Barack Hussein Obama's inauguration speech was short on comfort and long on challenges, which is appropriate considering the fix we find ourselves in. As with most inauguration speeches, Obama's was more about setting a tone rather than specific policy efforts.
Obama's tone was clear: We have a lot of work ahead of us, and it will take every American's best effort to bring us out of our current difficulties.
I was pleased, as I have been since Nov. 4, that we now have a president who believes in the Constitution, science, middle class and working Americans, and the need for the United States to be a leader in the world rather than its master.
I also liked the choice of music -- and musicians -- just prior to the swearing in: Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Itzhak Perlman on violin, Gabriela Montero on piano and Anthony McGill on clarinet, performing a new work by John Williams, "Air and Simple Gifts."
The "Simple Gifts" portion is from an old Shaker dance tune, and old favorite of mine, that begins:
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free/'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be."
Barack Obama came down where he ought to be today. Now we'll see where he goes, and how far we go with him.
I just love how the endless promises and false guarantees of "hope" and "change" have quickly given way to lowered expectations and "politics as usual". "I was pleased...that we now have a president who believes in the Constitution, science, middle class and working Americans, and the need for the United States to be a leader in the world rather than its master"...just more of the standard Lib rhetoric which never mentions National Security or Safety. Enjoy the moment, for it's only a matter of time before fantasy gives way to reality.
I can't speak for the world. But the EU (European Union) which has more citizens than the United States ,much greater ethnic diversity and historical presence, is not lined up to be led or mastered by a Washington that has bankrupted America financially as well as socially. It will take a long time before America is healed. It's a matter of "physician heal thyself." As has been posted by another blogger: "If he [Obama] can pull it off; more power to him!" But it is a given that the 76% white majority would resist having the 12% black minority crammed down their throats. Colorless integration shall only be possible by attrition (so to speak.) That's still some generations away. Anything else shall create a backlash as sure as night follows day. The United States has still the greatest arsenal of the most powerful weapons. Enough to destroy the known world several times over, but her traditional moral superiority has been compromised. So I agree with those who advocate that we unite in a common cause and go forward, back to the good old days. A free nation without a free press is unthinkable. But since the media is what it now is, we must look at it from every angle and read between the lines. It was Thoreau's believe that it is the character of a people that determines the success (or failure) of the nation, and not the government. I think Thoreau's work on Civil Disobedience should be read by everyone.
Bill, you guys need to get out of your war = national security and safety lock box. National Security is important but being in constant war is not security and safety. And our previous president didn't seem to care about "the Constitution, science, middle class and working Americans." So if the shoe fits.
And by the way, your diatribe never seems to change either Bill.
Dizzy...I'm confused.You speak for the EU but not the world.Are you a U.S.Citizen? I thought (possibly mistaken)that you were a convert and had taken partial ownership of the country you had come to.As far as moral superiority ...the US kicks butt on the EU even on our worst day.That's why I have chosen to stay here and not leave...what's your excuse?
I can speak about Europe because I know Europe.
Thank you Isabell! You have inspired me!
I just absolutely love your reasoning. I intend to adopt your model.
"I can speak about Europe because I know Europe."
I, also "can speak about" such things as liberalism "because I know" liberalism. As a former liberal - (Been there, done that, rejected it!) - who saw the light - I can speak with authority on that subject!
I'm sorry, T.C., but I can't picture you as a former "liberal" of any stripe. From your writings, I would have guessed that you've never even met a real liberal, let alone been one.
So what happened? Bad acid trip at Woodstock or something?
FYI: I WAS a JFK flaming lib; that changed in five minutes time; It’s called gettin' saved, receiving the salvation so graciously offered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Sorry, T.C., but your story isn't making sense. For one thing, JFK wasn't a "flaming lib." For another, there's nothing about becoming a Christian that requires one to become a conservative, too. Are you sure it wasn't something that happened at Woodstock?
"Dizzy"...have you notified Europe?
I didn’t say that JFK was a flaming lib. I said I WAS! (It’s a cross that I have to carry in life!). Are you sure that English is your first language?
