President Obama: Day one

In case you missed the inauguration, you can read what our President said here. My two cents:

• Epic history. When our parents were born, a black man becoming POTUS was inconceivable. Now, it is reality. NFL coaches keep their jobs when they win and get canned when they lose. Sad, but race remains a consideration when hiring. If a black man isn't considered among the list of potential coaches, many label the owner as racist. I long for the day when we start assessing the man based upon what he does rather than his skin tone. That goes for our current President.
  


• Brilliant rhetoric. He knows how to deliver when it comes to public oratory.


• God. Wow. Had a Republican included that many references to God or the Bible (despite twisting Paul's words way out of context, the "...setting aside of childish things"), the left would be in the middle of a collective spleen rupture. So this begs the question: why the almost over-emphasis on things biblical?


• Stand and cheer moment. "We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you." I hope that will be the case.
  


• "Grab your wallet" quotes. The purple comments are mine. I included the bold-type to emphasize a few points.
  


• "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." Does that mean I haven't been taxed enough yet?


• "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified." Sounds Kennedy-esque, doesn't it? But what happened to whether or not something is right or wrong? "Does it work" is utilitarian. It's pragmatism. And often, it leads to corruption. And, by the way, it's not the government's responsibility to ensure I get a decent wage. It's mine. My family is my responsibility. BACK OFF!!
  


• And the kicker... "What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship." Everything in bold can be loosely translated, "There will be no griping when we bleed you of your income to socialize our nation." What will be the final price? We'll see in eight years (yes, I said eight).
  

• Rick Warren. Unashamed about Christ. Sweet! Long-winded, though. Seemed like a mini-sermon (read it here).


• Joseph Lowery. He's the guy who did the benediction. If you think Warren was picked to appease conservatives, this gentleman sounded like he would be welcomed heartily in Jeremiah Wright's church of race and class delineations. Read his oratory here.
  


• Ted Kennedy. Pray for him. Collapsed during lunch having convulsions. Seems to be doing better this evening though still hospitalized.
  


• George Bush. Booed. Can you believe it? Like the Lakers vs. the Pistons. "Na-Na-Na-Na. Na-Na-Na-Na. Hey-ey-ey. Good-bye." At a change of power in the greatest nation on the earth?!? You've got to be kidding me. He served his nation for eight years and that's the send off he gets? I can think of a few gestures that I'd have wanted to return, but he remained the dignified man he's been for his entire tenure in office. Not that his eyes will ever make this blog, but "Thank you Mr. President for your faithful service to our nation. I and most of my readers appreciate your enormous sacrifice."

So what's it all mean? Not much. Day one is pomp and circumstance. Tomorrow implementation begins. It turns out that day two, in a bit of tragic irony, is the thirty-seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade.