Thanks to Hulu showing the Fox News blog, I learned that Dick Cheney's back injury is a sign that America is the kind of country where even the outgoing Richelieu/Moriarty has to move his own boxes. God bless our egalitarianism!
Also, I continue to be amazed at how well-behaved the Obama girls are.
Indeed unfair.
Should be a National Holiday.
I can't believe those crowds. I'm also amazed at how I can watch the Inauguration and comment on Unfogged at the same time.
Cheney's metamorphosis into Dr. Strangelove is now complete.
Cheney's wheelchair really gives him that Dr. Evil look. He should have done that years ago.
I suspect a Repetitive Motion Injury due to Shredding Program Related Activities.
ABC advises that Kennedy ate bacon on the morning of his Inauguration. It was a Friday, but there was a special dispensation from the Pope.
"Barack H. Obama"? C'mon, SAY THE NAME.
General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?
Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it iz, you know, a sacrifice requvi'ed for ze future of ze human race. I hasten to add zat zince each man vill be requvi'ed to do prodigious... service along zese lines, ze vimen vill have to be selected for zeir sexual characteristics which vill have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
Also, I continue to be amazed at how well-behaved the Obama girls are.
I'm half-tempted to start a rumor that the Obamas beat their children. It really is the only possible explanation.
14: I was just about to comment about how much I wish that she weren't involved.
How much will the invocation piss me off?
Sen. Feinstein, as MST3K informs us, is exactly one time a lady.
Can I turn the sound off for this bit?
Cheney's metamorphosis into Dr. Strangelove is now complete.
"Mein Fuhrer, I can't valk!"
max
['We'll meet again, dunno where, dunno when...']
Fucking Feinstein talking non-violence, fucking Rick Warren.
Rick Warren coming up! I heard Rev. Lowry on the radio yesterday saying that he would be timing Warren to see whether the two-minute limit were real.
Warren is not a moving speaker; he's pretty sucktacular actually. How did he get so influential?
Rick Warren looks AWFUL. Someone should have advised him about hat hair.
Not by preaching to the likes of you, JM.
Rick Warren looks AWFUL
He has always looked to me like an anti-role-model, like one of those sad-sack TV dads.
I'm mentally inserting "except homos" at the end of Rick's sentences.
I'm completely gleeful about how godawful Warren looks. You know how everyone is always making fun of Michael Moore for looking like a fat blue-collar guy? Shit, I bet Moore would at least get a goddamn haircut if he'd been asked to speak at the inauguration.
His speech rhythms are really weird.
Thank God that's done. Warren made even the Lord's Prayer sound trite.
those sad-sack TV dads.
I think the goatee-("circle beard" technically)-on-a-chubby-face does a lot of the work there. The being-a-douchebag helps, too.
I've never heard him speak before. How utterly pedestrian.
Aretha ought to wash the Warren taste out of my brain.
Why's she signing our anthem? What happened to the dawn's early light?
My life feels so purpose-driven now!
Aretha is so awesome. And can I get a shout-out for her hat?!?
No ecumenical shit from this guy. Even the last judgment. I think "hinge of history" is an armaggedonist dog whistle.
Can Aretha be as good as Warren is bad? We need a aesthetimetrician pronto! Tally the rat orgasms!
Anybody have a clean feed for this? MSNBC.com is overwhelmed.
Sorry, Aretha. Thousands of rat-orgasms short. Not your fault. Too short, not the best song.
C-Span was slow to load its page entirely. I've got the TV on.
Oh, Biden. So clearly wants to say more. You know, elaborate the thing a bit.
They believed in God more back in Lincoln's day.
JP Stevens--still rockin the bow ties, after all these years.
I guess bit seeing Warren is the bright side of being on a train and hence having to experience the inauguration only through the medium of liveblogging.
45: actually, Lincoln's bible is apparently rather small. Was Biden swearing in on a different book?
Hey, so, it's noon. Obama's the president.
John Williams, as in Star Wars John Williams? Well, let's see.
36 - it did sound weirdly familiar, didn't it! Glad it wasn't just me.
Also, I continue to be amazed at how well-behaved the Obama girls are.
They're quite old now aren't they? 10 and 7? Old enough to sit still and shut up. But then I *do* beat my children.
Apparently the BBC feed is only available in the UK.
Hey, that's Copeland, all fugued out. Rather appropriate.
I'm watching with closed captions, which add an unexpected note of levity as one is informed that "Owe owe ma" will be performing. Also, the closed-caption person obviously did not know the words "my country 'tis of thee."
No appropriate classical music was available, so John Wms. whipped something up.
I'm rarely moved by instrumental music. This is beautiful.
55:Are we President-less? Un-Presidented? Oh noes, oath us now, please.
Old enough to sit still and shut up.
PK is 8, and I can't even begin to imagine his behaving himself for that long day after day, in the cold.
Shit, I'm on crack. It's the old Quaker hymn, "Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to kind..."
re: 64
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Comic rather than moving.
Old enough to sit still and shut up.
PK is 8, and I can't even begin to imagine his behaving himself for that long day after day, in the cold.
65: CNN said he became president at noon even without the oath.
We told my 2-year-old that we were getting a new President named Obama today. He's been very excitedly telling everyone he meets that we're "getting a new present called bam-bama!"
Lord of the Dance????
Yeah, it's one of the melodies incorporated by that piece. I was equally weirded out by the choice.
65: Nope: at noon, Bush's term ends and Obama's begins, with or without the oath.
Wh' appen there? Did Roberts get it wrong?
Mormons use that hymn, right? According to my ex-wife. It may be Shaker, though.
Lutherans, no.
Someone muffed their lines.
So embarrassing!
Maybe if you had had him circumcised, B.
Interesting choice of ensemble. But Perlman's Jewish—who's supposed to be representing the regular white guys?
YAY! WE HAVE ACHIEVED BUSHLESSNESS!
72: Nonsense. He was just a little over-eager. As are we all.
Hallelujah. Don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, George.
Simple gifts? Shaker. Used by Copland in Appalachian Spring
WE HAVE ACHIEVED BUSHLESSNESS!
