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My Little Piece of Inaugural Paradise
Warning, this post is back dated I didn't have a chance to post until the next day.
Going to Washington to see the inauguration seemed like a great idea on November 5th of 2008. Fast forward to January of 2009 and watching the the thing go down on the television was the more sensible thing to do. Trapped at work in C-Town meant booking to the Palace Theater to catch a bit of history was the only decent option.
The set up at the Palace Theater was great, no lines and a fairly large screen to watch the inaugural coverage in HD. The crowd was a mixture of office dwellers, students and families. I got a kick out of reactions to the various dignitaries being introduced as they entered the seating area behind the dais. Cheers for President Carter, Big Dog and some snickering for the purple scarfed adorned Bush clan. The elder Bush seems to have aged considerably in the last few years.
In between observing the crowd at the Palace and checking the time I picked up some finer points of the scene unfolding on that colorful stage at the Capital. Silly David Brooks, he thinks Obama's brother-in-law was wearing a Princeton scarf. No David, his employer, Oregon State would take issue with that assumption (Paradise Drive, indeed). Who's foot was floating behind Senator Feinstein while she was speaking at the podium? Who let Newt in the good seats? Let's face it Cheney was trying to look like FDR in that wheelchair get up. I hear the chair runs on sneer power.
As the time for Obama to take the oath approached I checked my watch. The musical interlude right before the presidential oath was fantastic. I'll second the many observations that the quartet on stage represented a great slice of what America really looks like. It was a few minutes past noon when Barack Obama and Chief Justice Roberts faced each other to recite the oath of office. What followed was a puzzling and somewhat disturbing occurrence. How does the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court not get that oath right? The irony of a strict constructionist flubbing a passage that is directly quoted in the Constitution was not missed by Andrew Sullivan. What was even more intriguing was how Obama caught the screw up and gave Chief Justice Roberts a chance to correct himself.
The speech was somber and mechanical in nature but was complementary of his election night speech. I have to admit I was still kind of annoyed by the Oath debacle when I heard the speech live. I have found that more meaning is revealed after hearing it a second time. The ground has shifted beneath them, building not destroying and new ways forward are some of the themes that continue to echo in my mind today.
Going to Washington to see the inauguration seemed like a great idea on November 5th of 2008. Fast forward to January of 2009 and watching the the thing go down on the television was the more sensible thing to do. Trapped at work in C-Town meant booking to the Palace Theater to catch a bit of history was the only decent option.
The set up at the Palace Theater was great, no lines and a fairly large screen to watch the inaugural coverage in HD. The crowd was a mixture of office dwellers, students and families. I got a kick out of reactions to the various dignitaries being introduced as they entered the seating area behind the dais. Cheers for President Carter, Big Dog and some snickering for the purple scarfed adorned Bush clan. The elder Bush seems to have aged considerably in the last few years.
In between observing the crowd at the Palace and checking the time I picked up some finer points of the scene unfolding on that colorful stage at the Capital. Silly David Brooks, he thinks Obama's brother-in-law was wearing a Princeton scarf. No David, his employer, Oregon State would take issue with that assumption (Paradise Drive, indeed). Who's foot was floating behind Senator Feinstein while she was speaking at the podium? Who let Newt in the good seats? Let's face it Cheney was trying to look like FDR in that wheelchair get up. I hear the chair runs on sneer power.
As the time for Obama to take the oath approached I checked my watch. The musical interlude right before the presidential oath was fantastic. I'll second the many observations that the quartet on stage represented a great slice of what America really looks like. It was a few minutes past noon when Barack Obama and Chief Justice Roberts faced each other to recite the oath of office. What followed was a puzzling and somewhat disturbing occurrence. How does the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court not get that oath right? The irony of a strict constructionist flubbing a passage that is directly quoted in the Constitution was not missed by Andrew Sullivan. What was even more intriguing was how Obama caught the screw up and gave Chief Justice Roberts a chance to correct himself.
The speech was somber and mechanical in nature but was complementary of his election night speech. I have to admit I was still kind of annoyed by the Oath debacle when I heard the speech live. I have found that more meaning is revealed after hearing it a second time. The ground has shifted beneath them, building not destroying and new ways forward are some of the themes that continue to echo in my mind today.
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