My favorite passage of President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address is this:
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.
It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.
Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
Is that a liberal or conservative point of view? Let me not answer this question, neither did I want to ask you for an answer: whatever I or you might say in response would be both right and wrong, in my opinion. Perhaps the reason why I like that passage is just because of the impossibility of giving a uniquely satisfying answer to that question.
