An eloquent call to action for all

Oh, let it be true.

President Barack Obama began his historic era of leadership with the stirring eloquence we have come to expect of him, and the call for unity and cooperation that has been the theme of his campaign. But we are soon to learn that eloquence, rare and stirring though it may be, comes easier than results, and the true test of Obama's leadership - indeed of the sincerity of the millions who claim to stand ready to follow him - will come in how well the nation confronts the immense challenges he posed in his inaugural address.

On those points, he did not mince words:

"The challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. ... Everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift."

He is correct on all those counts, of course. But his solution - echoing John F. Kennedy's eloquent charge nearly a half-century ago for Americans to "ask what you can do for your country" - rests largely in the hands of his listeners, his countrymen, his Congress, his party, his political opponents. In short, of all of us.

"We gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," he said. "... We come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics ... We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things."

Those are wonderful, idealistic words. They evoke the hopes and wishes of all Americans. We all want peace. We all want prosperity. We all stand ready to work for those ideals. But the rub comes when we have to decide just what peace and prosperity mean and what sacrifices we are willing to make to achieve them.

On those points, there remain deep divisions in Congress, which, it must be said, has been hearing calls from the citizenry for decades to "reach across the aisles" to find solutions to very complicated, demanding problems yet has not shown much of a willingness to put away its childish, self-serving ways.

The president declared to America's "cynics" that the "ground has shifted" and "the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply." But the proof of his promise lay in his later observation that, "it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies."

Of all the eloquent phrases in the president's remarkable call to action, that one may be among the most critical.

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility," he declared, "a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world ..."

Great sacrifices lie ahead for all Americans. Congress is soon to confront demands unlike any it has dealt with in a generation. The president promises that we have all summoned the "unity of purpose" needed to meet the demands of this new world.

Oh, let it be so.