Jesus, I thought this day would never come.
"Hard choices" is a Hooverism dogwhistle. (Mellonism, really).
I was equally weirded out by the choice.
Me too.
Mormons use that hymn, right?
Yes, but not often. It's a great song.
I was so afraid that the crowd would boo Bush when Obama mentioned Bush's "service to our country."
"The time has come to set aside childish things." Oooo, I love it.
82: It wasn't necessarily Obama, although I think he jumped his cue. Roberts seemed to give the "execute the office" line differently when he repeated himself.
Is he wearing a coat? I'd put long underwear on if I were he.
Roberts is too goddamn young. He also has a record of voter discouragement in black neighborhoods, I think.
NYTIMES.COM live feed sucks ass. Are others better?
It may be Shaker, though.
Shaker origin, famous by way of Copland and the "Lord of the Dance" dude.
It is a lovely song. Mr. B. objects to the fact that PK's hippie school sings it, on the grounds of separation of church and state. I told him he's the only living American who still considers Shakerism a religion.
NYTIMES.COM live feed sucks ass. Are others better?
It's all a bit hit and miss. Obama broke the interwebs.
This address is so far a little grim: all about the hard unthanked work of obscure people.
He said "the public"! Not "the taxpayer"! "The public"!
Is there, like, no applause, or is that just not coming through on my feed?
lemonde.fr has a feed. small, but good quality.
97:Sacrifice and responsibility.
It really isn't a SOTU
I liked the shot of one of the daughters (have no idea which is which) using her camera! Filming his speech?
Shut up, Brock. People are trying to listen.
Bush will be arrested after the ceremony, right?
Shouldn't Obama be wearing a coat? I hope he doesn't pull a Harding.
"Lord of the Dance" dude ruined "Tis a gift to be simple" for a generation? That's criminal.
94: And let us not forget, Weezer (on the red album).
102: I looked it up. Malia is the oldest girl, Sasha is the youngest.
I hope he doesn't pull a HardingHarrison.
Dropped off my son early to watch this on the big screen at school. Lots of others doing the same, at 6:45 AM. Cool stuff.
Shoutout to unbelievers. P.Z. must have gotten through to him.
mrh, I'm telling you, he must have long underwear on.
94: And let us not forget, Weezer (on the red album).
Oh yeah. That was super weird. Fucking Weezer, man.
NPR was talking this morning about how many people had gotten hypothermia on the mall.
Obama to the developing world: we will help you so that "farms flourish and clean waters flow." Nice alliteration! and nice mention of water policy...
Wah. CNN's feed appears to have died.
Dudes: he's got a coat on. He's just skinny.
Are there heaters all round the platform, perhaps? He hasn't even got gloves on. Must have excellent thermal underwear on.
109 - aha, now I know. I've been pronouncing Malia wrong in my head though, I think - they said MaLEEa earlier, and I've been thinking MAHlia.
Take the Brits' advice, people. Go to bbc.com. Plus you get to look at Robinho while the President speaks.
In Lake Oswego, the wealthy suburb where my wife teaches, some parents were planning on pulling their kids from school this morning—not in order to let them watch the inauguration, but to keep them from having to see it, because the schools announced that they were going to show it. They don't call it Lake No-negro for nothing.
I liked that "curiosity" is one of the values to which we must return. Take that, outgoing wanks!
Fantastic quote from Washington. I imagine the frozen crowd on the Mall enjoyed its relevance too.
The bit about the icy currents sounds heartfelt though.
122.2: Emphasis on the second syllable is correct. Hawaiian form of "Mary."
I am revealing myself to be an ignoramus, but who was he quoting at the end? Lincoln?
Fucking Feinstein talking non-violence
Call me a crazy faggocentrist but I'd guess she's thinking less of protecting Rick Warren and more of remembering her former colleague, Harvey Milk.
You know, that was a pretty great speech. It took him a while to warm up, but seriously, that was well put-together.
I'm not looking forward to the inaugural poem, I must admit.
The bit about the icy currents sounds heartfelt though.
Was the Valley Forge reference meant to be a bit of saber-rattling at the Brits? One can only hope.
I'm not looking forward to the inaugural poem, I must admit.
I am, though I don't think Alexander's work is really made for reading alound.
128 - thanks.
124 - more !!!!!
I'm quite enjoying this poem.
That speech was depressing. What the fuck with all the shit about hard times and great challenges? We've had eight years of those. Now we're supposed to let the good times roll.
This poem is awful. And I'm not even listening to the words. Just the delivery. Following Obama is a shitty speaking gig.
132: Yep. Nasty people; made my wife cry when she heard about it.
We and the Irish can catch the Brits in a pincers movement while Denark and Iceland hold Canada at bay.
Our poet could use some speaker training--the words have a natural rhythm that she's not finding.
141: surely she's not the only one.
130, continued: ...Which is not to say she isn't also thinking of Barry O. and of the man remembered yesterday, either, but Rah and I were watching and he said, "Wow, this has got to be so terrifying for so many of the people up there," while she was speaking, and I noted she, too, may have gone to see 'Milk' and I wonder what it must have been like to see that clip of herself in front of the microphones weeks before she's supposed to do this gig.
Bad Sasha!
She was probably instructed to do that so that other moms don't feel like worthless failures.
Who was the poet? I confess I'm out of touch.
Anyway, forget Obama's lack of coat, what about Michelle? She must be fucking freezing.
Shut up, Brock. People are trying to listen.
MAN #2: You hear that? Blessed are the Greek.
GREGORY: The Greek?
MAN #2: Mmm. Well, apparently, he's going to inherit the earth.
GREGORY: Did anyone catch his name?
MRS. BIG NOSE: You're not going to thump anybody.
MR. BIG NOSE: I'll thump him if he calls me 'Big Nose' again.
MR. CHEEKY: Oh, shut up, Big Nose.
MR. BIG NOSE: Ah! All right. I warned you. I really will slug you so hard--
MRS. BIG NOSE: Oh, it's the meek! Blessed are the meek! Oh, that's nice, isn't it? I'm glad they're getting something, 'cause they have a hell of a time down here.
max
['Are we there yet?']
