First reactions to 44

Photo: NCPR staff and friends watch the Inauguration in the studio.

Okay, a quarter hour has passed since our 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama, took the oath and gave his inaugural address.

Here’s my first blush response. (And please – give yours in the comment section below or email us at [email protected].)

1. The speech was a powerful summons to national renewal, with a reminder that this can only happen at the grass roots.

2. It was a forceful call to unity and a repudiation of knee-jerk divisions.

3. Somewhat contradictorily, the speech also offered a remarkably blatant rejection of the Bush era and a call to restore American values.

When President Obama said, “We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,” CNN’s camera panned to former President Bush.

How Mr. Obama squares those two things — his desire for unity and his apparent conviction that the last eight years were a kind of aberration — could well define his first term.

What did you think? Comment below – and call in during our live regional radio discussion with Ellen Rocco and Jonathan Brown beginning at 4 pm. Call toll-free 1-877-388-6277.