Obama Not Only Spoke to the U.S.; He Spoke to the World

President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address not only found an American audience of joyful supporters, but his speech extended beyond the borders of the United States and found a world-wide audience that: "... listened with a mixture of optimism and caution." Obama filled his address with references "pledging to help the people of poor nations make their farms flourish and clean waters flow, and promising that America would “play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”"

Sharon Otterman and Alan Cowell explained in the New York Times that Mr. Obama laid claim to the role that American leadership would once again assume; "and with it, take on the hopes of a world battered by war and recession."

The Times reporters perceptibly pointed out that: "While there was jubilation that a difficult era, marked most profoundly by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the wars that followed, might be drawing to a close, there was also skepticism that one man, no matter his aspirations, would be able to bring about such sweeping change."

Obama begins his presidency under the most difficult of conditions that confront not only the United States but have reached a point that includes considerations of global proportions. The breadth and scope of the number of problems that Obama faces seem so daunting that it truly seems to require more effort than a single American president can achieve alone. Just as Obama called on the American people during his Inaugural address to be prepared for difficult times ahead that will require real sacrifices; Obama must find the inner strength and display the credulity that will allow him to carry his message of change to the world and gain the support of leaders across the globe to solve the difficulties humanity faces as a species populating the Earth.