Jan

And it’s done – Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States!!!

He swore to uphold the Constitution which once would’ve labeled him only 3/5 of a human being, on the steps of a building built by slaves. The images of the crowd were amazing – two solid miles of people packed in, feeling the hope and promise of what this man has accomplished, and hopefully will continue to accomplish. They’re saying more than 2 million people were there in person, and more people watched this on TV than have EVER watched ANYTHING else.

His speech was, of course, awe-inspiring. I like his message of picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and re-building. I think he has very good plans for public works projects that will both create jobs in the short term and provide us with technological and other improvements in the medium- and long-term. I LOVE that he talked, right in this address, about restoring science to its rightful place! My whole field, will hopefully benefit from that, after 8 years of painful neglect. I think it is awesome that he sent the message to the world that we are ready to lead again. But I also like that he says we won’t apologize for our way of life, and the message of building not destroying is an excellent message on terrorism. The quote from George Washington’s speech at Valley Forge was incredibly powerful, and his translation of that into what we are facing today was masterful, and very apt. Yes, some of it was strongly worded, but it needed to be – it IS a big split with the last 8 years. That’s what we all voted for and have been wanting and waiting for.

Other key moments of the day –

1. Aretha Franklin singing My Country ‘Tis of Thee – anyone who didn’t get chills wasn’t listening!

2. Yitzak Perlman & YoYo Ma playing together – how often does that happen? They were truly remarkable. You could see the joy on YoYo Ma’s face. And the John WIlliams composition did an excellent job of capturing the feelings of hope that abound today.

3. Obama hugged W at the end. I almost felt sorry for W in that moment – but not quite. He did bring it on himself, and that 22% final approval rating speaks for itself. Even with the classy handling of W, Obama barely even acknowledged Cheney – as it should be. And speaking of Cheney…

4. Dick Cheney in a wheelchair. I know, it’s only temporary (he had an accident moving into his new mansion), but it was a fitting way for him to go out of office. More fitting would be crawling like the snake he is, but at least there is some justice sometimes, however small. The newscasters talked at length about how that was NOT how he wanted to go out. How that guy sleeps at night is still beyond me, but … he’s gone. I’m (gleefully) moving on.

5. The ultra-right-wing Chief Justice had one job today … how do you mess up the Presidential Oath of Office?!!

6. Obama’s demeanor throughout it all – very calm, very confident, very reassuring. I think he gave us the very strong message that it won’t be easy, and it won’t be instant, but that we can get through this.

7. W getting on the helicopter – I felt more relief than anything, but it was still a nice moment. And, again, very classy of Obama to escort him out.

  

Related posts:

1. Change Has Come to America
2. After two long years, a new President…
3. In case any of you still aren’t true believers…
4. No way. No how. No McCain.
5. Debate # 3 …

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