'Let's reach for that'

GOVERNOR Deval Patrick's unorthodox inaugural yesterday managed to be both modest and magisterial. He brought the ritual directly to the people who elected him with the first public swearing-in, held outdoors at noon in uncommonly fair January weather. The tableau on the State House steps was striking for the way it brought the governor, legislators, and all the constitutional officers out to face the public, nearly at eye level. But the pomp and ceremony were also unmistakable, and the pageantry seemed to uplift the crowd. We hope this symbolic effort to bridge the gap between the government and the governed finds a way into the daily reality of Patrick's administration.

Patrick struck a note of determined optimism in his inaugural address, naming the very real challenges that face citizens living far from Beacon Hill: failing public schools, rising property taxes, drugs, violence, and poverty. But then he recalled that the state is at its best when people have high goals, faith that they are achievable, and the will to work for them. In creating the best-prepared workforce, in providing affordable health care for all, in developing a public higher education system to rival the elite universities, in ridding communities of violence, in establishing a fair tax structure, he repeatedly urged the crowd: "Let's reach for that."

There is honor just in the reaching, he seemed to say, and he was careful not to overpromise. Still, Patrick's call for change didn't stop at new policies or a new party in power. He wants a change in the very idea of government -- fueled by 16 years of minimalist and often cynical Republican administrations -- as incompetent, corrupt, and only for the connected. "Today we join together in common cause to lay that fallacy to rest," he said.

As he had throughout his campaign, Patrick called on Massachusetts residents to recognize the stake they have in each other. The good will he engendered is precious and cannot be squandered. Standing with her daughter and granddaughter in the crowd before the speech yesterday, Donna Bertrand of Leicester said Patrick's election represented a pragmatic chance to get government moving again on behalf of real people. "I hope he can unify the state and get things done instead of bucking heads all the time," she said. "It's time to roll up our sleeves now. You can get more done with teamwork than you can with the 'us and thems.' "

The sense of a new day for Massachusetts was palpable yesterday, borne on the exceptionally diverse and neighborly crowd. As the breeze freshened and the sun made a fleeting appearance, the Boston Children's Choir sang the gospel hymn "The Storm is Passing Over," written in 1905 by the masterful Charles Albert Tindley, who only learned to read and write after Emancipation. Keeping hope and realism in balance is just the first of Patrick's challenges.