Inauguration

[cloudy]

On the Obama website he listed cell phone texting numbers. He encouraged people to text for a variety of reasons.

I gave those numbers to students, allowed them use of cell phones, and we happily texted for hours.

We got replies, too, and there was much excitement.

They feel informed, empowered. They're paying attention.

The old guard will soon be swept away.

It's wonderful. They can bitch and moan all they want to, but their day has come and gone, thank goodness.

 

[Guest]

It's wonderful. They can bitch and moan all they want to, but their day has come and gone, thank goodness.

I suppose that explains their fear.

Uncertainty, loss of power and position, true change can be frightening.

 

[Angeline]

That's what I think too.

I also think that Obama is really the first president of the 21st Century.

This is like when Kennedy was elected. I was just in high school, but I remember it. It didn't matter what kind of president Kennedy was (not that great, it turned out), but the energy and spirit he brought to the office and to Washington just swept over the nation and ushered in the spirit of the 60's, washing away the Eisenhower 50's. It was the dawn on a whole new era.

I think we're seeing something like that.

Hiya Doc.

The other thing that Obama and Kennedy have in common is challenging American people to be part of solutions. When Kennedy said "ask what you can do for your country" and created the Peace Corps, a generation of young adults (and many others) saw a new way to serve their country (as opposed to joining armed forces). Obama throughout his campaign and in his speech yesterday has used "we" not in the "royal we" sense but the "we the people" sense. It puts trust in common folks to actively participate in democracy as citizens. It's inclusiveness. And I think people totally get that about him: that he really wants us to be proactive and work with him to effect change. Think about the past eight years (or even the past 20 or 30 or 40). When was the last time you felt that you could be part of effecting change, of having an active role in the way your country is run? It's the difference between paticipating in and enjoying your fuck (to use an erotic analogy) and being raped.

It's all ambitious and maybe flawed in some ways, but it's clearly sincere. So that and all the other things mentioned in this thread contribute to a real sense of hope that Americans haven't felt for a very long time. And that is cause for celebration.

And you know, I kept thinking of Woodstock yesterday, too. So great minds, huh? Or uh old minds.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3414/3213672621_49a7b3e1b0_o.jpg​

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4.

Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

*grape juice spew*

Thank god it's white grape.

*snerk*

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

SARAH

Read ANIMAL FARM before you get your hopes up about the Old Guard going away.

 

[shereads]

Obama exudes confidence without arrogance. And he is careful to remind us that his promise isn't that he will rebuild the nation, but that he will lead us in rebuilding.
His message of shared responsibility and an inclusive future is made more credible by the fact that he is the first black president.

An elderly black woman interviewed on local TV said, "What gives me hope is not just that a black man won, but that he won the votes of white people too."

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

SHEREADS

But he hasnt done shit yet, has he? So far its all PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS.

He may be the REAL DEAL, but we gotta wait and see.

 

[Guest]

Obama exudes confidence without arrogance. And he is careful to remind us that his promise isn't that he will rebuild the nation, but that he will lead us in rebuilding.
His message of shared responsibility and an inclusive future is made more credible by the fact that he is the first black president.

An elderly black woman interviewed on local TV said, "What gives me hope is not just that a black man won, but that he won the votes of white people too."

Confidence without arrogance. That's quite apt, isn't it?

I'm so pleased that the arrogant cowboy smirker complete with his brash, rash and unthought-out actions, is history.

 

[Belegon]

Again and again, we have heard from his naysayers that this man is all style and no substance.

They make fun of his oratory style, calling him "Messiah" and basically saying that his speeches are nothing more than medicine show/revival tent. It's like they are waiting for the faith healings to begin or the "magic elixir" to be offered for sale.

So, with an estimated two million people in attendance, and most of the rest of the country watching, with chants of his name filling the air... what an opportunity. Two million people are going to be chanting "Yes We Can" and all that, right?

Wrong. The speech was not a celebration, but a call to action. It wasn't rah-rah-rah, sis-boom-bah. It was "let's get to work."

But of course, the people who want him to fail just see this as more set up for an even bigger con later.

I see this stupidity all the time as a sportswriter. There are still people who think Petco Park was a bad idea, despite the fact that what was once the worst part of downtown is now the hippest and most happening spot. Crumbling and deserted warehouses have been replaced with restaurants and condos and retail. All of this creates tax revenue and builds property values. The investment the city made in that ballpark has already paid off and will continue to do so for the next fifty years, minimum. And yet, there are STILL people bitching about Prop. C from 1998 as being a public handout to a private corporation, even while they are having a drink and waiting for their table in a restaurant built in a place they would have locked their car doors to drive through in 1997.

