Today

"With malice toward none."

"Fear itself."

"Ask not."

Americans await today's Inaugural Address with great expectations. The times, the circumstances, and the person combined to make the event memorable even before it occurred. Barack Obama will deliver his first speech as president in the context of war and economic turmoil. John Kennedy's Inauguration may have marked generational change, but the nation did not confront challenges on a scale similar to today's. Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln entered office during eras of absolute crisis. Lincoln's greatest speech -- the Second Inaugural cited above -- was delivered as the Civil War was nearing its end. Wounds still bled.

Words make a difference. Rhetoric counts. Yet lofty phrases and poetic eloquence will not make banks solvent, restore Detroit, defeat terrorism, or plant freedom's flag. Indeed, if history remembers and honors what Obama says today, then it will be because his hard work succeeded. The speeches of neither Roosevelt nor Lincoln would appear in texts if their presidencies had failed -- except as examples of futility. Churchill's oratory would have been forgotten if Britain had lost the war.

Obama speaks in a beautiful voice; his manner projects confidence. He indulges in platitudes, as do most politicians and editorial writers. The culture's cadences are not Shakespearean. Vocabulary itself is bereft. Still, Obama seems one of the most gifted speakers on the scene. His excellencies will be welcome -- and are much needed.