by David Safier
The Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity wasn't delighted with Obama's Inaugural Address. They thought it was "a harshly ideological, aggressively partisan speech more appropriate for the campaign trail than for the solemn occasion of his inaugural ceremony."
Unlike, say, Reagan's first inaugural address:
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
[snip]
It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people. All of us need to be reminded that the Federal Government did not create the States; the States created the Federal Government.
[snip]
It is no coincidence that our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government.
[snip]
It is time to reawaken this industrial giant, to get government back within its means, and to lighten our punitive tax burden. And these will be our first priorities, and on these principles there will be no compromise.
Nothing harshly ideological or aggressively partisan in Reagan's words. Unless, of course, you're one of those big government, tax and spend liberals who are ruining this country, and who cares about them?