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INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mitch Daniels delivered a short but flowery inauguration speech Monday, likening the economic recession to a harsh winter and encouraging Hoosiers to move forward into spring.
“We must believe, and resolve to see, that these present troubles are but a frost in April, a brief chill before the full flowering of the greener Indiana to come,” he said.
The six-minute speech was full of seasonal references and focused on the idea that Indiana should embrace change and take bold steps to break out of the challenging times.
The details will come tonight during the governor’s fifth annual State of the State address.
“Spring’s first flowers are always at risk. The frosts of fear can nip the most promising and beautiful of buds,” Daniels said. “If Hoosiers emerge from our winter’s sleep only to see the shadow of our doubts and retreat from them, then winter will return, all the more frigid for the fragile hopes it cuts short.
“But, unlike the groundhog of fable, we have the outcome in our power. If we choose to face forward, into the sun, casting our shadows behind us, we can summon the springtime, and command it to come,” he said.
The entire ceremony – including the swearing in of Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman, Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett – lasted less than an hour.
The event was understated the entire way – conducted in the Statehouse atrium with a massive Indiana flag as a background and only a few yellow flowers adorning the stage. The Newton-Jasper Community Band provided music.
“My favorite part was being able to see Mitch Daniels for real – not in a commercial or on the news,” 10-year-old Gabe Kramer said. .
Gabe attended the inauguration with members of his fourth-grade class from St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Fort Wayne. The children are studying Indiana history this year and had fortuitously chosen Monday as their annual visit to the state capital.
“I think it was pretty cool,” said Katie Gutman, 10. “I’m really excited about how big this place is.”
Daniels took the oath with wife Cheri and daughter Melissa at his side. He brought a family Bible that he has used to read to his four daughters on special holidays.
Earlier in the ceremony, Skillman told the crowd of about 1,000 that she was honored to accept the trust of the people for a second term as lieutenant governor.
“We must keep our taxes low, keep our doors open to business and keep our sights set on the economic health of our state. Indiana will stand strong in the tempest around us, if commitment, discipline and perseverance are guiding us,” she told the crowd. “We will do more than survive the storm. We will gain from it.”
Bennett, the state’s new schools chief, used a different analogy: a pre-game pep talk from the former high school basketball coach.
“Let’s lace ’em up. Play your guts out and win,” he said. “While we are behind, folks, this is a must-win game. We are going to start competing, and we are going to start winning in our Indiana classrooms and Indiana schools.”
Bennett was followed by Zoeller, who focused on being a servant lawyer.
“Apart from the day that I took my wedding vows and the birth of our children, this is the greatest day of my life,” he said. “Since law school I felt my career was more a vocation than an occupation.”
nkelly@jg.net
