Indicators and the Inaugural Address

Like many of you, I was listening to the Inaugural Address of President Obama. And, I suppose, like many of you I thrilled to hear these words:

"These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics."

Fifth paragraph. Less than two minutes in, and our new president turns to talk of indicators. He continues by talking about the qualitative nature of the troubles we face, and then into the rest of his speech -- I'll leave that topic for political pundits to pick apart. (You can read the speech for yourself here.)

What I appreciated was the use of data in understanding the nation's issues, and more importantly, a willingness to talk about using data. How cool is that?