Barack Hussein Obama Inauguration Part 1: Historic Disappointment

I've been mostly avoiding the press coverage of the pre-inauguration celebrations, but I caught bits, and I did watch the main event. This is what happens when you build expectations so high, you can't possibly meet them. Even without the expectations of miraculous deeds, peace on Earth achieved overnight, Obama's speech was really lame. It was a bad idea to write it himself, apparently. I'll get to that in a bit, let me start a bit back.

Rush Limbaugh has been jokingly referring to Obama as The Messiah, the Most Merciful Lord Barack Obama, as if his presidency is the Second Coming. Some comments from speeches by Obama and those around him suggested such an attitude, and watching the celebrations leading up to this admittedly historical event, that really is how many of those who voted for Obama regard him. Seriously, just watch Bono and other idiots as they perform at the parties! Plus, while Bush is pressured to be frugal, an inauguration party costing $170 million, more than twice what Bush's cost, is only appropriate to celebrate the Second Coming. Never mind the carbon footprint!

I caught a conversation in the lobby of the hotel this morning between some people, and the average Obama supporter seriously has no understanding of what is going on. To paraphrase the culminating point of one of the people discussing the event, "We've just been headed down the wrong road, it's time for a Change. We took it and took it with Bush, now we've got Change." No discussion of policies, just Change.

It is an unfortunate circumstance that ever since we amended the Constitution to specify January 20th as Inauguration Day, it falls on the day after Martin Luther King's birthday. Listening to the race discussion (always brought up by the Democrats, the only party that still sees black and white instead of Americans!) made me realize something important that sets apart Democrats and Republicans. Republicans (and by Republicans, I mean the conservatives that Republicans are supposed to be, Reagan conservatives) are concerned with results, and if the job is done and no more need of government then great; Democrats, however, always need a struggle. We have a government populated by hippies, people who lived through the civil rights days, and these people have spent so much time fighting the civil rights battle that if the battle is over they have nothing left to give their lives purpose. They can't acknowledge that the hurdles really have been overcome because their lives have been defined by the struggle, and in some cases if minorities don't feel oppressed they have no power over anyone's lives. That's why, even though we have now for the first time elected a black man president, those on the left are divided into two camps: those who think this is the culminating moment of American history, and those who say that this is the start of a new phase of the civil rights battle.

CNN has an article, "Civil rights vets: Fight not over because Obama reaches top". They cite Charlie Steel of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (who said a couple months ago that an Obama victory would not be a civil rights achievement since Obama is only half black and has no "slave blood" in him), who commented that "President-elect Barack Obama is just a piece of the puzzle. This tells us that we are at a station, but it's not our destination [...] We've got to get back on the train". He further stated that those who espouse King's dream may grow lackadaisical because an African-American has taken the reins of the free world. But it is imperative, he said, that they 'march now more than ever before'". Why? I thought the whole idea was to leave race behind? In an attempt to be colorblind, from now on I refuse to acknowledge Barack Obama as America's first black President. His is the 44th American President.

Sunday morning on MSNBC, Azusa Christian Community reverend Eugene Rivers was asked if with "Obama becoming the nation's 44th president [...] that racism is over, discrimination is over, that black men can get a taxi now, as Barack Obama once said. Here's his answer:

"I couldn't get one last night. I couldn't get one -- I was -- I was trying to get something for my wife last night, and it was so funny, I'm sitting there in that little -- that little -- little real yuppie area, and so I wanted to pick up some food, and I'm standing there, and these two very -- you know, four little young white girls come by, you know, and I'm standing there like for a half hour just freezing, like three o'clock in the morning, right? And that cab just rolled right by me, right? The little white girls were like ten feet ahead, and that cab driver took the four white girls to Arlington, Virginia [...] The post-racial rhetoric was simply a politically obligatory applause line, Valerie Jarrett, Barack Obama, John Rogers, Henry Louis Gates, Venus and Serena -- honey, you know we in a new world when Venus and Serena Williams can conquer Wimbledon, honey, but Richard Williams -- you know, so we are not in a post-racial; we are in a much improved place. But to say we're post-racial is simply a -- a -- a heartwarming fiction."

