Author sees hope in inauguration
By Elizabeth Ryan eryan@timesfreepress.com
Online: Read previous stories. Comment. More than just a transfer of power, an inauguration represents our country’s unending hope for renewal, said presidential scholar Doris Kearns Goodwin. “Americans have this great capacity to think, ‘We can change things. Things are going to be different now that a new president is in there,’” she said. “And it’s a good hopeful thing to be able to mobilize spirit again, to take a look at the problems in a fresh way and think that there’s a chance of moving in a different direction.” But after President Barack Obama made history today, it will be how he governs that will define whether America’s optimism will pay off, said Ms. Goodwin, whose book “Team of Rivals,” examines President Abraham Lincoln and his leadership. President Obama has said President Lincoln influenced his thinking. The best advice she could give the new president is to listen: “Make sure (he) gets outside that bubble as much as (he) can,” she said. “(He’s) going to have to figure out ways to get ordinary people to give him advice.”