January 20, 2009
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“The world has changed. . .
. . . and we must change with it.”
Doug and I have been listening on NPR to the Inauguration ceremony, although, thus far, I have not heard any priests of Apollo, nor of any other God, issuing any auguries.
The president himself, in the quotation above, and in much of the rest of his speech, did allude to what’s coming, but I don’t suppose there was any divination involved there. It doesn’t take a seer to see the magnitude of the work to come.
Elizabeth Alexander, in speaking of the pioneer spirit, spoke one of the most memorable (to me) lines of the day: “I know there’s something better up ahead.”
I woke today at 7:11 Alaska time, 11:11 in Washington, DC. The radio woke me as it was switched on. Doug had turned it on when his friends in the chat room he frequents began discussing what they were watching on TV. You may know, if you are not a newcomer to my site, that we only use our TV sets as monitors for video games and video players. When we moved in here, there was an antenna on a mast outside, and it received several broadcast channels until one winter a heavy snow load brought it down. On consideration, Doug and I concluded that we were better off without it.
My visual glimpses of today’s hoopla are relayed second or third hand, from the radio personalities on the scene (who mentioned the colors of clothing worn by various political figures, and that there was someone in the Reflecting Pool) and, through Doug, from the internet chatters seeing it on TV. Doug hasn’t relayed much of the discussion, just a few highlights such as this:
[08:17:42] <Moogle> I love how after Obama basically slams Bush’s terror policies then the camera cuts to Bush for like 2 seconds
[08:17:51] <Moogle> And he’s got this total sour lemon face.He also mentioned that, while Obama was talking about harnessing the power of the sun, suddenly the sunlight was glinting off the flag pin on his lapel.
My usually blasé son, whose primary male role model was a man with flat affect, has been uncharacteristically involved in the politics this year and enthusiastic about Barack Obama. Since election day, at odd random moments, he would pause and with awe in his voice, say, “President-elect Barack Obama.” Today, after the speeches and prayers, when we moved back into our usual activities, he paused, and with that same awed voice, said, “President Barack Obama.”
Comments (14)
I took note of the shining, flashing lapel pin. It struck me.
As the sun rose this morning, I saw it dance along the horizon, rolling along the tops of the hills, shooting out waves of magnificent color. I got out of bed to find the cat box had Changed itself!
It was a pretty powerful speech. I noticed the sun glinting as well, it happened first during that line, but then a few other times while he was speaking. He had a couple of digs at Bush that I and my intern caught. There’s a weblog, http://www.americablog.com, that has the speech written in full. I watched it via cnn online.
whoo hoo me too. Loved that Bush was dethroned. Yeah for the world and peace too!
I watched it…on tv…I am trying to keep an open mind….the problem with being in the middle…people on either side have a hard time understanding either your reservations or your support of a person….I am looking rather then at the words but instead at the actions…and only time will tell there…although I do find his children rather well behaved…which to me is a good sign
@fairydragonstar - We are on the same page regarding watching what develops. Throughout the campaign, all I knew was that I did not want McCain/Palin to win. I have no preconceptions regarding what comes next.
I have not seen the Obama girls yet, but I have heard descriptions about the playfully affectionate way their father behaves with them, and that I find encouraging.
Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy…. what a way to upstage the new president, eh?
My family is pretty excited about the shift in power, even if one of them didn’t vote for him. We’re all happy we won’t hear any more “President-Elect Obama,” although I did make a joke about how I predict that FoxNews will keep using that outdated title until mid-July.
I’d say he is impressed with Obama.
He spoke common sense, and reminded us what America really was supposed to be. It was refreshing, because after the last 8 years, I had begun to think we had forgotten.
Everytime he spoke about what America was not about, I laughed to myself, thinking, “Yeah, Bush”.
@SuSu - Well I have been busy trying to avoid the Commercial/End All Be All Hype that seems to be surrounding him at the moment….it is almost to rock star proportions….he is a man.
I watch the interactions of his girls and while I do understand there is a lot of coaching of them there is a certain amount of self confidence that you just do not see in most kids of that age…I also was impressed with the clothing choices Michelle made an unknown designer…with classic lines…I realize not very important but I always find that if you watch the simple choices people make it can give you an insight on what thier personality is like
Our new POTUS is a totally awesome dude, IMHO.
BTW, I thumbed into Wasilla just now–NOW I can read the following blog!!!
in work the tv wouldn’t work so i missed out excepting excerpts during the news
thanks for sharing…want to see the sun shine on the lapel. Sassy
I know, awe. And that remark about if we turn our back on what makes us great, we are no longer great…or something like that, a dig at the Patriot Act if I ever did hear one.
I am one of the minority that doesn’t have faith that things will change for the better…and I have worry that the middle class will slip into the poverty class…I hope that I am wrong.