142: Why is it that poets can't read their own damn work well?
Also: nice to have a preacher with some dignity up there.
138:Service, sacrifice, work, responsibility. Not all that much hope & joy in the speech.
A sermon.
138: The fun was what "we" just had. Bad fun, and "we" are going to be punished now.
Are there heaters all round the platform, perhaps? He hasn't even got gloves on. Must have excellent thermal underwear on.
It is 28 F there with very little wind. It isn't that cold.
Hey Rick Warren, take a lesson. This is awesome. When the Red Man can get ahead, man.
OMG, that close of Wright's was teh awesome.
Feinstein was no friend of Milk, was she?
When I heard her mention violence against innocents, I thought of Gaza. Not the intended message, I suspect.
Malia just had Biden take a picture for her!
Can we bottle Joseph Lowry? I want some of that every morning.
Exactly what we & the world needed, Barack, another newchange kind of kick in the ass.
Was the ending of the benediction a reference to something?
How awesome are those kids? I mean, really.
Lowery did bring the old-school pwn ...
Responsibility for us without accountability for them. Nice. The hog farm is a utopian dream.
Fuck Tweety Matthews.
I'm thinking of changing my handle to "Enemy Domestic".
Hillary Clinton is smiling, but it looks kind of forced. I know she's thinking, "I really wish that were me."
Blah, now I must turn these screens off and prepare some dinner and some work. Glad it's finally happened, and glad I could share it with you! (Rather than my inlaws, which was my other option ...)
Here's the first FDR Inaugural Address
This sounds like theme music for a science-fiction movie.
168: I'm mostly familiar with it from the blues song.
Hope they have the tankers lined up to keep refueling that chopper all the way to The Hague.
So, there's no way to get a wheelchair into a helicopter.
Chris Matthews is perving on Michelle. Unsurprising. I hope Olbermann and Maddow get rid of him.
Chris Matthews, regular guy. What a maroon.
181: ADA-compliant helicopters do not conform to the Cheney persona.
"So many teeth of happy people smiling"?
Feinstein was no friend of Milk, was she?
I've no idea of their relationship, but she's the person who found his body after he was shot and she succeeded Moscone. I can't imagine that doesn't shape how she thinks about violence and politics and transitions of power or that it's very far from the front of her mind at times such as this.
Did people really sing "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, goodbye"?
People talk about peaceful succession being an indicator of the the strength of democracy, but in this case I'm not so sure. We're several years late.
So, there's no way to get a wheelchair into a helicopter.
Let me note that never in a million years will I buy that the Secret Service stands around and lets the Veep lift his own boxes. I'm guessing he threw out his back from too vigorously cackling and rubbing his hands together after putting the finishing touches on the last of the booby traps he set in the lawn of the residence.
Hey, he's left handed! Go Southpaws!
DiFi was no friend of Milk, no. Definitely not.
Obama's speech was brilliant, and helped me understand his deep game -- what he's getting at with the post-partisanship centrist thing. The speech claimed cultural conservatism for the left. Tax cuts, market worship, and consumption are hedonistic self-indulgence; universal health care and tackling global warming are prudent and sober. He wants to shift the center. It fits well with the best of upper-middle class bourgeois managerial liberal values too, which really are self-denying and sober on a personal level. But full of blind spots too, of course.
190: I believe "sinister" is the preferred term.
So, there's no way to get a wheelchair into a helicopter.
Cheney slunk off ignomoniously, as expected.
189: I can only assume these boxes contained materials about which the former vice-president didn't even trust the Secret Service to keep quiet, so he had to move them all himself. I'm only half joking. Maybe not even half.
so he had to move them all lift them into the industrial shredder himself.
Did people really sing "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, goodbye"?
Yep, I cracked a smile in spite of myself.
195 is exactly what I had in mind, yes.
Let me note that never in a million years will I buy that the Secret Service stands around and lets the Veep lift his own boxes
Once his power was taken away from him, the evil is slowly destroying his body.
I don't believe the boxes story in any part. More like: small stroke resulted in partial paralysis, or stent in the legs needed extra room, or he sprained his ankle overturning his TV in rage, or WHATEVER. There is no reason to believe anything Cheney volunteers about his health.
Actually Cheney is dead, and that was an animated corpse in the chair. They just couldn't quite get the robotics good enough to let him walk convincingly.
My theory was the wheelchair was to make sure he wouldn't have trouble getting his gun past security. But I guess I'm having a hard time letting go of my Bush-era paranoia.
The best part was when Obama talked about no longer sacrificing civil rights for expediency and they cut to Bush looking grimfaced. That made me smile.
"Government is not the solution to our problems, government is our problem"
vs.
"The era of big government is over"
vs.
today's
"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. "
Nice to hear that.
Cheney's a Chtonobot! Cool!
So I am taking it that after he was sworn in Obama did not turn to the camera and say, 'Now, where's the white women?'
Damn.
max
['Peace, love and bipartisanship, yeah yeah.']
Also awesome: I probably wasn't the only who when it was over looked at the Obama and Bush entries on Wikipedia, just to read those words.
I hope someone was filming Bush and Cheney throughout. A montage of their reactions would be lovely.
So I am taking it that after he was sworn in Obama did not turn to the camera and say, 'Now, where's the white women?'
Obama dodged around Bush to give Laura some personal attention on her way out.
I didn't know Roberts was balding.
205: I believe the correct construction is "Where the white chicks at?"
Hillary Clinton is smiling, but it looks kind of forced.
At some point, folks are going to have to acknowledge that Hillary has been a very gracious loser. I expect to see this acknowledgment around the same time folks admit that Hillary and Obama are nearly identical on foreign policy.
(I don't mean to troll on Inauguration Day, but there it is.)
205, 209: "Who wants to sex Obama?"
Hillary has indeed been very gracious. I've almost forgotten all my former rancor towards her personally; now her smiling face gives me warm fuzzies, and I have to nudge myself to remember all her worrying policy commitments.
