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INAUGURAL ADDRESS GETS A B+

Every inaugural address deserves a review, treating both the writing and delivery as a work of rhetorical art. Here`s how ”Reagan`s Second” rates with one speech maven:

Did it have a central, unifying theme? Yes; the speech was about freedom. The President`s goal at home was ”individual freedom consistent with an orderly society,” and abroad, ”every victory for human freedom will be a victory for world peace.” President Reagan used the word ”freedom” 12 times in the speech, adding ”free” and ”freely” four times. Other presidents have chosen different themes to express their priorities–justice, strength, compassion, union–but President Reagan sees freedom as the essence of his message and the mark of his administration.

Did he get that message across? Partly; the connection was not clearly made between ensuring freedom from excessive government at home and protecting freedom from tyranny abroad. A quotable, original line about freedom was needed to fix his point in the viewer`s mind. None was forthcoming.

Was the tone suitable to the occasion? The tone of the writing was moderately challenging and controversial, but as usual, the tone of the Reagan delivery was comforting and reassuring. As a result, the speech was widely remarked as ”subdued.” In fact, his conversational delivery masked his principled points. That is Reagan style, and a speaker has a right to be himself.

The right length? He went by the book: about 2,500 words, a tad over the average length of the previous 49 inaugurals. But his 29 minutes cried out for a 10-minute tightening; he is a weak editor.

Were memorable phrases made? Apparently not. He adopted ”the American opportunity society,” which is Rep. Newt Gingrich`s trademark. He reached for coinage with a ”new American Emancipation,” in a fervent paragraph calling for the liberation of the spirit of enterprise in distressed areas, but the grandiose title was top-heavy for the couple of sentences on the subject. In the one specific area where a phrase was needed–a replacement for the negative ”Star Wars,” which has been seized upon by the Russians–he pulled up lame with ”security shield,” which is egregiously redundant.

Did the speech contain some hint of news to come? The line delivered with the most emphasis, and which drew the loudest applause in that congressional setting, was ”let us make it unconstitutional for the federal government to spend more than the federal government takes in.” It could be that he really means to press for a balanced-budget amendment, as a solution to his single greatest failure, and that all the establishmentarian ho-humming is misplaced. Did he commit a gaffe? Inside the Rotunda, he read the line prepared before the subzero cold snap: ”We stand again at the steps of this symbol of our democracy. . . .” He looked up and seemingly ad-libbed: ”Or we would`ve been standing at the steps if it hadn`t gotten so cold.” That drew a smile, but caused old speechwriters to wonder: Didn`t anybody check his reading draft that morning? How could that mistake slip by?

The answer, I think, shows the Old Pro at work. Of course he checked the draft at the last minute, as the comparison of before-and-after delivery texts reveals. He left the standing-at-the-steps mistake in so that he could ”ad lib” a correction, drawing that smile and relieving the tension before launching on his peroration.

Did the peroration lift off? Yes; not for nothing is Wilson his middle name. ”The American sound,” the song sung first by a settler heading westward, its echoes filling ”the unknowing air,” is a lovely metaphor, and enabled him to use the half-dozen adjectives that describe his vision of America: ”hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic–daring, decent and fair.”

If those words are left in the viewers` minds to associate with the speaker, so much the better. In sum, Reagan`s second inaugural was a respectable effort, above the average and worth reading over; a B-plus of a speech, not great, not near-great, but not bad. Not bad at all.