Hell, I've got an idiot trying to tell me that the NFL made that punt hit Eric Weddle in the back of the head so that they could get higher ratings for the Super Bowl. Excuse me? Like somebody could do that deliberately... *shakes head*

These are the types of people who will continue to whine and bitch and moan about Obama as being all style, no substance.

They will never be satisfied. If he flew to Afghanistan, walked into a cave with a baseball bat and ten minutes later dragged an unconscious Osama Bin Laden out... they would whine about how he just made America look like a bunch of Cabrini Green gang-bangers.

The world ain't out to get you, idiots. There is no conspiracy. And sometimes, people really DO have good intentions even if they don't look or talk like you.

 

[midwestyankee]

Well put, Belegon.

 

[tickledkitty]

My take on the naysayers and doubters and haters right now is that it all comes down to race. Now, all of you explode and say it ain't so. Go ahead.

I don't believe you for a second. You're horrified that a black man is president. It rankles the hell out of you that black folks are feeling pride, some of them feeling good about themselves for the first time in their lives. You need to feel superior to them, and they're not going to let you anymore. It rankles you that white folks and yellow folks and red folks and rainbow folks are feeling good and identifying with this black man and his family, especially because that's what your boy's whole campaign was based on, and it didn't work.

I have news for you. It doesn't matter what color his skin is. This is about who he is and what he says and his confidence that all of us together can make the world a better place. Nobody thinks the man is the messiah. We just have hope and confidence, and you can't take that away from us.

 

[john-the-author]

*grape juice spew*

Thank god it's white grape.

*snerk*

Ah, you have definitely made my morning! Making you spew is a mark of accomplishment. Thank you, thank you!

And, may I say, you continue to look absolutely gorgeous.

Very careful hugs (so as to not bump the tummy and put pressure on the bladder),

John

 

[3113]

"Better to be on your back looking skyward than on a cloud (with the crowd) looking down."

Gosh, Trysail, that's exactly the problem, you're right! The conservatives have spent so many years on their "god" cloud with their evangelical, right-wing "our leader is a Christian" radio crowd looking down on everyone else that they can't endure the idea that they now have to be on on the ground. Even though that's where the crowd is (thanks to them and their policies), and they're being invited to join in on helping make life endurable on the ground.

Those who have lived it up there among the clouds with all their pie-in-the-sky ideals of free markets with no regulations, and dominating the world through military might and fear, and making sure everyone respected their Bible above the Constitution...are now on the ground with everyone else. They can no longer look down. And they hate that.

The worst of it, they worked so hard last time to pick a guy who looked like one of the groundlings in order to fool everyone--beer guzzling, pretzel eating, football lovin'--they hid the fact that he's spent his life up there in the clouds with his old money and old political family, dreaming impossible cloud dreams. Now the people have voted in someone who really is a person with their feet on the ground, who really is a "uniter" rather than a divider and the people who used to live up in the clouds have to come down too.

Thanks for explaining to us with that apt quote why so many conservatives here are so put out with Obama. It all makes sense now.

 

[trysail]

"Better to be on your back looking skyward than on a cloud (with the crowd) looking down."

Gosh, Trysail, that's exactly the problem, you're right! The conservatives have spent so many years on their "god" cloud with their evangelical, right-wing "our leader is a Christian" radio crowd looking down on everyone else that they can't endure the idea that they now have to be on on the ground. Even though that's where the crowd is (thanks to them and their policies), and they're being invited to join in on helping make life endurable on the ground.

Those who have lived it up there among the clouds with all their pie-in-the-sky ideals of free markets with no regulations, and dominating the world through military might and fear, and making sure everyone respected their Bible above the Constitution...are now on the ground with everyone else. They can no longer look down. And they hate that.

The worst of it, they worked so hard last time to pick a guy who looked like one of the groundlings in order to fool everyone--beer guzzling, pretzel eating, football lovin'--they hid the fact that he's spent his life up there in the clouds with his old money and old political family, dreaming impossible cloud dreams. Now the people have voted in someone who really is a person with their feet on the ground, who really is a "uniter" rather than a divider and the people who used to live up in the clouds have to come down too.

Thanks for explaining to us with that apt quote why so many conservatives here are so put out with Obama. It all makes sense now.

You've made the mistake of inserting a subject of your own choosing and imagining a predicate. In so doing, you jumped to an incorrect conclusion. The original quote purposely did not identify either.

