems we face.”
Clinton, 50, became the first Democrat in 60 years to be elected to a second term in office.
“Good luck,” said Chief Justice William Rehnquist after he administered the oath of office to the president while his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and his daughter, Chelsea, watched.
While the inaugural was no changing of the guard, it marked an important moment for Vice President Al Gore, also sworn in for a second term. Gore’s already active campaign for the presidency in 2000 seemed to gain momentum as one administration ended and another began.
“Every good wish,” said Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg after administering the oath to Gore.
Security was extremely tight for the ceremonies. On the crowded parade route from Capitol Hill to the White House, Clinton and his family rode most of the way in their limousine, getting out to walk in the more-secure last few blocks.
With the country at peace, the economy chugging along and the same people in charge, the second Clinton inauguration was notable not for the anticipation of what one man or party can do, but for uncertainty about whether a divided government can work together.
Noting that Americans elected a Democratic president and a Republican Congress, Clinton was blunt in saying it was time for both parties to overcome their differences.
“Surely they did not do this to advance the politics of petty bickering and extreme partisanship they plainly deplore. No, they called on us instead to be repairers of the breach, and to move on with America’s mission.”
Republicans generally praised Clinton’s speech.
“It was clearly one given with an outreached hand, I believe, to all of us to work together,” said Sen. Connie Mack (R-Fla.). “I thought the inaugural was very positive, almost spiritual . . . and hopefully a healing event as well.”
House Speaker Newt Gingrich presented Clinton and Gore with flags that had flown over the capital that morning. At a lunch in the Capitol, Gingrich said the flags were a reminder that “while we may disagree about some things, here you’re among friends.”
Clinton’s address was half prophecy and half sermon and touched on themes that he has dwelled on in previous speeches, particularly in his re-election campaign. He summoned Americans to exercise more personal responsibility and exorcise old hatreds to realize the country’s promise in the next century.
Although his speech was short on specifics, he said the country has settled an important debate about the role of government. “Government is not the problem, and government is not the solution,” he said. “We–the American people–we are the solution.”
In the 21st Century, he said, America can overcome many of its old problems of prejudice and race.
“The divide of race has been America’s constant curse,” he said. “And each new wave of immigrants gives new targets to old prejudices. Prejudice and contempt, cloaked in the pretense of religious or political conviction, are no different.”
He promised that America will not “succumb to the dark impulses that lurk in the far regions of the soul everywhere. . . . We shall replace them with the generous spirit of a people who feel at home with one another.”
Martin Luther King’s “quest is our quest: the ceaseless striving to live out our true creed,” he said.
In turning to his vision of a “land of new promise,” Clinton held out the prospect of a country where peace and harmony prevail and where “education will be every citizen’s most prized possession.”
He said “streets would echo with the laughter of our children, because no one will try to shoot them or sell them drugs anymore.” The poor will have a job and health care will be expanded to “the children and hardworking families too long denied.”
Clinton touched only briefly on foreign policy, saying the country would have a strong defense against terrorism and “and the world’s greatest democracy will lead a whole world of democracies.”
And he said that “our land of new promise will be a nation that meets its obligations–a nation that balances its budget, but never loses the balance of its values.” That means it will not neglect its elderly or the environment, he said.
