By Ikeddy Isiguzo, Chairman, Editorial Board

NOTHING compares to a presidential inaugural speech, whether in America where its first President George Washington delivered the first on 6 April, 226 years ago, in New York City, America’s first capital, or our domestic adoption of it as we swear in our Presidents. The best part of an inaugural speech, in the hands of the politician, is that he can explore the fact that the law does not require the speech, so there are no limits to what it may rule in, or what it may rule out.

It is the ideal introduction of the President to the public. The dominance of rhetoric in such speeches has been of concern to many. Where the plain public expects the body language of the President would flow through the speech, the speaker is more interested in impressing, least of all the voters. The hangover of the campaigns appears to be clearing too quickly – it is time to keep a distance from voters.

Assurances to stakeholders, more recently interpreted to include the international community, are defining attributes of inaugural speeches. The President picks his friends and interests from the first day; a study of the speech says so. More gracious individuals could call it the “direction of the administration”, but the fact is that what the President is bold enough to say in public, he would more boldly implement publicly.

In investing in impressing listeners, who want memorable lines from inaugural speeches, issues the public consider important could be ignored. Words find space more for their resonance than communicating the President who many see as the solution to their numerous challenges.

The speaker is challenged too. While Washington spoke to Congress, a limited audience, today’s speakers are heard and judged in millions, sometimes billion, of places, some without a minute hint about why the man is speaking. The content of the speech aims at pleasing listeners, sometimes at the expense of providing distinct direction for the administration through the speech

Unlike Washington who could say, “I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarcely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn in precedent,” few precedents left, those about the President being for ordinary people, in words, and in deed. Washington was a great general of the American Civil War, his friend Henry Lee wrote when American’s first President died in 1799, “First in war. First in peace. First in the hearts of his countrymen.”

Speeches, not just the inaugural, should make enough impact on us that the President becomes first in our hearts, in the very circumstances that he has sworn, on oath, to serve Nigerians. A speech that sparks interests in our lives would sustain the strides our hearts crave.