The Expectations Game

Free life advice, Shmoopers: if you want to really impress people, master the art of setting low expectations.

Just kidding, that's super depressing. But seriously, you know how when your brother who never lifts a finger around the house actually empties the dishwasher once a year, he basically gets a ticker-tape parade? He's clearly figured out this concept.

Barack Obama never really set an easy bar. In his 2009 inaugural address, he promised, "Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met" (6.1-3). Some Americans were pretty much just waiting for Obama to go ahead and fix those many serious challenges. Like Heather Locklear guest starring in a failing mid-'90s sitcom. Or a unicorn.

It's hard to make sense of the past, but sometimes the present is even more cloudy.

To judge Obama's 2009 inaugural address against the current political climate would be historical presentism. As of now, it's still too early for historians to properly judge whether he lived up to the 2009 hype.

Guess we'll have to wait a while.

What Went Down

The facts are mixed. The Obama administration did accomplish many of its policy goals, but it left other ones unfulfilled. The economy recovered, but America's involvement in Middle Eastern wars didn't exactly stop cold turkey. The Obama presidency didn't exactly change the overall culture of American partisan politics, but that's not super surprising. Basically, the partisan divides stayed as big as ever.

Setting aside judgments of success and failure, let's travel back to January 2009 in our mind palaces. The country was in rough shape. Obama's response to those dark times (inspiration, hope, etc.) resonated with a ton of people. The 2009 inaugural address is a text that speaks to Americans' mental state at the time. Voters were seeking deliverance and guidance during one of the great economic collapses in history.

Obama's big win in the 2008 election was a profound moment in American history, in part because so many people clearly wanted it to be.

The young president-elect had inspired people to such an extent that some disappointment was probably inevitable. People had put a lot of pressure on their new president to snap his fingers and pull them right out of the upside down. "Change we can believe in...until we don't" isn't exactly a catchy slogan.