210: but her smile was forced. Forced! The racist bitch. I don't see how you can defend her. I hope the secret service checks her thoroughly for weapons before every cabinet meeting with Obama. The Secretary of State is fourth in the presidential line of succession, you know.
211.---[looks around with embarrassment, raises hand.]
210: Is it trolling when you state the self-evident truth?
Obama's profile looks totally dollar-bill ready.
213: This is why PGD is so valuable to me around here. No matter what obnoxious pro-Hillary thing I say, I can always count on PGD to be more pro-Hillary, and more obnoxious.
Is it trolling when you state the self-evident truth?
It absolutely can be. Unlike libel, with trolling, truth is no defense.
A conservative co-worker said to me today,"I'm so happy Hillary Clinton isn't going to be President, I can even be happy about this!" -- pointing at the TV with the inauguration.
206: The new White House website is already up.
I'd prefer to see Obama replace that fucker Jackson on the twenty.
218: When are they going to start teaching Troll Law in law school?
214, 221: Why? You think Obama will be a better fucker?
You think Obama will be a better fucker?
Reckon so!
221: God damn right about that. And make the text on the bill bilingual, in English and Cherokee.
210: I think she's been gracious too, but I'm sure she's thinking, "What If?" and "I could have been the first woman president."
I hope that when the lawyers start codifying the internet they give due attention to the obligation to troll.
From 227 link, referring to wherever John Yoo worked: "Just seal the entire building in an evidence bag, like a forensic Christo."
Alex has a way with words.
OK, so no significant pardons?
I missed the Lowery benediction (had to take care of some business, man) but also missed the Robinson prayer - you know, the counterbalance to that fat fuck Warren? - found it online, linked here if others are curious:
Looking forward to the next four years. Especially pleased that "non-believers" were called out; very little of the God-child-marriage campaign rhetoric applies to me, so it was nice to feel included. Thanks.
Sweet rhetorical analysis from Marc Ambinder.
231: Pardons allow people to speak freely about the crimes they committed. If speaking freely about what Bush and Cheney did bears the threat of jail time people will be less likely to do it.
The next decade will see a concerted effort to make the Bush/Cheney violations of the constitution seem like no big deal and to make those who insist they are a big deal look like crazies. Having insiders talking freely about their role in those crimes would make it much harder to sweep them under the rug.
"I could have been the first woman president."
She still could be. She'll be 69 in 2016.
"I could have been the first woman president."
and "Now it's going to be Michelle, dammit"
At some point, folks are going to have to acknowledge that Hillary has been a very gracious loser.
Yes, I for one was tremendously impressed by the clean primary campaign she ran and by the way she bowed out, for the good of the party, when it became clear she couldn't win.
While we're at it, I also give Bush full marks for not staging a coup d'etat. Heckuva job, Bushie!
231: He did manage to remind us one last time that it's OK to shoot brown people.
IT'S TIME TO PUT ASIDE CHILDISH THINGS.
I cleaned up my Legos right after he said that.
At some point, folks are going to have to acknowledge that Hillary has been a very gracious loser. democrat who didn't win the nomination.
239: Was that part addressed to Malia and Sasha?
That wasn't very nice. Can't he let them be kids a little longer?
Yes, I for one was tremendously impressed by the clean primary campaign she ran and by the way she bowed out, for the good of the party, when it became clear she couldn't win.
So was I, actually. Glad you agree.
On the actual presidential preference, I've long since come round to Obama. It seems pretty clear he was the right choice. No way Hillary pulls 1.5 million people to her inauguaration and gives a speech that good. Plus the whole "it's a new beginning, change has come" thing was totally off limits to her due to baggage. See 219. Obama just seems to run a super tight and well organized operation too. Given very little evident policy difference between the two, he just seems to have way better skillz. Which was coming clear during the primary.
IT'S TIME TO PUT ASIDE CHILDISH THINGS.
Double infinity, no takebacks.
more 237: Why are we-our-representatives congratulating ourselves so much on a peaceful transition between administrations? When dd we stop beating our wife? Creepy.
I cleaned up my Legos tossed out my juice box and poured myself a double shot of Bourbon right after he said that.
The civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam informed my political and moral consciousness. I was a child of the times. About 14 years old at the time, and against my parents wishes, I hitched to Washington DC to witness Dr. King's famous speech. I wanted to be part of the movement ... and part of the moment.
Today, two of my own children are in Washington DC to attend the inauguration of President Barack Obama and bear witness to history. It makes me proud that they take an interest in our public life. It has been a long journey. Of all the memories I cherish, there are few more heartwarming and gratifying than this.
232: Especially pleased that "non-believers" were called out
Yeah. There were a couple of "tip-of-the-hat-to-you-sir!" moments like that.
243: Comity!
Well, real comity on 243.2.
246: You are a great American, Jesus!
But I am an awful American -- at that point in the speech I started to stamp my feet and demand a pacifier.
The baggage was the main reason I supported Obama, since Obama seemed to converge with Hillary on policy questions.
Lack of baggage also helps with the charisma. Hillary had all of Bill's enemies and some of her own, so she can't be magical.
248.---There was one such at the end of the narrative opener, when he ended a transition sentence with "the data and statistics." I thought I heard a cheer from the crowd: even though it was a pretty grim passage, an invocation of rational measurement is a crowd-pleaser these days.
245: The funny part (not funny ha-ha, but funny) is that this has turned up as a serious argument on RedState. Inasmuch as anything on RedState can be called a "serious" argument.
when he ended a transition sentence with "the data and statistics."
Yep. And another one in reference to the US's intention to be open to friendship and mutual support -- or something to that effect -- with all nations.
In the Obama Administration, correlations won't be thresholded for significance before averaging!
So far I've only been able to find two descriptions of today's event as a Nuremberg rally. Those guys must have lost their will to live.
256: my wife called and told me that the speech seemed "fascist". I mentioned that I disagreed.
A great picture, but what on earth are those boots that Dr. Jill Biden is wearing? God love her, but I can't approve.
but what on earth are those boots that Dr. Jill Biden is wearing?
Those boots were made for streetwalking. I don't think they work with the jacket.
