Inauguration day:

Posted By: Kathleen DavidPosted On:

And so…it begins.

11:23: With wind chill, it’s 14 degrees. This is ridiculous. Enough with tradition. Move elections to March and have the inauguration to May. Everyone has to be freezing their áššëš off because 200 years ago George Washington didn’t feel the cold?

11:26: Shots of the outgoing First family, walking away while trucks load up their stuff. May I say on behalf of everyone: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Rest of comments below the cut line.

11:28: Well, at least people aren’t booing Laura Bush or Lynn Cheney.

11:31: Michelle looks a bit underdressed for 14 degrees. I hope she doesn’t regret not wearing a heavier coat.

11:32: They’re running 16 minutes late, according to NBC. So since Bush’s term expires at noon, that could mean that for 16 minutes, from 12 to 12:16…what? Nancy Pelosi is in charge?

11:35: “Hail to the chief, he’s the one we all say hail to.”

11:36: Has Ðìçk Cheney ever looked more like an evil mastermind than when he’s being pushed in a wheelchair? He just needs to be stroking a white cat.

11:37: Kathleen says that if people are booing, he can be told that they’re actually just cheering, “Boooosh!”

11:41: Want to have an idea what the crowd looked like the last night of “The Adventurers Club?” Check out the crowd on TV. I don’t envy them.

11:39: I like the thumbs up from Biden. Maybe we can call him “Joe the Thumber.”

11:41: I like all the introductions. I keep waiting for him to say stuff like, “…and the Rockettes. The Muppets. The Nelson Riddle Orchestra.”

11:43: Barack H. Obama. I was wondering how they were going to finesse that.

11:46: I wonder how many people are actually there on the National Mall. Anyone have a count?

11:48: Oh definitely let us pray.

11:49: Separation of church and state. Don’t make me laugh.

11:53: The song’s name is “America.” Sheesh. Love the hat, though. Only Aretha could make that hat work. Well, her and Eddie Izzard.

11:56: Freedom’s ringing. Could somebody answer it, please? I’m watching this thing.

11:57: It’d be interesting if, out of reflex, the supreme court tried to put Bush in just out of habit.

11:58: So he used Biden’s middle name. Let’s see if he says “Barack Hussein Obama.”

11:59: It’d be cool if he kicked Cheney out of the wheelchair.

12:00: The Freedom Clock just started counting upwards. I wasn’t expecting that for some reason.

12:01: Of course Yo Yo Ma is playing. He played on “The West Wing.”

12:05: He said his middle name. Good.

12:06: I think Obama got distracted by the ambulance for a moment.

12:07: Woo hoo! Party at the Obamas tonight!

12:07: They’re shooting! Quick! Get him–oh It was planned. Never mind.

12:07: I wonder if he’s got a teleprompter or if he’s memorized it.

12:08: We’re at war with FX?

12:10: “Sapping of confidence.” That’s as apt a description I’ve heard of the last eight years.

12:11: I’d love to see them cut to Bush when Obama is talking about how out of whack our priorities have been.

12:13: We have to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and start all over again? There’s a song lyric to live by, from the film “Swing Time.” Perhaps we should also consider making our national anthem a silly old ant because we have High Hopes.

12:16: The country cannot prosper long when it only favors the prosperous. Good line.

12:17: even better, the line about not tossing aside our morals as a country in the interests of safety. I was waiting for him to quote Ben Franklin.

12:19: Which is an eloquent way of saying, “Osama bin Laden, you can suck it.”

12:20: “Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not on what you can destroy.” Well, they haven’t so far, but it would be a nice change of pace.

12:23: That’s the first TV angle I’ve seen where you can clearly see the bullet proof glass around him.

12:24: “The knowledge that God calls upon us to shape an uncertain destiny.” Nice.

12:24: “A man whose father, sixty years ago, might not have been served in local restaurants can now take this oath.” So true. And let us also remember that sixty years ago in many states his father would not have been allowed to marry his mother. Thank God such unreasoning restrictions against marriage don’t exist in…what? Two states? Three?

12:26: Good speech. Not too long. Hit some high points. Nothing that was “Ask not what your country can do for you,” but then JFK did set a pretty high bar.

12:33: This guy is…interesting.

12:35: I wonder if anyone on the dais–the politicians, poets, ministers, anyone–are tempted to say something to the effect of, “We live in dangerous, uncertain times, and it’s THAT GUY’S FAULT RIGHT THERE! BUSH! HE SCREWED IT UP!”

12:40: Play ball!

In the words of the greatest president ever: Okay, what’s next?

PAD

296 comments on “Inauguration day:”

  3. Peter David: Everyone has to be freezing their áššëš off because 200 years ago George Washington didn’t feel the cold?

