Full Text of Obama's Inauguration Speech

Full-text transcripts of President Barack Obama's inauguration speech are appearing on various websites. In my Developing World classes today I will be asking my students to consider, in addition to a lecture they watched by Thomas Friedman, some of President Obama's remarks regarding the developing world. Here's the full assignment:

Toward the end of the Q and A at the end of his talk at MIT, Thomas Friedman spoke on the "competing forms of imagination" illustrated by "11/9" (referring to 11/9/89 when the Berlin Wall came down and the same period when the Windows operating system was marketed) and "9/11" (when the World Trade Center and Pentagon were bombed by Qaeda terrorists). Friedman asserts that "imagination is the only thing not commoditized in a flat world." It was different imaginations that brought down the Berlin Wall and the Twin Towers.

In his inauguration speech yesterday (1/20/09), President Barack Obama said:

"To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it."

In considering Friedman's notions of imagination, and President Obama's pledge to people in developing nations, do you see yourself responding to the change he is calling for? How? Will you heed the admonition to avoid "indifference to suffering outside our borders"? How? Will you personally evaluate and perhaps change your resource consumption? How? Do you agree with Friedman's assertion that we need to develop, and encourage others to develop a more "positive imagination,"? What will you do about this personally? What does it mean to you as an individual, as Friedman exhorts, to "export hope and not fear"? How might you do this?

Please consider these and submit a response (1000 word limit) via email by noon on Friday (23 Jan). The top two essays will be featured on my blog and the authors treated to lunch by the professor at a date to be determined.