Inauguration Day Open Thread
Emmy -- January 20th, 2009
Post your thoughts, feelings, and hopes for the next four years.
89 Responses to “Inauguration Day Open Thread”
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Can someone explain why the outgoing President leaves right after the swearing in. Seems like all of the past Presidents would stick around and party.
Hey Emmy!
Yes We Did!!!
Ohhhh Baahhh Maaahhh!!!!
Ohhhh Baahhh Maaahhh!!!!
Ohhhh Baahhh Maaahhh!!!!
LOL Lowell. I started this just for you!
I had never thought the Bush administration had any grasp of metaphor until I saw Cheney being rolled out in a wheelchair.
I almost fainted…..
Emmy, I was at the inauguration of Bush 41. As I recall, Reagan took off immediately afterward.
The tradition goes way back. The king is dead, long live the king. Out with the old … Only one president at a time.
Not to mention: Get out of town before sundown.
Well I was watching ABC and they said it was a fairly new tradition. Guess they had that wrong. It makes sense I guess, but I’d like to see them all cut a rug.
Brent, I don’t recall seeing you there, but I do recall Reagan leaving in the helicopter early in the proceeding.
I don’t like expressing my political views online too much anymore, but I will say this: yay.
The departure custom goes back at least to Truman. He and wife Bess got on a train back to Missouri.
Too bad Chief Justice Roberts had a case of the nerves.
Yeah but I think it made it a very human moment. Can you imagine standing up there in front of all of those people. As he was walking down the hall to come out, I was thinking I would have had to stop and throw up in the corner.
I think it comes with the job. Part of why people that hold such high office require a strong…(pardon the pun)…constitution.
And to be clear it was Roberts that flubbed the lines, not Obama.
nice benediction from joseph lowery. we posted youtubes of today’s benediction, along w/ his talk at coretta scott king’s funeral, when he said (w/ g.w. sitting before him): “We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. … But Coretta knew, and we know, that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war, billions more, but no more for the poor.”
hey, ¡i think i just forgot about rick warren!
The benediction was awesome.
And let the joyous news spread.
Wow what a sad turn of events with Kennedy and Byrd.
I meant to say with Kennedy having the seizure.
?
Senator Kennedy had a seizure that continued as he was put on the ambulance. Bryd was apparently so distraught that he left as well.
Hi everyone!
I went to the JMU Festival viewing location, and it was surprisingly not crowded at all. One student said they hadn’t advertised the locations well on campus.
Today is such a wonderful day, and I woke up before my alarm went off, excited about the inauguration!
Obama sure is up against a tough set of issues, so it will be a struggle to come out of these 4 years having made some positive impact. Despite the list of problems going on right now, I think America has more hope that we’ll survive these “tough times” because the calm confident and competent Obama is now leading us and showing our best face to the world, and I’m confident he’ll live up to the high standards expected of him now. Great speech today, too!
Out with the old, in with the new!
-Renee
P.S. I hope Kennedy and Byrd are both OK. The day had been going so well.
P.P.S. Cool Photosynth of pics from the event being created by CNN. Click on a thumbtack icon, click ‘full screen’ icon, click play.
http://photosynth.net/inauguration.aspx
Argh, I really want to hear more about those two senators. All I’m getting is ultra-vague information from every source possible, and I haven’t actually heard anything about Byrd aside from this blog yet.
I was at Clementine’s and there was a really good turnout. Very positive bunch of people. Loved the speech, glad to see we have such an inspirational speaker at the helm now. His delivery is just about as good as it could possibly be.
I heard about Byrd right as I turned on ABC from a brief cartoon break. Haven’t heard anything since, but I left the house for a while.
Blessed be the Messiah, as the Dow Jones falls 332 points on the day of the Second Coming.
Sigh.
Knew that was coming.
From the DNR
http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=34820&CHID=1
“According to a CNN poll released Monday, more than two-thirds of American blacks say they now believe King’s vision for race relations has been fulfilled since his famous 1963 speech.”
Can we finally stop with the cries of racism, discrimination, and calls for reparations?