    Michelle looks a bit underdressed for 14 degrees. I hope she doesn’t regret not wearing a heavier coat.
    Luigi Novi: It reminds me of William Henry Harrison’s inauguration. He was portrayed in the election as a simple country guy, and wanted to show everyone how learned he was, so he gave a two hour speech. Thing is, it was in the freezing rain, and he didn’t have an overcoat or hat. He ended up catching a cold, which turned into pneumonia, and died one month into his presidency.

  4. The inauguration used to be in March. It was moved up (I think) during FDR’s Administration.

  8. The booing of Bush was ungracious and shouldn’t have happened. I also should not have laughed.

  9. Peter David said: “11:32: They’re running 16 minutes late, according to NBC. So since Bush’s term expires at noon, that could mean that for 16 minutes, from 12 to 12:16…what? Nancy Pelosi is in charge?”

    According to what I just heard Anderson Cooper say, Obama becomes President at 12 noon even if he hasn’t taken the Oath of Office yet, by some long standing tradition (don’t know if that’s just tradition or true law, though)

  11. Did anyone else catch President Carter told walking by President Clinton without even looking at the guy. Sometimes politics are funny!

    R-

  12. Yes, it was March until FDR.

    It was moved up because communications and transportation had improved to the point that it didn’t take 4 months for everybody to convene to make things official any longer.

  14. Nobody becomes President automatically, they have to be sworn in. That’s why LBJ was sworn in on Airforce 1, he said he didn’t want the country to be without a President any longer than necessary.

    I guess if a catastrophe happened in the middle of the ceremony and they had to stop and go do emergency government acts, they’d work with Obama as President until he got a moment to say the oath. So I suppose it’s a formality in actual practice.

  16. “Does Laura Bush own any other suit?”

    No, they were all snatched back to AK by Palin.

  17. I can’t believe they copped out like that. It’s not like we don’t know his middle name. Henry right?

    R=

  18. 11:43: Barack H. Obama. I was wondering how they were going to finesse that.

    I was going to say, don’t they usually give the full name (or names, in the case of GHWB)?

  20. “11:43: Barack H. Obama. I was wondering how they were going to finesse that.

    I was going to say, don’t they usually give the full name (or names, in the case of GHWB)?”

    They had used initials earlier for the two George’s.

  25. GMTA – I was just saying the same thing about the hat to a coworker.

    Have to wonder though… How will the process/traditions change when we elect a non-christian president?

  27. Katherine’s already said that she wants Aretha’s hat. I figure they’ll be all the rage.

  28. As Ardra said to the Ventaxians in Devil’s Due(TNG) (an appropriate analogy for the Bush presidency)………..”Time’s up!”

  31. Living in Japan makes this difficult. The NHK coverage has one of those amazing people who can do instant translations talking over everyone…so I had to search around on the net for a working feed. The American feeds (ABC, MSNBC, CBS, etc.) don’t work on my 7 year old compy…the BBC feed, with the lag from Washington to London, then the lag from London to here, was just way too out of sync.

    Listening to Minnesota Public Radio, watching NHK, following this blog. Too much. But I prefer it to being in the crowd, I think.

  32. I’m as big a fan of Aretha’s as anyone’s but really, this is a bit much.

    That and her voice just isn’t what it used to be.

    The Freedom Clock is starting to count upwards by the by.

  33. Hmmm…..so instead of just remaining at zero, the Clock is now counting up. Interesting. I thought it would just stay at zero.

  34. Christine: Have to wonder though… How will the process/traditions change when we elect a non-christian president?

    Miguel O’Hara will have died of old age before that happens.

  35. Watching this in the UK on the BBC and they said that he’ll be called “Hussein” when he takes his oaths.

  36. 11:58: So he used Biden’s middle name. Let’s see if he says “Barack Hussein Obama.”

    If Obama asked him to, he will (and I bet he did).

  37. I guess the Freedom Clock counting up kinda makes sense. It’s telling us how much freedom we’ve had.

  38. Yahoo — Cheney is no longer VP as of a few minutes ago. Whew.

    Oh — and as for a count on the Mall, my brother-in-law is one of them. Lucky bášŧárd.

  39. 12:00: The Freedom Clock just started counting upwards. I wasn’t expecting that for some reason.

    Yeah, I was keeping it in an open window because I was thinking it would do something pretty funky.

  40. ABC just noted that the White House website has just changed to recognize Obama as President.

  41. And…

    YEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAA!

    P.S. Lisa just pointed out that her brother’s not just on the Mall — he’s in the ticket-holders area. Lucky bášŧárd squared.

  46. 12:00: The Freedom Clock just started counting upwards. I wasn’t expecting that for some reason.

    All things considered, I’d say it’s actually very appropriate.

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