27 Freedoms and nothin' on

I listened to the President's Second Inaugural Address today. I didn't watch him deliver the speech because I wanted to truly HEAR his words, not consider them as some sort of package deal with the facial expressions and however the networks were covering the event. I wanted to hear what he had to say.

Overall, I was not impressed. Should an address delivered on the day one takes leadership of the last superpower (albeit for a second term) not deal with your objectives here at home? Yes, we are interconnected with the rest of the world, but this to mee seemed to step out and say "For the next four years, we're sticking our nose into everyone else's business." We know that already. We knew that the day after the election when the electoral college was decided. And he confirmed it:

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world: All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.
Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.

But what bothered me more was the language and rhetoric. He alluded time and time again to stories of the Old Testament - a time when God was a vengeful and angry god - rather than the New Testament loving God more people choose to follow. The President used words like "liberty" and "slavery" and "tyrrany". Was this George W. Bush or Abraham Lincoln? It doesn't matter - he drew parallels between the two. He used the word freedom 27 times in the course of his speech, yet I feel like they were all directed at the rest of the world, and not at our own citizens.

Perhaps had I watched I would have felt something different, but just listening, between it's language and lack of domestic content, this speech left me feeling empty and worried. The State of the Union Address is at the end of the month - perhaps we'll get a better look at the domestic agenda then.