256: my wife called and told me that the speech seemed "fascist".
If only Alan Greenspan were still alive! He'd save us!
max
['Rand management.']
258 - I thought only witches wore boots like that. I kind of like them, but they have sort of a flying around on brooms vibe.
Ted Kennedy collapsed at the Capitol luncheon and was taken off in an ambulance. I hope he's okay, but if he's not, I'm glad he made it until today.
Good news, or bad?
"The President has not yet issued any Executive Orders."
I do wish I could expect to hear a clear breakdown of Obama's Inaugural Address in 50 words. Anyone feel like trying?
The crowd didn't really take to it until he talked about the Constitution, if I read aright--which warms the heart, but bodes ill for global warming.
Frankly the oratory struck me as over-thought, and over-written. As weighted down with the rolling stasis of parallelism, and watered down with apple pie.
I still love the guy, though: his patient & subtle public correction of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was a moment for the ages. And he understands the value of bringing the ancestors, which is key to healthy American rhetoric (and some of the rest).
Ah, I see you did your once-yearly blog update, snarkout.
Robert Byrd has also left the luncheon under medical supervision. At least the RedStaters will have something to be happy about today.
Obama killed two white Senators in one day?
The Inauguration = Nuremberg Rally meme is picking up slowly, but those guys have lost a lot of their zip.
263.3: See the Ambinder annotation JM linked in 233. (Agreed: overwritten.)
"Don't be surprised if Ali is in the White House".
175, 179: Thanks. Now to find out how to be mellow, I guess.
88.2: They were where I was standing, about 50-100 yards northwest of the Washington Monument. Definite booing when it cut to Bush. Did you know, there were a lot of people there today?
155: I beg to differ. Although, admittedly, leaving the Mall via Independence Avenue and the Arlington Memorial Bridge - in other words, along and over the Potomac River - probably didn't help. I definitely did feel colder there than while watching the actual event.
A turn of phrase so elegant it stuck out like a sore thumb: we will extend our hand to any [oppressive regime or something] if you will unclench your fist.
Obama dodged around Bush to give Laura some personal attention on her way out.
Ew.
243: Comity!
my *meta-sarcastic* refusal to recognize your sarcasm is even more sophisticated than your initial sarcasm. There is no web link for meta-sarcasm because it is so much more sophisticated than the sort of sarcasm regularly practiced on the internet.
Frankly the oratory struck me as over-thought, and over-written. As weighted down with the rolling stasis of parallelism, and watered down with apple pie.
OK, maybe, but you have to remember the genre he's working in -- modern American political Oratory is a series of overdetermined gestures to various painfully cliched falsehoods and lies. Obama does that better and more smoothly than all the rest, but he still works fully within the genre. What I thought was brilliant about it was the way that he started to maneuver all that clanking oratorical machinery back toward the left. Like I said in 191, he cast a liberal agenda as culturally conservative. Bill Clinton definitely started to do this too (Obama owes a lot to Clinton), but Obama is taking advantage of the cultural space opened up by the current mess to do it more aggressively. Clinton was hampered by the fact that the Democrats really didn't have a very liberal agenda at the time.
243: Comity!
my *meta-sarcastic* refusal to recognize your sarcasm is even more sophisticated than your initial sarcasm. There is no web link for meta-sarcasm because it is so much more sophisticated than the sort of sarcasm regularly practiced on the internet.
Frankly the oratory struck me as over-thought, and over-written. As weighted down with the rolling stasis of parallelism, and watered down with apple pie.
OK, maybe, but you have to remember the genre he's working in -- modern American political Oratory is a series of overdetermined gestures to various painfully cliched falsehoods and lies. Obama does that better and more smoothly than all the rest, but he still works fully within the genre. What I thought was brilliant about it was the way that he started to maneuver all that clanking oratorical machinery back toward the left. Like I said in 191, he cast a liberal agenda as culturally conservative. Bill Clinton definitely started to do this too (Obama owes a lot to Clinton), but Obama is taking advantage of the cultural space opened up by the current mess to do it more aggressively. Clinton was hampered by the fact that the Democrats really didn't have a very liberal agenda at the time.
sor--ry. Ponderous comment to double up too.
275: Oy. Still with the Ayn Rand?
266.1 - Apparently Kennedy went into convulsions (not too surprising since he's got a brain tumor) and Byrd was so upset at seeing his friend like that he had to be helped from the room to catch his breath. Those two go back a loooong way.
275: Care to share her reasoning there? Or did she not share it? (Or, it is perhaps supposed to be obvious?) I'm just curious, could make up an explanation but would rather know what it's supposed to be.
266, 278: Poor Teddy. You know, if I were Teddy, and I were dying, and I were a cynical man, but one who really wanted to get health care reform passed, I'd have an acute health crisis right around now, and either reemerge for one last barn-burner of an appeal to fix health care, or set someone else up to do it on my behalf, and then disappear as too sick to ever appear in public again.
Go out with a bang, right when it would help kickstart the UHC effort.
257: in the pure man-from Mars sense, I don't think it's so crazy to see the speech as having some overtones. I think all of mainstream American political rhetoric has gradually come to have some background fascist overtones; certainly Bush's did. The accepted emphasis on our unparalleled greatness, sacred mission, existential number-oneness, etc. Did you notice that Obama is now wearing the ubiquitous flag lapel pin?
On the other hand, the stuff about humility and acceptance of limits in foreign policy ramped back the fascist tide.
276: PGD, you ruined it!
I'm roughly in agreement with you 191.2 and 274.2, though -- although the sense of "liberal agenda" you're working with is highly compromised, as it must of course be if it's used with any accuracy these days. (Clinton and Obama are both still of course on board with market forces, universal health care isn't going to be single-payer, global warming is still only going to be addressed in terms of a cost-benefit analysis that results in policy changes that will be inadequate ....)
Shit, have to go to a meeting at just the wrong moment. Wave to the Punahou band for me. I'm not encouraging my son to aspire to anything political, but I am telling him that if he practices that damn saxophone a little more often he might get to march in Obama's second inaugural parade.
