Carter & Fallows

"Carter thinks in lists, not arguments," James Fallows wrote after having stepped in at age 27 as Jimmy Carter's speechwriter. Sure enough, Carter's inaugural address closed like this:

Within us, the people of the United States, there is evident a serious and purposeful rekindling of confidence. And I join in the hope that when my time as your President has ended, people might say this about our Nation:

-- that we had remembered the words of Micah and renewed our search for humility, mercy, and justice;

-- that we had torn down the barriers that separated those of different race and region and religion, and where there had been mistrust, built unity, with a respect for diversity;

-- that we had found productive work for those able to perform it;

-- that we had strengthened the American family, which is the basis of our society;

-- that we had ensured respect for the law, and equal treatment under the law, for the weak and the powerful, for the rich and the poor;

-- and that we had enabled our people to be proud of their own Government once again.

I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, built not on weapons of war but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.

These are not just my goals, and they will not be my accomplishments, but the affirmation of our Nation's continuing moral strength and our belief in an undiminished, ever-expanding American dream.