Obama faces big challenges with inaugural address

By Steve Holland - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama faces the challenge of reassuring Americans they can rebound from a time of economic peril in an inaugural address that is one of the most eagerly anticipated in modern times.

Obama's speech, delivered from the steps of the U.S. Capitol moments after he is sworn into office at midday on Tuesday, will give him his best opportunity to advance the goals of his White House before a massive audience.

With millions of Americans without jobs, the U.S. economy crippled and U.S. troops fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama has no shortage of expectations for his speech, which he has been working on for weeks.

"The speech will describe the moment we're in and the spirit required to emerge from this crisis even stronger and more united than before," said an Obama spokesman, Nick Shapiro.

Former presidential speechwriters said they expected Obama to avoid outlining a laundry list of proposals and instead use his lofty oratory to describe the challenges Americans face and a way out of them.

"The inaugural address is a speech where a president begins with first principles and sets a direction for the country," said a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, Jeff Shesol. "He defines a moment in time. He gives you a sense of who he is, how he sees this moment, and where he thinks we need to go."

Not only Americans will stop what they are doing on Tuesday to hear the new leader. People the world over are interested.

In Japan, many book stores now have a section dedicated to Obama, and ahead of his inauguration this month, a collection of his speeches, starting with what the book calls as the "legendary" 2004 Democratic Convention speech to the victory speech in November has become a best-seller.

INSPIRATION

For inspiration Obama has been reading inaugural addresses from presidents past.

Out of more than 50 inaugural address, only a few outlasted their times. Among the best were Abraham Lincoln's "with malice toward none" in 1865 near the end of the Civil War; John Kennedy's 1961 cry that "the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans," and Franklin Roosevelt's 1933 speech during the Great Depression.

Obama, a big fan of fellow Illinois man Lincoln, told USA Today he felt Lincoln's speech was the best and Kennedy's second best. He was not particularly impressed by Roosevelt's.

"You know, FDR's actually isn't that great," he said. "It's got a great line, 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' The rest is kinda clunky."

He said he was reasonably happy with his own speech "but we can still do some tinkering.

"My job in this speech is just to remind people of the road we've traveled and the extraordinary odds that we've already overcome. We've been through tougher times before and we're going to get through these," he said.