 

[3113]

Getting back to the actual Inauguration and away from the constant thread-jacking by the hand-wringers....

It was okay. As Inaugurations go, and we'll keep in mind that I haven't watched many. The highlights were Aretha, who I think could show Beyonce a thing or two about singing a patriotic song, watching the new VP and President take their oaths, Obama's speech which I thought was very good, and the benediction at the end.

I thought the John Williams composition was uninspired and failed to make any good use of it's skilled musicians in showing off their talents. And the poem was "eh." I feel rather bad for the poet, in fact. On the one hand, she was granted more exposure, her poem heard by more people than perhaps any other living poet at this moment. But that's also the problem, isn't it? She is going to have to face critiques both on the poem and on how she read it from far more people than she ever before.

An interesting tid-bit about Robert Frost and the poem he recited for JFK's Inauguration:

For John F Kennedy's inauguration as President of the United States Robert Frost wrote a new poem entitled, "Dedication". Like many others he conceived the new president as young Lochinvar, the perfect combination of spirit and flesh, passion and toughness, poetry and reality:

"... The glory of a next Augustan age
Of a power leading from its strength and pride,
Of young amibition eager to be tried,
Firm in our free beliefs without dismay,
In any game the nations want to play.
A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday's the beginning hour."

But the poet was old (87) and he couldn't see the words because of the sun's glare that bright, cold January day. The poem's newness to him and his unfamiliarity with and uncertainty about the way it went caused him to stumble uncertainly with his voice and tone and he gave up. Instead he fell back on an old one he knew perfectly, and in the most splendidly commanding of voices, recited it impeccably:

~ The Gift Outright ~

The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia.
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak.
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

I prefer the second one, myself. Now there's a poem.

 

[sadangel]

I am struck by how the expectations are changed already. Everybody seems to expect this man to give the greatest speech ever, every time he walks to the microphone. What a far cry from hoping the man speaking doesn't make a major flub.

I admit to tearing up a bit as Obama spoke the oath. I have worked to see this man elected. I have never been this involved in a political candidate.

I am not pie-in-the-sky dreamy or unrealistic. But I agree with far more of his ideas than I ever have with another President. Sure, I have areas where I disagree with him. But that is going to be true of anyone elected besides myself.

I thought of Martin's words echoing down the mall and finally, forty years later, reaching the steps of the Capital.

People laughed and cheered and cried... they chanted Obama's name. I can't remember that ever happening before.

His speech was not a brimstone and fire oratory exercise. It was almost solemn. I think that was deliberate. He reached out to the world. He was realistic. He was firm.

It was a speech that said, "There is work to be done, and we will do it."

He was realistic! That's it in a nutshell!

I'm still smiling.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Obamacute.jpg

And to all the naysayers today, who could never bitch about Bush and all of his fuckups, yet are already finding endless things to complain about a man who just took office -

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Obamachill.jpg

Totally like the first one. The second one made me laugh!

*Snerk* This pic is too perfect. The Obama's and Biden's saying
"Don't let the door hit ya in the ass, GW"

http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq119/Safe_Bet2008/090120-farewell-vmed-10a_widec.jpg​

*snerks loudly* I said that when I watched it go. I couldn't stop myself!!

I don't regard many of the people who now claim the mantle of conservatives as conservatives. I regard them as revolutionaries. They intend to completely destroy America and then rebuild it in their image.

And, considering how highly economic determinist their political philosophy is the closest historical analog to them is the Bolsheviks.

As I've said so many times before, what you resist, you become.

I don't know if there are really conservatives. Or liberals. I myself would have to say I'm an Independent, Moderate, Centrist. I prefer to vote the issue, and have the issues be the focus. I don't care which party Obama is from. I just would like to see him be able to have a chance to at least do SOMETHING! I don't expect the changes to happen today or next week. I expect it to take time. He made promises. Some may need to be readjusted to be more realistic. I can live with that. I just want him to at least TRY to make some change. I think he can, if he isn't stopped at every turn!!

Obama exudes confidence without arrogance. And he is careful to remind us that his promise isn't that he will rebuild the nation, but that he will lead us in rebuilding.
His message of shared responsibility and an inclusive future is made more credible by the fact that he is the first black president.

An elderly black woman interviewed on local TV said, "What gives me hope is not just that a black man won, but that he won the votes of white people too."

Two things I like that you said:
Confidence without arrogance. That's it in a nutshell.

