Ancient & modern | 24 January 2009
President-elect Obama (as I write) is preparing his inaugural, and it will doubtless display the same persuasive charm and intelligence that has characterised all his speeches. ‘Change’, ‘belief’ ‘opportunity’, ‘freedom’, ‘hope’, ‘equality’, ‘rights’ and ‘listening to the people’ will be qualified by ‘responsibility’ and ‘challenge’. ‘Yes, we can’ may become ‘Yes, we can, but only