And FYI, believers that choose to FULLY believe the inspired Word of God at the point of their salvation almost always end up with Biblical ethics, morals and beliefs that easily translate into Christian conservatism!
Mr. Morgan; does it bother you somehow that I know Europe and what makes her tick since the days of Emporer Marcus Aurelius ruling from the conquered Germanic Marcomanni realm along the Danube, from the 1st century Great Migration up to the end of World War II. I am less versed in Slavistics, but I am very versed in Germanistics; and lets face it, after the Roman Empire lost importance, Europe was under the influence of the very many Germanic tribes reaching from the region of the Black Sea to the land of the Norse and other Nordic tribes; south of the Brenner Pass, the Ostrogoth Kingdom of Ravenna in Rome, and the crossing of the Visigoth into Spain after the sudden death of their king Alarich; the Vandals taking part of North Africa. Later the establishing of various European nations as independent sovereign entities and so forth, and as I said above, up to the end of WW II. Does my knowledge of European contemporary history and politics bother you so much that you feel that you have to resort to mocking publicly?
I shall notify Europe at earliest covenience, that once again I had to tell a loutish American blogger (who dislikes Austrian born immigrants) to "bugger off" End of communique!
Wow Brian....you're sounding like a kid. My wife would like to eventually get her citizenship, so would that mean she's no longer an Australian? Does she then turn her back on her homeland now that she's married to an American? Would you if you married a French girl and moved to France? Don't be so ignorant...it doesn't suit you. You're just riding Isabell for sport now, but it chips away at your credibility.
Yeah TC, since when does accepting Christ automatically make you a conservative republican? That only tells me you have no idea what being liberal minded is. Lincoln was a liberal minded republican.
"scot" Only "humans" with a valid US birth certificate have the divine right to hyphenate: African-American; Anglo-American; Franco-American; Italian-American; Latino-American, Sino-American and others. Those with birth certificates from any other place are "them" extra-terrestrial undesirables aliens...and that is "MURRAY'S LAW." And as for citing his "credibility"... scot; isn't it an oxymoron?
Ms Isabell:
I meant no offense! If it was perceived as that, it was not my intention. (But I do love your reasoning!). I usually prefer to save my terse comments for the unthinking.
I may not always agree with you, but you have my complete admiration - as you mentioned in another section of this blog - of your part and "participation in the Resistance during WWII." My wish for this American society is that we might be as diligent in our resistance against terrorism as the WWII underground resistance was against the Nazis.
I don't remember saying that being a Christian made me a Republican. Remind me, I getting old and senile, where was it that I mentioned that?
If you think Lincoln was a liberal minded Republican, then you have "problems." You must have been the beneficiary of a California education.
Interesting, isn’t it, that Obama has been doing his best to invoke the memory of a Republican. Not FDR, but Lincoln!
I didn’t say that JFK was a flaming lib. I said I WAS! (It’s a cross that I have to carry in life!). Are you sure that English is your first language?
You said you were a "JFK flaming lib." In the English language that implies that JFK was also a flaming lib, otherwise it is a nonsensical construction.
And if you don't think Lincoln was a liberal (for his day), then you don't know much about Lincoln.
Perhaps I misinterpreted TC. When you said:
"FYI: I WAS a JFK flaming lib; that changed in five minutes time; It’s called gettin' saved, receiving the salvation so graciously offered by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!"
I took that to mean when you were "saved" you went from flaming lib to conservative republican in five minutes time as if that was normal.
As for Lincoln, don't take my word for it, perhaps you should read the works of Phillip Shaw Paludan. Here's the scoop on him:
Phillip Shaw Paludan, Professor of history at the University of Kansas, is one of the nation's foremost authorities on Lincoln and the Civil War, and author of A People's Contest: The Union and Civil War, 1861-1865; Victims: A True Story of the Civil War; and A Covenant with Death: The Constitution, Law, and Equality in the Civil War Era.
If you'd like to read more...
And yes, I'm a California native so I got my education here. How about you?