Also, like the last quote. HE got my vote. I'll admit, it took some time and a lot of listening to him and the issues to get my vote, but I have not been sorry as of yet to have made it. I dont believe I will be overall sorry in the next 4 years. He'll make mistakes. THEY ALL HAVE!!

 

[3113]

You've made the mistake of inserting a subject of your own choosing and imagining a predicate. In so doing, you jumped to an incorrect conclusion. The original quote purposely did not identify either.

LOL! And you've made the mistake of thinking I was doing anything but proving a point--that is, how your quote was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. But the biggest mistake is in applying that quote at all, as it completely misunderstands what people supporting Obama are thinking or feeling. You won't believe or listen to me, but I'll feel better for having said it. The assumption seems to be that everyone has joined the crowd in order to feel unified and high and look down on those who aren't part of the club. you think this is like a rock concert or a rally, or like George Bush in front of his Mission Accomplished banner with everyone cheering and going along with the belief that we've "won" and the war is over--truth be damned!

This is incorrect. Allow me, as a fairly objective insider to explain what most people in that crowd (I certainly can't speak for all) are feeling:

Imagine, for a moment, that you were on a bus. You see the bus driver, we'll call him GW, drinking. He keeps drinking beer, getting more and more drunk. He starts to speed. "You're speeding!" Some shout, pointing at the dial. "No I'm not!" he insists, ignoring them. The bus begins to swerve, more people shout, but he shouts back, drunkenly, "I know what I'm doing and I don't care what you think! I'm driving!" Some passangers hiss to those objecting, "just let him drive"--either ignoring that he's drunk or believing that he can do it even if he is drunk. But it gets worse, and worse. Now a lot of people are objecting. "I'm taking us where I want to go!" he insists. The bus gets faster, and he's directing it toward disaster. Finally, he aims the bus right at this building and jams down the gas petal.

Now everyone on the bus is screaming. The bus is careening out of control and we're all gonna die! GW finally vacates his seat. A sober driver--we'll call him Obama--jumps into the seat. "I can't get the gas petal back up. So I'm going to shift it, work the break and try a few things with the wheel that might help to slow us down!" he says. All these things sound rational. They might work. But most important, the person in that driver's seat is sane, sober and focused on slowing down the bus. He's not a drunk who insists that his way is the right and only way, no matter what the facts show, and to hell with what we want. He is thinking about saving us!

The building is now very close. We can't avoid the crash. But in that moment, everyone in the bus is feeling *hope* and on the bus driver's side. Not because we all believe the crash has been averted. Not because we think Obama is magically going to stop it cold. Not because we feel how wonderful it is to be part of a crowd in the clouds looking down on others.....We feel hope and unity and faith in Obama because there is someone in the driver's seat who will, maybe, just maybe, help us to survive this.

That is what we're thinking and feeling.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

I thought the John Williams composition was uninspired and failed to make any good use of it's skilled musicians in showing off their talents. And the poem was "eh." I feel rather bad for the poet, in fact. On the one hand, she was granted more exposure, her poem heard by more people than perhaps any other living poet at this moment. But that's also the problem, isn't it? She is going to have to face critiques both on the poem and on how she read it from far more people than she ever before.

I thought Williams' composition was rather good, myself. Now, keep in mind that they were playing outside in cold weather under a fixed schedule. Chamber pieces are supposed to be heard in a chamber in comfort and should be a lot lengthier than that. And Williams is good for making cinematic scores, which is what it was making me think of. I would love to hear a longer version of that piece and it will no doubt be offered up as a CD or a music file download in the near future.

I do agree about the poem. It didn't catch me until that brilliant line about what if love was the most powerful word. I think they should've put it somewhere else in the program and had someone else with more commanding range speak it.

 

[trysail]

"Better to be on your back looking skyward than on a cloud (with the crowd) looking down."

You've made the mistake of inserting a subject of your own choosing and imagining a predicate. In so doing, you jumped to an incorrect conclusion. The original quote purposely did not identify either.

LOL! And you've made the mistake of thinking I was doing anything but proving a point--that is, how your quote was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. But the biggest mistake is in applying that quote at all, as it completely misunderstands what people supporting Obama are thinking or feeling. You won't believe or listen to me, but I'll feel better for having said it. The assumption seems to be that everyone has joined the crowd in order to feel unified and high and look down on those who aren't part of the club. you think this is like a rock concert or a rally, or like George Bush in front of his Mission Accomplished banner with everyone cheering and going along with the belief that we've "won" and the war is over--truth be damned!