Obama won the election, has been sworn in and is now POTUS. Can we stop with the gloating? Seriously how many little punks do I have to deal with making the letter O with their fingers/hands and giving me a snide look as if they expect their world to become better at my expense?
Do people really expect me to be open and caring, when they constantly dredge up the past that I was not alive for? To then toss it in my face as if I am responsible?
Well maybe that more than 2/3rds of them will go away.
I dunno; our last 43 presidents were white guys, but THEY haven’t stopped complaining.
Obama
Obama
Yeh
Yeh
Obama
President Obama
The future’s lookin good!
Jeremy, one day you’re going to wake up and I hope you do not have to do it by experiencing what the Christain and Newsom families have.
But even in your jaded world, I think you’ll have to agree that a crime which happened two years ago is far different than a historical event that ended 144 years ago.
So Jeremy, are you capable of commenting on the DNR article and my questions or not?
I’d be happy to address your questions.
“Can we finally stop with the cries of racism, discrimination, and calls for reparations?”
As soon as racism and discrimination and the effects of exploitation stop, sure.
“Can we stop with the gloating?”
No.
“Seriously how many little punks do I have to deal with making the letter O with their fingers/hands and giving me a snide look as if they expect their world to become better at my expense?”
15.
“Do people really expect me to be open and caring, when they constantly dredge up the past that I was not alive for?”
No, none of us expect you to be open and caring.
“To then toss it in my face as if I am responsible?”
You are responsible for your own actions.
Sorry for not answering your questions earlier; I thought they might be rhetorical.
Several hours of surgery and the best doctors in the world can’t get the smile off my face….
Rock the smile Lowell. I’ve let some of the comments get me down, but Jeremy just cracked me up so I’m good now.
I honestly don’t expect Obama to solve all the problems we have, but I don’t see why it’s not OK for us to have some faith and some hope that things can be better. If that feeling makes us take one more step in our own lives towards a goal for the common good then that’s a lot of steps. Believing in someone doesn’t have to mean you think they’re going to do it all alone.
Emmy,
Obama,
Obama,
Yeh,
Yeh,
Obama…
You’re not alone, we’re in this together!
You and I, and a whole bunch of other folks who care deeply about the future of our children, and their children, just worked our hearts out and made history happen!
Yeh,
Yeh,
Obama…
“Seriously how many little punks do I have to deal with making the letter O with their fingers/hands and giving me a snide look as if they expect their world to become better at my expense?…To then toss it in my face as if I am responsible?”
For your information, there are many more people than just “little punks”–whatever that’s supposed to mean–whose hopes are riding on Obama. I suppose you have paid absolutely no attention to any of what Obama says, including his inaugural address, because if you listened, and I mean really listened, you would know that this man is calling for national unity to return to the values that we have held sacred for so long and to benefit, for the first time in a very long time, the interests of the general population of the United States, not just an elite few or just those of a single race or creed. He has not called for racial hostility. He has called for Americans to work together, in fact. If you don’t heed the call, then that’s just fine because, in the end, the only person to blame is yourself for that, not Obama supporters, whether they be black, white, Asian, or Hispanic. In fact, I’m not too concerned about whether or not you do, for there are plenty of Americans who will, in fact, heed the call because this man, our president, has inspired them so and because hatred and cynicism has not nor will it ever bring them down.
Obama will not make good on all his promises. We know that. That’s obvious. He could be a horrible president. Perhaps not. I don’t expect him to be perfect because, really, that’s not possible. If he makes decisions that I think are poor or do not promote America’s values or constitution, then I will call him on it (of course, not on this blog). What I do know, though, is that he has inspired many Americans and even people of other nations to promote not only a change of the policies of the past eight years but also to make those policies reshape America’s role in the world and make the country better for Americans themselves. We’ve yet to see if he’ll be an effective national leader or a complete bust who plunges the nation into disaster and chaos. But it starts now.
My long comment does not appear to be going through, and it’s making me extremely frustrated. I’m pretty sure there is no word limit or something on this site, so what’s going on?
Beautiful, beautiful day.
Lovable and intelligent First Family safely established.
Couldn’t be prouder of my country, my fellow voters, my new President, and my swing state of Virginia!
