[ 613 ] U.S. History GED ® TEST SOCIAL STUDIES FLASH REVIEW _____________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Use the excerpts below, taken from the inaugural addresses of President Barack Obama, to answer the following two questions. Note that President Obama references many issues, including the economy and war in the Middle East. Excerpt from President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, 2009 That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly, our schools fail too many, and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet . . . Excerpt from President Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address, 2013 This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it––so long as we seize it together . . . In these two inaugural addresses, some statements express optimism, while others do not. Which of these statements expresses the greatest optimism? a. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. b. Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. c. This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. d. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention.