Fervor among Democrats for President Barack Obama soared high during the historic inauguration, and while some Republicans shared hope, they still highlighted the enormity of his duty.
“He has an opportunity to be a transformative president and to redefine the executive branch, but he’s facing significant challenges, both foreign and domestic,” Anne Arundel County Executive John R. Leopold said Tuesday.
Obama’s plan to create millions of jobs to stimulate the economy, improve infrastructure and foster a greater mindfulness for community service also was welcomed, he said.
“He talked about nurturing the child and how important that was in creating self-confident citizens,” Leopold said. “I was pleased he understands the significance of that responsibility.”
Leopold and Del. Warren Miller, R-Howard, noted that Obama’s national address was brief at about 20 minutes, but it was still packed with substance, including his pledge to help usher in a new era of responsibility, defeat terrorists and celebrate the equality of all.
“It reminded me of [former President] Reagan and how he would speak a lot of his vision for America, but we’ll have to see what happens,” Miller said. “It’ll be interesting to see if he thinks we can spend our way out of the economic problems.”
Other Republicans did not want the historic nature of the event to overshadow Obama’s vision and decisions so far.
“Symbolically, and I stress, symbolically, it’s a wonderful thing, but we have to wait and see how he’ll govern,” said Thomas “Pinkston” Harris, a black Baltimore Republican who lost to U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes, D-District 3, in this past election.
However, Harris gained about 90,000 votes, or 30 percent of the vote, which was the most from a Republican congressional candidate running against a Democratic incumbent in Maryland.
“My campaign was a microcosm Obama’s,” said Harris. “The message to young people is that you can’t sit around and blame racism for your lack of achievement.”
Still, Harris faulted Obama for not selecting more blacks for his cabinet, except notably his pick for attorney general, Eric Holder. He also questioned Obama’s plan to repeal tax cuts for the wealthiest residents.
“The way to increase productivity is through tax cuts. The thing is that he’s made so many promises and angered a lot of people,” Harris said. “Is he going to be strong enough to weather the criticism?”
