“We Must Pick Ourselves Up, Dust Ourselves Off” President Barack Obama’s Proverbial Inaugural Address Wolfgang MIEDER University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
[email protected] Recibido: 04-02-2009 Aceptado: 26-02-2009 Abstract: The pressures and expectations for Barack Obama to give a memorable inaugural address were enormous, and there was much conjecture about what he would include and how he would verbalize his thoughts. Many expected him to quote Lincoln, Roosevelt, or Kennedy, as he had done in numerous speeches before. But Obama, impressive rhetorician and orator that he is, refrained from using well- known quotations and instead created a number of his own formulaic statements in the form of pseudo- proverbs that might over time become proverbial, to wit “Greatness is never a given, it must be earned” or “People will judge you on what you can build, not what you can destroy.” In addition, he employed a considerable amount of folk speech in the form of proverbial phrases, with these emotive metaphors giving his speech a solid balance between intellectual rhetoric and traditional folk language. Uplifting as this epideictic address needed to be, Obama’s rhetoric was once again informed by practical wisdom and pragmatic judgment expressed at least in part by quotable and proverbial statements. The amazing aspect of this use of formulaic language is that Barack Obama does not merely adhere to traditional language but that he insists on its innovative use as he calls for socioeconomic change and a better life for all. Keywords: Paremiology. Proverb. Proverbial expression. Quotation. Pseudo-proverb.