Jan 23 2009
Assimilating the Inaugural Excitement
My head is still spinning from all the excitement, the media coverage, the speeches, the parade and the personalities. Wow, what a day!
The millions of photos of the day will become treasured keepsakes for the masses of people who assembled in Washington. Thousands of people have shared their photos online. Not everyone sat in front of the television for eight hours that day, as I did. Frankly, I am pretty glad that I was not in Washington DC. I feel confined in an airplane or an elevator. A million people in one place? My home State of Montana does not have that many, in 147,000 square miles.
I was moved when one news reporter reminded us all that slaves had been used in the construction of both the capitol building and the White House, and that they had been housed in a pen adjacent to the site.
I was taken by surprise when the oath of office was flubbed, not once but twice, and was comforted by the fact that even the big guys can get nervous.
I noted that one reporter referred to Obama’s Inaugural Address as his “acceptance speech.” I laughed at that one.
I was offended by the analogy of the “Bush family perhaps feeling like the Romanov’s.” Not appropriate. Very bad form. Rude. Disrespectful, and not at all accurate. I think more than one reporter said this on more than one occasion. I wonder how many in the USA viewing audience understood what the reporter was talking about. Perhaps the world-wide audience is better educated.
Personally, I suspect that the new President will force members of the Washington DC news media to improve their competence level.
The new guy is a smart guy.
The inauguration was a snoozer. Let’s just hope Obama doesn’t turn out to be as a big a disaster as W. was.
http://politicalanimal.today.com/
I agree that Pres. Obama is very smart and I am looking forward to his administration in hope for real change.
I won’t lie, I’m a Liberal…but I like to consider myself a fair and middle-of-the-road type of Liberal…that ‘Romanov’ comment was way off and pretty rude. I also wonder if those reporters (or the people watching) even knew what was being said.
I have to question that because it seems in our culture these days, the history or the ‘where that comes from’ is often missed, overlooked or just plain ignored.
Great post!