木走日記

場末の時事評論

"a new era of responsibility"(新たな責任の時代)〜新鮮だったオバマ大統領就任演説

 現在21日深夜5時すぎですが、2時5分からのアメリカのオバマ大統領の就任演説のNHKのLIVE中継を見終わったばかりで少なからずの感動の中でエントリーを起こしています。

 就任演説全文(原文)はニューヨークタイムスの以下の記事にあります。

Barack Obama's Inaugural Address
バラク・オバマ 就任演説

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=3

 演説全文は参考までにエントリー最期に添えて置きます。

 ・・・

 まずあの演説会場に集まった数十万の群集の数に圧倒されました。

 星条旗を手に手に埋め尽くされた群集はこれはTV映像で見ていても壮観であり、日本人として、デモクラシーを主導してきたアメリカという国の底力を見せ付けられたような、もちろん決して不快ではなくある種の感動すら覚えました。

 素直に素晴らしいと思いました。

 そしてオバマ氏の就任演説。

 格調高く素晴らしい、しかし群集を煽るような表現は抑制された、そして意外だったのは予備選も含めて大統領選挙戦を通じて盛んに彼が発した"change"というキーワードがおそらく2,3回しか表出しなかったことであります。

 "Yes,we can"にいたっては一回も使われませんでした。

 私は多くの人と同様にこの演説でオバマ氏が何か歴史的な言葉を用意しているに違いないと期待を込めてTVを見守っていましたが、約19分間のそのスピーチはあきらかに選挙戦を通じて彼が有権者に発してきた"Yes,we can"に代表されるアメリカ国民を励まし自信を回復させることを主目的とした論調とは異なり、現実の厳しさとそれでも私達はそれに打ち勝っていこうという、あいかわらず主語は私達("We")ですが、トーンが落ち着いた冷静な抑制された調子に変わっていました。

 一見、歴史的な派手な言葉は用意されていないように見受けられましたが、それでも私は個人的に考えさせられたそして感動した点がたくさんありました。
 
 とくに興味深かった点を2つほどだけ上げたいと思います。

 一点目は自らの出自に触れたこの文章です。

And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

 まだ60年も過ぎていない過去に、父親が(人種差別のために)田舎のレストランにすら入ることができなかっただろう男が、今、あなたの前で、(この国で大統領として)最も神聖な誓約をしようとしているのだ、というこの文章は、とても感動的でした。

 ひとつは全文通じてオバマ氏はこの就任演説で自分が黒人であることの出自にダイレクトに触れたのはこのセンテンスだけである点で、彼はこのアメリカの抱える人種問題をこれまでの発言と同様できるかぎり抑制して表現しています、そしてしかし、彼は事実に正対する真摯さを放棄していないことを示すために抑制された中でもはっきりとつい40数年前までアメリカで行われていた人種差別政策のその事実にふれている点です。

 もしこの就任演説でオバマ氏がアメリカの人種差別政策という過去の暗部に一切触れないとすれば、それはきつい表現をすればある意味で為政者として不誠実に映るでしょうし、彼を支持してきた黒人を中心とするアメリカで抑圧されてきた有色人種の人々を裏切ることになりましょう、かといってことさら、そのような過去の人種問題を強調したならば白人層の反発を受けてしまいかねません、その点でこの一文は素晴らしいと評価します、抑制されつつ黒人の耳にも白人の耳にもぎりぎりのバランスで違和感なく表現されていると思いました。

 ・・・

 もう一点はアメリカのそしてアメリカ国民の責任・義務について語った次の文章です。

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

 おそらく日本のメディアでも今後今回のオバマ就任演説の骨子として取り上げられる箇所になるのでしょうが、"a new era of responsibility"、「新たな責任の時代」という表現は、「そう、わたしたちはできるんだ」(Yes,We can)と有権者を励ましてきた今までのトーンとは明らかに異なる表現でありましょう。

 この文章で彼は「すべてのアメリカ人が自分達自身、自分達の国、そして世界に義務を持っているという認識」をもたなければならないと強調、そしてその果たすべき義務は「いやいやながらではなくむしろ喜んで」こなすべきなのであると主張しています。

 なかなか新鮮です。

 これまでの「我々はできるんだ」という励まし一辺倒から、「我々には責任・義務があるんだ」と国民に訴えているのですね、このあたりはかつてのケネディ大統領の就任スピーチを彷彿させるものがあります。

 ・・・

 ・・・

 それにしても、演説をTVでライブで聴き終えて、彼の約19分間のスピーチを聞き終えて、その圧倒的な群衆の数も含め、彼の目にやどる熱情とその演説の厳粛さに正直、感動を覚えました。

 デモクラシー、民主主義の素晴らしさを再認識するとともに、顧みて日本の政治はどうなのか、日本の政治家にオバマ氏のような感動的な演説がこなせるのかどうか、少しさびしく思えてしまいました。

 そもそも、この国で、オバマ氏が全世界に向かって堂々と語りかけたような、約19分間の10000語を超えるスピーチを、オバマ氏同様、原稿など見ずにソラで熱弁できる政治家がいったい何人いるのでしょうか、と。

 ・・・



(木走まさみず)

<参考記事:オバマ大統領就任演説全文(ニューヨークタイムス記事より)>

Barack Obama's Inaugural Address

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you.

CROWD: Obama! Obama! Obama! Obama!

My fellow citizens: I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.

I thank President Bush for his service to our nation...

(APPLAUSE)

... as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

MR. OBAMA: The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

MR. OBAMA: So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.

Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

MR. OBAMA: These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable, but no less profound, is a sapping of confidence across our land; a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this America: They will be met.

(APPLAUSE)

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

MR. OBAMA: On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

(APPLAUSE)

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less.

MR. OBAMA: It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West, endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

MR. OBAMA: For us, they fought and died in places Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed.

MR. OBAMA: Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

(APPLAUSE)

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.

The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.

We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.

We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality...

(APPLAUSE)

... and lower its costs.

MR. OBAMA: We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

All this we can do. All this we will do.



Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions, who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short, for they have forgotten what this country has already done, what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply.

MR. MR. OBAMA: The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public's knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched.

MR. OBAMA: But this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control. The nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.

The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on the ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

(APPLAUSE)

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.

MR. OBAMA: Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more.

(APPLAUSE)

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with the sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

MR. OBAMA: They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy, guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We'll begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard- earned peace in Afghanistan.

MR. OBAMA: With old friends and former foes, we'll work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat and roll back the specter of a warming planet.

We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense.

And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that, "Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

(APPLAUSE)

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.

And because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

OBAMA: To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.

To those...

(APPLAUSE)

To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

(APPLAUSE)

MR. OBAMA: To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.

And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our borders, nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.

We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.

OBAMA: And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.

It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new, the instruments with which we meet them may be new, but those values upon which our success depends, honesty and hard work, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old.

MR. OBAMA: These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.

What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

MR. OBAMA: This is the source of our confidence: the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed, why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall. And why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

(APPLAUSE)

So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled.

In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by nine campfires on the shores of an icy river.

MR. OBAMA: The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.

At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it."

America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Thank you. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

And God bless the United States of America.

(APPLAUSE)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=2
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html?pagewanted=3