Well, I’m sorry but that was a bit of an anti-climax. Straining to be generous in my column this morning, I wrote that I was sure that Obama would “blow them away”. Actually, I don’t think he did.

Of course, it was impossible to live up to the wildly-inflated expectations. The “Daily Show” nicely satirised these by predicting that Obama’s oration would be so brilliant that it “makes the Gettysburg address seem like a series of simian grunts.” But the actual speech was a bit flat and predictable. Read more

Over breakfast this morning my son asked me what Obama would say in his inaugural address? I replied tetchily that I had no idea – he hasn’t given the speech yet, it’s a secret. But then I thought that’s not actually true – I think I have a pretty good idea of what he’s going to say.

I’ll be blogging about the speech after Obama has given it. But here are my predictions. This is a summary – I’m not going to attempt Obama-style rhetoric. Read more