to be one to see through the rhetorical bravado, manage to listen to what was actually said and implied, and find something to disagree with in Obama's speech today. Everyone's soooo on the Obama-trail, and it's so easy to get caught up in the rhetorics and just nod mindlessly to everything because it sounds cool. I really really tried. I listened with my "ok so what is he REALLY saying?"-hearing aid on.

And I failed miserably. I am beyond impressed with what i've seen and heard from this man so far.

But I have to be a negative bitch. I simply have to. It's in my nature. So: "Who the hell did facts and background check for the speech delivered by that first minister/priest/whatever who spoke??"

Yes, that's the best I can do. I feel pathetic.

There's little doubt that Obama delivers good speeches, written by good speechwriters, and his inaugural speech was no exception.

But the media has set such ridiculously high expectations of him, casting him as a political messiah, that he's bound to fail. And Europeans (who seem oddly obsessed with our internal politics) seem to have taken this even further than the American public has.

If you want to happy with our new president, keep your expectations realistic. If Obama's administration manages to achieve even half the things he has promised, I would be stunned.

Hee hee! Great speech, but I expected nothing less. I loved the little dig at Bush about not sacrificing our ideals for our safety.

I couldn't bring myself to listen to the Warren dude's prayer. There was another Reverend I heard on NPR yesterday that was also giving a prayer and I wanted to hear his, but I haven't found any video clips yet. He was someone very close to MLK.

I do also love how President Obama included non-believers in his speech. :)

I wish I could've seen Michele's dress without the coat.

Yes, the press is completely in love with Obama, except Fox news. On my local fox station the anchor was interviewing some political analyst and said something like "Is Obama's inauguration being overhyped"? Only but more surly than that. The political analyst said, "Yeah, it's a lot of hype but it deserves it". I thought that was kind of funny. I guess they didn't fish around for someone more in line with their sentiments.

Oh, and Aretha Franklin sounded horrible. If they wanted a famous black singer, surely they could've picked one that isn't pushing 70 and still has some voice left.

But the media has set such ridiculously high expectations of him, casting him as a political messiah, that he's bound to fail. And Europeans (who seem oddly obsessed with our internal politics) seem to have taken this even further than the American public has.

If you want to happy with our new president, keep your expectations realistic. If Obama's administration manages to achieve even half the things he has promised, I would be stunned.

Actually, we don't care much about the internal politics of the us, but it's not exactly weird that the rest of the world cares what direction the most powerful nation in the world indicates that it'll move in. As long as the half he delivers is the foreign policy and international and global affairs part, we'll not consider that a 50% success rate, we'll consider it a 100% one.

Hee hee! Great speech, but I expected nothing less. I loved the little dig at Bush about not sacrificing our ideals for our safety

“We Reject as False the Choice between Our Safety and Our Ideals”

e liked it toos! :)

I also liked the fact he mentioned non-believers when he was talking about including everyone. From what I heard tonight, that's the first time non-believers have EVER gotten mentioned in a president's inaugural address. Woot!

Oh, and Aretha Franklin sounded horrible. If they wanted a famous black singer, surely they could've picked one that isn't pushing 70 and still has some voice left.
I didn't get to hear her but my friends seemed to like it.

It was good, and its hard not to be excited... but I think the biggest reason is that my standards are set so low now.

It's fitting that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court messed up the oath (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/21/MNAF15E20I.DTL&tsp=1), considering how he mangles other portions of the Constitution.

Yeah! I thought at first that Obama had messed it up, but my lawyer friend set me straight.

I also liked the fact he mentioned non-believers when he was talking about including everyone. From what I heard tonight, that's the first time non-believers have EVER gotten mentioned in a president's inaugural address. Woot!How sad that we should get excited when, at the most important official government event in years, after hearing a Christian preacher give a sermon, and after our leaders swear to gods on bibles on Christian oaths given by other Christian officials, the president gives us the tiniest perfunctory nod.

We make up 15% of the U.S. population and he actually mentioned us (in a non-derogatory manner, unlike his predecessors)! Oh joy. :rolleyes: He's gone one step beyond Ahmadinejad, who denies even the existence of his minorities.

Exactly!

I don't know who is more oppression and bigoted, the Religious Right or the Religious Left.

I have seen more religiosity, preachers, reverends, prayers, and sermons with this new President than any other going back to Reagan.

I tell you what, there is nothing to trust in a man or woman who believes in ghosts, spirits, demons, and bases their standards of life or living on 2000 or 3000 year old texts written by starving dehydrated delusional hairy Middle Eastern hippies living in the desert.

But considering that the modern media elite, the NYT, LATimes, CNN, MSNBC and NewsWeek just almost got actual photos and footage of our new President walking on water and making fish and bread out of thin air, what else is old. I bet you that even Rachell Maddow would go straight for a chance to fvck Obama, soon as Keith Blabberman stops sucking his holy dick.

I was wondering how those musicians, like Yo-yo Ma, were able to perform so well in that bitter cold. As a former wind player myself, I know what happens to your instrument in the cold. It's hard to keep it in-tune because the heat from your body/breathe tends to change the shape of the instrument, and the cold works to contract it. Besides, wood wind instruments could easily split if they're played in bitter cold.

Not to mention the fact your fingers are so damn cold they are numb!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008661441_band23.html

Too funny!

http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/political-pictures-moral-always-use-notecards.jpg