I have never been a 99 percent guy. Where most people find consensus, I, all too often, am at the contrary. It doesn’t bother me – I have always been this way. I have always been in the other 1 percent. I claim that 1 percent in many different ways – in my contentions of popular opinion and common knowledge; in my interests and endeavors; in my inhuman Scrabble abilities and (not unrelated) unvarnished sex appeal. And on the day after President Obama’s (man, it feels good to say that) earth-shattering inauguration speech, I am probably in the 1 percent of people who were just not that impressed.

I may be very wrong. This may be the type of opinion that, when whispered in hushed tones in a quiet corner, finds sympathy in many people who just don’t say so aloud. But the sense I have been getting, ever since the later stages of the primaries, is that Obama is perceived by most as a paragon of unbridled oratory prowess. I have heard him described multiple times as the greatest orator of our generation, and this just leaves me slack-jawed, begging for elaboration.

Don’t get me wrong, he is excellent; he is marvelous. But that kind of claim carries a whole lot of weight. There are many measures of what makes a skillful raconteur, all of which are entirely subjective, and there is an argument to be made that we ought to measure his performances on the extent to which they move people; in which case, he is obviously in the top ranks.

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But I can’t help notice that the success of the speech hangs on the persona of the speaker. Because he came into the spotlight so quickly, because he was first introduced to the nation in the context of the speech he gave at the Democratic National Convention four years ago, he has been able to build for himself a certain persona, an identity built around the spoken word, and a message that is clear, constant and resonant.

It isn’t that a speechwriter couldn’t write comparable speeches (they’re probably writing his now), and it isn’t that another person couldn’t perform them the way Obama does. But from another person’s mouth, it wouldn’t seem right. It wouldn’t sound right. And this is because Obama has had both the luxury and prescience to craft his public identity around a consistent message, style and unwavering tone, which synchronizes that powerful manner of speaking with his public persona.

Maybe that is his genius, and the proper measure of his abilities. I think where my skepticism enters is in the context of the sheer unprecedented scale of expectations placed on him. When he came out four years ago with the convention speech, it was unexpected, and knocked us all on our backsides.

On Tuesday, we heard more or less what we expected to hear. We already knew his style, his evocations and his delivery. Should this in itself be discouraging? Probably not, but I worry that it may be a foreshadowing of what may, by analogy, come of the expectations placed on him as president.

Machiavelli wrote that you do your worst when you first come to power, so that people can at least say ‘Oh, well he’s not as bad as he used to be.’ Obama has done the exact opposite, and only time will tell if people’s reaction to the lofty expectations placed on the 44th president will obscure the quality of the work that he does, much like the mounting hype surrounding the inaugural address left me wanting more after hearing what was otherwise an excellent and poignant speech.

Packard is a senior

studying anthropology and biology.

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