President Obama wants to leave a legacy that outlasts him. (Dawn Megli/Neon Tommy)

These words were spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose legally commemorated birthday happened to fall on the date of President Obama’s second inauguration. Leaving behind the childish things of campaigning, the president, always fully cognizant of his legacy, is now free to look past the ebb and flow of the next four years and focus on shaping that long arc.

In his address, President Obama laid out a boldly progressive agenda that looked far beyond his second term. He spotlighted income inequality, gay rights, immigration and notably, climate change, and tied them all to a “timeless spirit” and “enduring ideals” of America. These are not quick-strike issues that will generate instant poll boosts. 

President Obama has the freedom of having gone through his final job interview. He no longer has to care about inconsequential political victories to sell to voters. Now he can concentrate on what’s always been most important to him, winning in the history books.

The president’s challenger in this past election, private equity CEO Mitt Romney, came from a world where the only unit of time that matters is the three months making up the last quarter. Everything either had to be addressed now, with immediate effect, or not at all. Recall how many things Romney pledged to accomplish on his first day, with no concept of pacing himself for a four year term.

President Obama is different. He talks about addressing issues like immigration and climate change where government intervention won’t show up in prompt and tangible successes. Most people reading this will never be in the position to fully evaluate the Obama administration on climate change. The immigration policies of many European countries still deserve an “incomplete” grade.

These are the topics a president can address when he doesn’t have to run again. President Obama famously took flak when he got caught on a hot mic telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that he’d have “more flexibility” after the election. Flexibility isn’t just about having an expanded range of discussion; it’s also the freedom to take action that won’t bear fruit within the confines of one election cycle.

This is not to say that the president neglects short-term (like Iran) and medium-term (like the debt—as long as Europe remains a less desirable destination for capital than the U.S.) issues; just that he places more weight on the long-term than our news cycle-obsessed culture tends to appreciate.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and America wasn’t built in 13-week increments, but this “what have you done for me lately” time-parsing of accomplishments is so ingrained in our business (and now political—follow the money) cultures, that of course Congress’ response to the manufactured debt ceiling crisis would be to kick the can forward three months. Don’t blame the American people for their attention-deficit issues. They learned it from their bosses.

Barack Obama’s lack of a business background has been a handicap in certain areas—he only really learned how to negotiate last year—but one of its most positive consequences is that the president has always been able to think long-term. He’s never had to report to shareholders, which is why the arc of his moral universe extends past Q1.

This also makes him the ideal president to see through the next four years of the Arab Spring. As our own history proves, ideological revolutions take time and they do not proceed in orderly fashion. Tunisia seems promising. Egypt not so much. Syria is a humanitarian tragedy. Saudi Arabia is a ticking time bomb.

But if the long arc of the moral universe does indeed bend toward justice, demands for more rights will eventually be heard, and governments that listen will take root. A halftime deficit doesn’t mean the game wasn’t worth playing—and it’s not even halftime.

Mohammed Morsi will never hold the type of opinions about women, gays and Jews that most Americans find palatable. Mohammed Morsi III might. Barack Obama, Sr. couldn’t sit in the front of an Alabama bus when his son was born. Barack Obama II became President of the United States.

Just as President Obama did four years ago, the current chief executive’s favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, appointed as his first secretary of state a formidable political rival who came into the election as the presumptive party nominee, only to be swept aside by a tall, skinny lawyer from Illinois.

Secretary William Seward was an invaluable advisor to Lincoln during the Civil War, most notably in cleaning up a dicey diplomatic situation with Great Britain, but when asked about his greatest achievement in office, Seward mentioned something he did when serving under Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson.

The secretary answered, “The purchase of Alaska, but it will take the people a generation to find it out.”

President Obama is fine with the long arc of generations. He only wants us to thank him later. This is why we’re lucky to have him now.

Read more of Neon Tommy’s coverage of the inauguration here.

Reach Editor-at-Large Matt Pressberg here.