Obama inaugural Speech

This is Barack Obama's Victory Speech.

Download text and vocabulary from this site HERE

See questions below.  

Questions

1. President Obama mentions Senator McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. What are the roles of senators and governors in the USA political system?

2. "Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston”

This sentence refers to the strategy used by President Obama in order to raise money for his 2008 campaign. How does his strategy differed from the strategy implemented by his rivals or the strategies used in your country?


3. “There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education”.

 President Obama mentions the 3 main concerns of USA citizen. Are these the same as those of the average person in your country?


4. “..and a preacher from Atlanta who told people that 'We Shall Overcome'. “

Who does Obama refer to? And why?

5. Ann Nixon Cooper  was 106  when she died in 2009, one year after the election of President Obama. She  lived and was a witness to extraordinary changes in her society during this relatively short time.

Can you think of any important events that might change our present society in 100 years?


6. The “New Deal” was set up between 1933 and 1936 in the USA to overcome the big depression that besieged the country. Do you think there are any similarities between that period in USA and our times in Europe, especially in Spain?

Questions by Isabel Salinas and myself, María Zabala Peña