I asked and she didn't really explain. She mumbled something about the somber calls for national unity in the face of adversity, and individual sacrifice for the sake of the collective. Then she changed the subject.
The Nuremburg thing has been around for a while now. In part it's just plain old Godwin and would be applied to any popular Democrat (especially since Jonah Goldberg's delightful little turd of a book). In part it's just thrashing around wildly in an attempt to find something, anything at all, that can be used to smear Obama.
Early in the Clinton administration there was a similar thrashing around to find a suitable smear narrative. The web wasn't around in anything like its current form to facilitate the process, so it took place on talk radio mostly. They initially settled on 'relentless and calculating pursuit of power' up until 'Clenis' got traction thanks to Ken Starr.
We're about to see a period of explosive Ediacara-style evolution in right wing attack memes. Should be interesting to see how things shake out.
286: Yeah, how do you attack a Dem who is too popular? Um, he's just like Hitler!
I actually kinda like the Obama-as-Hitler attack; it's such an obvious sign of weakness.
It'd be wrong to suggest that you get yourself a small notebook, and head the first page with "Notes for Reports to Political Compliance Officer", and start surreptitiously, but visibly, taking notes in it every time she grumbles about facist overtones in the new administration.
And because it would be wrong, I'm not suggesting it. Only a very bad person would do something of that sort.
Um, he's just like Hitler!
Britney Hitler Spears.
Hussein.
285: Needless to say, that sort of thing would drive me bananas in the absence of further discussion. But that conversation has been had here before.
LB says one might note facist grumbles, which is always a good thing to keep in mind.
Britney Hitler Spears. Hussein.
BritneyLynn Adolf Sierra Stalin Chelsea Mao Osama Saddam Aryan Nation Nation of Islam Hussein bin Spears-Gomez!
max
['Multicultural.']
I have *finally* caught a glimpse of Dr. Jill's boots, and I gotta say, JM, what were you kvetching about? They look great.
What are the other historical examples of great progressive opportunities destroyed by bourgeois liberal cowardice & greed, including giving a blind eye to a growing Freikorps?
Tim Geithner & HRC? Obama has no intention of changing the direction of the country. He just wants to do neo-liberalism more efficiently.
Inasmuch as anything on RedState can be called a "serious" argument.
Which, when you get right down to it, isn't very much.
Anyway, back to my book on Bismarck. I need to understand the Empire before I tackle Weimerica.
298: In the picture linked above, I agree that while they're not bad boots in themselves, they don't suit her.
295: yeah, but further discussion rarely seems to help illuminate. He's a recent IM conversation:
8:28 PM [Wife]: did you see fucking obama lowered it ti 150k per household?
me: what?
lowered what?
[Wife]: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123204419492886421.html?mod=article-outset-box
insytead of 250+
its now 150
8:29 PM for the wealth redistribution plan
8:30 PM me: he proposed a $500 tax credit that is phased out for people making over $150k?
that's what you're upset about?
8:31 PM was it ever suppposed to be $250k?
We don't personally need a one-time $500 tax credit.
[Wife]: i just hate that its all democrat
8:32 PM freaking house
me: ?
There was no further response. One of the kids woke up.
Gah. I shouldn't soil Obama's inauguration thread with my complaining. Sorry.
bob: troll troll troll troll troll troll!
Heh.
Seriously, now, this is not now, nor has it ever promised to be, a great progressive opportunity, so nothing has been destroyed. Incrementalism is the game, and you know it. Possibly what we might hope for is a renewed civic involvement in oversight.
Will the S & P finish below 800 today?
A vote of no-confidence, a reminder to Obama of whom he really works for, or just a matter of transitions between two Plunge Protection Teams?
Who cares? Partyyyyy!!!! No use permitting some prophet of doom to wipe every smile awayyyyy. Come hearreee the muusic playyyy
Will the S & P finish below 800 today?
Bob, when you're posting at 4:54 EST, that's an answerable question. (And the answer is no.")
Bob, Obama is just a Rove plant designed to discredit liberalism.
Now HRC, that was a chance for real socialists to get some traction. Why did the "post-racial" bourgeoisie gobama instead?
BritneyLynn Adolf Sierra Stalin Chelsea Mao Osama Saddam Aryan Nation Nation of Islam Hussein bin Spears-Gomez Palin!
Fixed.
It was pretty inconsiderate of the UK banks to all blow up today, and the US banks had to dip a fair amount in solidarity, you see. Also, one of the largest asset custodians in the world (and one chosen by the government to help store/account for purchased assets) is now pretty embarrassed that it didn't set up its off-balance-sheet obligations to stay off the balance sheets when their equity stakes got wiped out.
Can't wait for January financial reporting to be over already, and it's barely even begun.
I agree that while they're not bad boots in themselves, they don't suit her.
I like the boots - but they don't look like they fit well, and the billowing red jacket makes it look... Halloweeny.
Will the S & P finish below 800 today?
No, but the DJI cracked the 8000 line, for the fifth time.
max
['So, we'll see.']
This parade is great. And the AFL-CIO has a ginormous banner on I can't tell which building that reads "Welcome Malia and Sasha." Yay, union people for kids.
Holy crap that was a security clusterfuck. Half the people I know with tickets didn't make it in. So, so fun, though.
As for the boots, they're too spiky-heeled for the occasion (which involves much standing around and general being on your feet all freakin' day long), so they seem kind of weird, just as a choice, leaving aside whether they're "appropriate." Maybe she was dealing with a height issue.
Halloween is ORANGE and red.
You mean orange and black? Yeah, orange and red are kinda close together. Of course, I suspect she wore the boots (which look like either 3" or 5" heels) so she wouldn't seem like a midget on TV standing next to all those really tall people. Can't blame her, but I would suspect she doesn't wear them often, or ever.
Yeah: she would've been better off with a longer brown jacket.
max
['Oh, well.']
Dudes. If you are going to be on national tv for your husband's inauguration, of *course* you're going to wear some serious heels.
max and I have reached a conclusion on this issue, then: she wore them because she's short, and she didn't realize she should wear a longer coat with them. It could happen to anyone.