“We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.”
Breslau the site has been acting up some the past few days. It appears someone rescued it from moderation, or the site caught up. Sorry about that. I’ve noticed some people’s comments have been going in twice so somethings wonky somewhere.
“Do people really expect me to be open and caring?”
No.
What were your favorite quotes from today? Mine was:
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
Tolerance and curiosity!!!
Draegn88, I just wrote out a long and thoughtful response to your questions, but my computer cut off just before I submitted it, so I’ll summarize:
-I watched over 12 hours of TV broadcasts today and was also in 2 different crowds at events today, and I only saw peaceful hopeful happy faces, and didn’t witness any “gloating” so I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
-Black people recognize that Obama couldn’t have won the presidency without the support of millions of white people, so his win is not seen as a victory over whites, but as a victory of a black candidate being able to win the support of so many white people
-Today’s events were a huge step toward racial equality, but as the lady in the DNR article (and countless others today) said, there is still a long way to go. MLK’s dream has been realized in a larger way in possibly a faster time than even he could’ve imagined, but there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome. Also, many many people are still alive today that were alive during segregation times, and it’s not like discrimination has completely disappeared now. I don’t know when you were born, but I was born in 1982 and I have personally witnessed blatant acts of racism in my lifetime, so it’s not like racist acts were only committed by people in the past and now it’s all over.
-Yes, I would hope you would become more open and understanding and loving like Jesus told us to be, and if we were all able to move in the direction of compassion and away from judgment, a lot of problems in our world could be resolved.
I really hope anyone that didn’t hear Obama’s address today will read the full text here:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hKUtZaMLuh6KEQgRzqqEq1yTZ_2gD95R7TIO0
Renee, Breslau thanks for your comments.
Everyone else, you wanted change, you have it. Now, what are you going to do if it turns out it’s not the kind of change you wanted to have?
Change may not necessarily be good.
Renee: I can appreciate the sentiment that “there is still a long way to go,” but towards what exactly? How will we know when the dream has been fulfilled?
I enjoyed the speech. I thought it was very inclusive. One of my favorite parts:
“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”
There are those that will say my hope is narrow, short-sighted, and naive. Yet I remain hopeful that the “waking up” is done by those that insist upon viewing the world through the blurry lens of fear. Because in truth, we are all one.
I hope that some come to understand the existence of ‘white privilege’ and it can be acknowledged within society without being a threat. It is also my hope that we are able to celebrate our diversity and differences, yet focus on our commonalities and shared values, and realize that it is our shared history that provides context and relevancy to our current time.
Far too long, and far too often, does the noise of fear and ignorance rise above reason and compassion. Sadly, as a reader of some local blogs, I find many are filled with ego, suspicion, and intolerance – in a strange play for some sort of imaginary power play or influence – “me” always above “we” it seems, or demonization of “them” and “they.” It’s sad that this energy, from clearly talented people, continues to beat it’s head against the wall. It’s my hope that we can eventually heal from these cancers that collectively eat away at our goodwill and ability to problem solve.
Ye Party Zealots, thus it fares with you,
When Party Rage too warmly you pursue;
Both Sides club Nonsense and impetuous Pride,
And Folly joins whom Sentiments divide.
You vent your Spleen as Monkeys when they pass,
Scratch at the mimic Monkey in the Glass,
While both are one; and henceforth be it known,
Fools of both Sides shall stand as Fools alone.
Josh, you said “I can appreciate the sentiment that “there is still a long way to go,” but towards what exactly?”
Towards a time when people aren’t treated differently just because of the color of their skin.
Why are you so negative Draegn88? All the changes may not be good, but I guarantee some of them will be. I really don’t think some people understand the idea of hope. Hope is what will carry our nation through these dark times. Believing that better times are on the other side. But what hope can also do is motivate. Motivate us to pitch in when someone needs help. Our country won’t move forward through laws being changed or commands being given, but by all of us coming together to pull us out of this…that includes you Draegn.
Some of you folks are waxing quite poetic.
Fine neighborhood, this hburgnews.com.
Josh, by the way, I also really liked that part of his speech.