Thoughts from Inauguration Day

A few random thoughts on yesterday:

Though some in the progressive blogosphere disagree, I thought Obama’s inaugural speech was very good. His start, contrasting taking the oath of office “during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace” (as now-former President Bush did ¹) versus taking the oath as he does “amidst gathering clouds and raging storms” really set the tone for the whole speech. With Bush sitting right there – mere feet from the podium – Obama categorically rejected almost every policy of the Bush administration. When they cut to a shot of Bush in the middle, he didn’t seem to be enjoying Obama’s speech very much. In a way, I was reminded of Steven Colbert’s epic performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner a few years ago. Of course, the difference was that Colbert was speaking truth to power while Obama is speaking truth from power.

Speaking of Ex-President Bush (man, I love writing that) I can say a lot of negative things about him, but I will grudgingly commend him on handling the transition. However, it does feel like it’s grading him on a massive curve: “Sure he’s been an abysmal president, but at least he was able to peacefully hand over the reigns of power without fucking that up too.”

I felt sorry for Elizabeth Alexander, the poet who had to speak after President Obama’s inaugural speech. Everyone started heading for the exits after Obama was done. I hope those early exiters could hear Reverend Lowery’s benediction, it was awesome. I realize Reverend Warren was a controversial pick to deliver the invocation – certainly, I’m not a fan – but I respect Obama for being inclusive of all-viewpoints. And while having a quartet with the likes of Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma was awesome, I especially liked John Williams’ inaugural piece “Air and Simple Gifts”. But wouldn’t the theme to Superman have been more appropriate? 😄

Finally, I skipped the rest of the pre and post inauguration analysis and commentary other than the Countdown podcast which I listen to on my way to work most days. Frankly, I didn’t need to be reminded of what an historic day it was. Res ipsa loquitur.