316 -- Heh. A lot of people headed for our section gave up. the problem wasn't security, but the total lack of organization at several places in the route. The real fuck-up, though was after, along Independence Avenue. At each major intersection (esp Indy & 12th) it was mosh pit crowded, people going each of the 4 directions, no control at all. Police had no idea what was going on, and were just as stuck in the crowd as anyone else.
Finally, an ambulance had to get through, and a bunch of us slipstreamed it out.
B: I suspect people suggested she looked "Halloweeny" because the ensemble looked something like a witch's outfit, not because she was wearing the Official Halloween Theme Colors. Witches are allowed to dress in colors other than orange and black.
Ok. Then you get some attached to some boots that aren't all bumpy on the calf, if you're going to wear a short, red jacket. Or you get a long jacket to conceal the top of the boots so they aren't quite so exaggerated.
max
['In brown, so it complimentary to the gold the First Lady is wearing.']
319: Michelle Obama wasn't. So phbbt (or however you spell that).
Does anyone know of a site with a transcript of the speech? What about one where I can download it or even just replay it?
Well, I thought everyone's fashion choices today were *just fine*. Except, maybe, for max's. Someone should tell him that jodhpurs really ought not be worn unless horseback riding.
But the real question is what boots would Eva Braun have worn?
BG, the NYT has the speech transcript.
I like Jill Biden's boots.
324: Michelle Obama is nearly as tall as her husband. Jill Biden is teeny.
Does anyone know of a site with a transcript of the speech? What about one where I can download it or even just replay it?
there's a great new site called Youtube that specializes in such things. Check it out!
It's true, we wonder about max sometimes, but he claims he's good with teh ladies' fashion, and the mustache-twirling gives one pause.
331:PerfectlyGoddamnD-I looked on Youtube earlier, and it wasn't up.
298: B is weird, including but not limited to about boots.
data and statistics !
the-speech-barack-obama-in-the-winter-of-our-hardship
Transcript also prob on Obama's blog, too.
333: follow the link in 331. Sorry for the snark, couldn't resist!
a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood.
OMG, please tell me it's not that bad! Help us, Barack!
i missed everything, will watch the news in the evening i guess
congrats
Ah, okay, to defend my fashion.
First: the boots were okay. I'm not saying Dr. B looked bad.
Next: In general I dislike the kitten heel on knee-high boots. The skinny short heel makes the rest of the boot seem unbalanced and disproportionate. A stacked heel makes more sense at that height, although frankly, she probably should have considered a higher heel.
Then: I don't like the shiny here, not with the red wool coat. I am suspicious that the leg part of the boot may not in fact be leather---it has that shiny, spandexy look to it. Non-leather made to look like leather is not kulturny.
Last: The combination of the rather bulky a-line coat called for either 1) spindly stilettos for the Romantic Ballerina "tee-hee, I have no feet" look or 2) comparatively clumpy shoes for an overall grounded look.
Actually, I think she would've looked really nice with pants under that coat.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Julia Timoshenko, lovelier and more corrupt than the late Pinky Bhutto and more cunning than anyone, has apparently defeated her Ukrainian and Russian enemies in the gas war.
I like the boots. The angle of that photo highlights them in a different way that they were in the head-on television coverage today. And also, jesus, it was sub-freezing out there. Good for her for wearing something on her legs.
Also, those aren't kitten heels. Do you mean stiletto?
I think she's been gracious too, but I'm sure she's thinking, "What If?" and "I could have been the first woman president."
Yeah, but I'm sure that Biden and Kerry and Gore have thought the same thing (well, not the first woman president part). But no one ever wonders if their smiles are forced.
Those were neither kitten heels nor stilettos. I don't know what they're called; they were the kind of heels that come straight down from the furthest back point of the shoe, and are fairly wide from the back, if not from the side. And I don't see anything wrong with an A-line coat with high-heeled boots of that sort. (Nor with kittten heels, to be honest. The ballet shoe look is always heinous, imho.)
those aren't kitten heels.
On second look, you're totally right. I still don't like their proportions.
Good for her for wearing something on her legs.
How about some tailored wool trousers with longjohns underneath? Cashmere trousers? Silk trousers with silk longjohns underneath?
I think it would have made sense for all the women to be wearing hats too, but eh, fashion bla bla bla.
Did they have heaters up there on the stage? They must have. Some of those women (Michelle) weren't wearing much against the cold.
Pants would've been fine. Just like boots were fine.
How about some tailored wool trousers with longjohns underneath? Cashmere trousers? Silk trousers with silk longjohns underneath?
How about a slanket?
Hamsher wore Uggs and bragged about it.
They totally must have had heaters. Also, if not hats, ear muffs.
But! You know that if they'd worn hats, they'd have had hat hair, and look how terrible that Warren guy looked. In situations like this, it really is worth it to be a little cold.
Just like boots were fine.
I just disagree. These were not the boots for her, for that outfit.
You people are taunting me again.
Did you like the boots, John?
This is one of the more sexist threads that I can remember.
I was thinking that she should have been wearing 4" platforms with 9" heels.
Let's speculate about Cheney. Maybe the wheelchair is part of the long-term preparation for an argument for house arrest instead of jail.
I think ILM just couldn't get spare parts to D.C. in time.
357: Let's go there! Did anyone see him move his left arm at all?
I didn't see any heaters onstage, but they could easily have been lower than my sight line.
I stepped on somebody's Uggs by accident, but in the catalog of the day's indignities it barely rated for either of us.
I have great stories for you guys, eventually. I saw Donovan McNabb walk off in frustration after an hour of nigh-injurious crush in the security line.
This is one of the more sexist threads that I can remember.
Either someone hasn't been reading lon, or someone has a short memory.
That said, I would be very happy if I never again had to hear a news reporter comment on the wardrobe choices of every woman to cross the public stage.
Also, we could speculate on whether Cheney's wheelchair is the result of a stiletto or kitten heal related injury.
Any kitten Cheney gets hold of is going to be beyond healing.
361:
True. But it is nice to see solid woman is the public eye who looks so great. Michelle Obama is 5'11" and solid. And she looks great.