This is incorrect. Allow me, as a fairly objective insider to explain what most people in that crowd (I certainly can't speak for all) are feeling:

Imagine, for a moment, that you were on a bus. You see the bus driver, we'll call him GW, drinking. He keeps drinking beer, getting more and more drunk. He starts to speed. "You're speeding!" Some shout, pointing at the dial. "No I'm not!" he insists, ignoring them. The bus begins to swerve, more people shout, but he shouts back, drunkenly, "I know what I'm doing and I don't care what you think! I'm driving!" Some passangers hiss to those objecting, "just let him drive"--either ignoring that he's drunk or believing that he can do it even if he is drunk. But it gets worse, and worse. Now a lot of people are objecting. "I'm taking us where I want to go!" he insists. The bus gets faster, and he's directing it toward disaster. Finally, he aims the bus right at this building and jams down the gas petal.

Now everyone on the bus is screaming. The bus is careening out of control and we're all gonna die! GW finally vacates his seat. A sober driver--we'll call him Obama--jumps into the seat. "I can't get the gas petal back up. So I'm going to shift it, work the break and try a few things with the wheel that might help to slow us down!" he says. All these things sound rational. They might work. But most important, the person in that driver's seat is sane, sober and focused on slowing down the bus. He's not a drunk who insists that his way is the right and only way, no matter what the facts show, and to hell with what we want. He is thinking about saving us!

The building is now very close. We can't avoid the crash. But in that moment, everyone in the bus is feeling *hope* and on the bus driver's side. Not because we all believe the crash has been averted. Not because we think Obama is magically going to stop it cold. Not because we feel how wonderful it is to be part of a crowd in the clouds looking down on others.....We feel hope and unity and faith in Obama because there is someone in the driver's seat who will, maybe, just maybe, help us to survive this.

That is what we're thinking and feeling.

You don't get it. You keep trying to force a square peg into a round hole by making an assumption about the intention behind the original quotation.

 

[Guest]

I thought Williams' composition was rather good, myself. Now, keep in mind that they were playing outside in cold weather under a fixed schedule. Chamber pieces are supposed to be heard in a chamber in comfort and should be a lot lengthier than that. And Williams is good for making cinematic scores, which is what it was making me think of. I would love to hear a longer version of that piece and it will no doubt be offered up as a CD or a music file download in the near future.

I do agree about the poem. It didn't catch me until that brilliant line about what if love was the most powerful word. I think they should've put it somewhere else in the program and had someone else with more commanding range speak it.

I loved the piece, too.

And such performers! It's a treat just to hear Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma perform. I'm not as familiar with Gabriela Montero but her playing was exceptional too, of course. I really loved the amazing clarinet sound of Anthony McGill as he introduced the Simple Gifts theme - gotta love how Williams weaves a composition.

It was a very nice ethnically diverse group, as well. Kind of like the entire event.

 

[cloudy]

You don't get it. You keep trying to force a square peg into a round hole by making an assumption about the intention and the wisdom that underlies the original quotation.

Then explain exactly what you meant by it. Instead of saying, over and over, "You just don't get it," explain what you meant. It shouldn't be hard to do.

 

[cloudy]

This is so damn cool: 44 Presidents

I liked the composition, too, but then, I like most of Williams work. I'm with Sarah - McGill's playing was lovely.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Then explain exactly what you meant by it. Instead of saying, over and over, "You just don't get it," explain what you meant. It shouldn't be hard to do.

He'd rather quote someone else he thinks is smarter, and then point at that quote and say, "I understand it because I'm smart like the person I quoted; you are too stupid to understand us."

This type of arguing saves him from actually forming a logical argument. It's the textual equivalent of flinging poo.

 

[shereads]

Aretha's hat rocked.

Here it is on some former presidents:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/seanmaguire/some-welcome-relief-to-the-cold-south-dakota-winte-zx0-598

 

[shereads]

My take on the naysayers and doubters and haters right now is that it all comes down to race.

Sure, some of it is racism. But consider this: Bush's approval rating bottomed out at around 18% - the same percentage of people polled this week who said they have "low expectations" of Obama's presidency.

There is a rock-hard core of people who identify so closely with W, and whatever mysterious facet of his presidency gave them faith right to the end, that no evidence will convince them he was a less than stellar choice. If an Obama presidency is abhorrent to this group, so would a Clinton presidency have been - or a McCain presidency, for that matter. These are the people who couldn't get behind McCain's campaign until he added Sarah Palin to the ticket. They aren't anti-black so much as they are anti-smart.