President Barack Obama
January 20th, 2009I headed down to “the mall” this morning to watch President Obama swear in. The estimates I’ve heard is that there were two million people there. It felt like it.
We got a closer view of the inauguration from giant TV screens placed throughout the park and could hear the introductions, oaths and music from an omnipresent PA system. A older African American woman next to me wept tears of joy as Obama pledged to uphold the Constitution. It was very moving.
Some thoughts:
- There is no way that Hilary Clinton would’ve generated the kind of crowds and enthusiam seen today – even if she had run unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
- I’m a little unnerved by the elevation of Obama to Messiah in Chief. Maybe people need that but it strikes me as just plain weird.
- In that same vein, I’m thrown by the recurring assertion that Obama is the completion of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. One vendor was selling posters with the title, “The Dream Achieved.” I don’t think Obama himself would claim that his new station means that the work required to fulfill MLK’s dream is over. It’s a fantastic symbolic and substantive step but problems surely still abound.
- I don’t object to Rick Warren delivering the invocation. I object to there being any religious invocation at the ceremony and I object to Rick Warren ever being allowed near a microphone. If there were a God of Irony, Rick Warren would be run over by a Porpoise-driven Car.
- It’s nice to see Democrats waving flags.
- It’s scary to see anybody waving flags way too enthusiastically.
It was a terrific day for the country and, frankly, the world. I think Obama knows what he’s doing, is smart and is – most of all – mindful of the influence and historical significance of each move he makes. We haven’t had that in a President in a long time.
– Steve
Stumble it!
January 21st, 2009 at 12:32 am
I watched on TV in the Georgia Tech Student Center. I sat down around 10:30, and enjoyed the lead in a bit. But what I really enjoyed was watching my fellow students file into the viewing area as they got out of classes. About 20 people had been in the room when I first found a chair. By the time the President had finished his speech, there were over a hundred students packed into the room. It was quite a ceremony. And I agree with you about the invocation issue, though I very much enjoyed the benediction.
January 21st, 2009 at 8:17 am
This many people that excited about a leader always scares me.
I think Obama seems decent enough for a politician, and seems to at least take a moderated approach to everything instead of throwing himself at whatever poll issue comes up (see Hillary, McCain). And it will be nice to see someone who values science and, well, thinking, in the White House.
But the enthusiasm, and the media’s gleeful participation therein, still scares me.