That has to help for some self-esteem issues for young ladies.
I first heard it from Oudemia, but Cheney looks just like Mr. Potter.
I was waiting for him to say something about the Bailey Savings and Loan.
I saw Donovan McNabb walk off in frustration
Was he starving hysterical naked?
Either someone hasn't been reading lon, or someone has a short memory.
Nah, just genuflecting to the threads of lore.
Oh golly, kill me, but I really was wondering "who" Michelle was wearing until Keith O. told me it was Jason Wu.
364: Humor me; what's a "solid woman" again?
Because I am the opposite of a genius, I spent the entire day locked incommunicado in my office, working doggedly to meet a deadline (dear weekend me: thanks for nothing) and nursing some incipient flu-cold thing, instead of giving even the slightest bit of time to the historic events of the day. Good work, me.
Scalia wins best hat for the 2nd inauguration in a row. (Although if you zoom and scroll over to the top of the far stairs in this great composite photo in the NYT, it looks like there is a guy in some kind of leather bug helmet or something.)
And you know Scalia was sitting there thinking, "I *so* would not have fucked that up."
And you know Scalia was sitting there thinking, "I *so* would not have fucked that up."
Thinking? Hell, Scalia's liable to mention it in the next opinion he writes.
371: Ugh. That picture reveals Joe Lieberman in a really gross tiny baseball cap. BUY A NICE HAT, DAMMIT. Or at least one that could possibly be warming.
Scalia wins best hat for the 2nd inauguration in a row.
I thought Aretha Franklin won best hat.
369: Oh, "solid" seems like a good description of Michelle Obama. She's gorgeous, and she also looks like she could lift the back end of a car while someone else changed the tire.
374: Yes. Scalia's hat had me wondering whether (1) he was too melon-headed to jauntily tilt a beret on his noggin or (2) he intended to hang us all by the neck until we are dead.
She's gorgeous, and she also looks like she could lift the back end of a car while someone else changed the tire.
Stately.
But no one ever wonders if their smiles are forced.
I have no idea whether their smiles are forced; I just assume that all politician's smiles are fake.
max
['Goes quicker that way.']
371 ff. FTW.
I laughed 'til I cried as Cheney basically ambushed Bush on the runway--didn't I see someone (Lynne, most likely) actually whip him around into the path of the former President? Also I believe the former Second Lady chose red gloves, on which nothing further need be said.
Is someone drinking champagne when there are web updates due?
376: Scalia, jaunty. Some people will never been seen in public appearing jaunty, even if they can do it in private. Certainly at something as big as a presidential inauguration -- as B. might tell us -- it's not done!
Bush on Waco tarmac: "I come home with my head held high." "When I get off that helicopter and look in that mirror at the ranch in Crawford, Texas, I'm going to be proud of what I see."
Jill Biden wasn't wearing any pants? I need to check the video again.
What is wrong with solid? Solid isnt stately. Solid is solid. LB has is correct. She looks like she could lift a car. Yet, she looks great.
Dainty or stately is out. Solid and great is in.
Michelle looks like a princess! [/end four-year-old girl]
385: Solid's fine! I retract my "that's an odd way to describe a woman" implication.
I like solid! With resonances of "do me a solid."
387- So great. I love them both, and wish them all the best.
This was truly a spectacular day.
Michelle has this really cute closed-lipped smile where her overbite makes the top part of her mouth all sticky-outy.
Dude. 387. *happy sniffle*
From the AP: "You could tell that's a black president from the way he was moving," comedian Jamie Foxx joked following the dance.
"Didja ever notice how white presidents dance like this, while black presidents dance like this?"
But no one ever wonders if their smiles are forced.
There's this trick where you can tell a genuine smile because of the way the eyes crinkle. (There's an exhibit at the Exploratorium in SF, too, for those of you out there.)
I must say that Rick Warren's performance reinforced for me the desirability of getting rid of Inaugural prayers (good article here by Steve Waldman reviewing religion at inaugurations*) . Discussing it yesterday, my daughter proposed having a constitutional scholar come out and give a brief talk on some aspect of the presidency as represented in the constitution. I'd love to witness something like that, but doubt I'll live to see it, maybe she will.
*Tagline: As the country grows more diverse, the inaugural prayer has become less inclusive. Steven Waldman on why the ceremony has gone from pluralistic to solely Protestant. In the Wall Street Journal of all places, but then that makes sense as apparently Fox Entertainment (i.e. Murdoch) has bought Beliefnet (WTF?). Still a decent article.
a constitutional scholar
Like, say, President Obama!
398: Sure, have him speak at Hilary's Chelsea's inauguration.
But isn't it a conflict of interest or something having a constitutional scholar as President? Why wasn't that emphasized more during the election? Fox News you let us all down, and now it's too late; he's in there, following the "rules" and shit.
343: Actually, I have always thought that Kerry looked slightly phony; he seemed really out of it. Gore just looked happy to see W. gone, but he was almost liberated by losing. He's become much more genuine and articulate when he was angry and had nothing left to lose.
Dainty or stately is out. Solid and great is in.
Shit, I'm screwed at 5' 2.5" I've been trying to get stronger by doing sun salutations every morning and plan on taking up lifting at some point, but I'll always be petite---unless I somehow manage to get really fat.
unless I somehow manage to get really fat
It's easier than it sounds.
402: I think it's pretty easy. I quickly gained about 10 pounds this fall. I blame, in part, oral contraceptives (and maybe prozac) but I was also eating far too many fried potatoes.
I don't have a scale, so I don't know what I weigh now. You know how they have those blood pressure monitors that you can use in drugstores? I wish they had one of those for weight.
President Obama!
Hmmm, good phrase, that.
I have great stories for you guys, eventually. I saw Donovan McNabb walk off in frustration after an hour of nigh-injurious crush in the security line.
I took one look at the local TV coverage at 7:30am and decided not to go to the mall. We eventually had second thoughts and made it to the parade, though.
And Jill Biden's boots looked fantastic in person, although my girlfriend said she should have worn a longer coat.