I don't suppose that the cab driver, who was very likely a minority himself, picked up four girls instead of one man, or simply figured four passengers rather than one meant more fare? No, it has to be about race.

Meanwhile Republicans are called on to be supportive, acknowledge the voice of the American people, give Change a chance and stand behind our new president 100%. Where was this call for unity and cooperation in 200? In 2004? What about Republican minorities, do Democrats stand behind them 100%? No, what we find there is that even deeper than the surficial racial argument is that ideology matters, that it's about the struggle and not the results. Success cannot be acknowledged. If a Democrat black man succeeds it's only a stop, not the destination; if a Republican black man succeeds, he's not really black, he sold out his race. They refuse to acknowledge Condeleeza Rice as a civil rights victory because she's conservative, despite being not only the most powerful black person in the world, but the most powerful woman. Clarence Thomas doesn't count. Colin Powell they're fine with, since he endorsed Obama.

Of course, Obama can't be the first black President, because that was Clinton, or so says Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison:

"Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime. After all, Clinton displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald’s-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."

Here's a video* that makes me want to vomit, especially the end where the celebrities get together and pledge to be a "servant to Barack Obama" and the United states:

Where was the support for President Bush? We're asked to set aside our ideological differences and support the decision of the people, but never did we hear anyone say of Bush "I disagree with his policies, but the people spoke and he's my President so I will support him until there's another one, because he needs to know he's not alone in the White House and he represents me, too." How about this. I stand behind Barack Obama 100%, and hope nothing but the best for him, since I don't wish ill on anyone. However, I hope that President Obama utterly fails, and none of his policies are enacted. Unless he suddenly starts proposing tax cuts and shrinking the role of the Federal Government, I hope he fails.

Enough of that, I'm tired of talking about it.

Obama's inauguration was an interesting event. I'm not going to rant about it all at once (I wasn't going to at all, but I was too amused and also offended and now I need to vent), so I'll break it up. A few more comments now, then I'll give hopefully brief comments on the speech, that hilarious "poem," and that offensive "prayer."

I'll wrap this up with the Presidential Oath. Obama is apparently the first president in history to be sworn in by a Chief Justice whose appointment he voted against as a Senator. How often do Republicans filibuster or vote against Democrat nominees? It only ever seems to go one way. But Obama messed up the oath! I think Justice Roberts also stumbled; but seriously, at such a "historic" event, shouldn't Obama have spent some time memorizing and practicing the Oath? Shouldn't they have put this up on a teleprompter? That's the only time Obama is ever really as eloquent as they say, when he's practiced and not on the spot.

Watch the video of the Oath:

The first fumble is easy to explain. Remember how sensitive Obama is about his middle name, Hussein? He avoided using it throughout the campaign, got upset whenever people did as if they were comparing him to another Hussein. Even McCain got mad at any of his staff if they ever called him by his middle name, because heaven forbid we offend the opposition, especially by using their actual name! There was actual serious media coverage, a big deal was made over whether Obama would use his middle name in the Oath or not, and he opted to use his whole name. You can tell how much this was at the top of Obama's mind as he took the Oath; he was so eager to get through that part that he rushed it and spoke over Justice Roberts as he spoke his name. The second part was the real screw-up, since apparently Obama completely forgot what to say and Roberts fumbled over the order of the words. What a way for The Messiah, Mr. More-Eloquent-Than-Bush to start off his Presidency!

One more thing. Apparently (I didn't see this) one of Obama's daughters, in front of cameras, looked up at Obama and said "You're the first black President, you'd better be a good one!" They raised expectations impossibly high to get him elected, now they have to lower them so he can exceed them. "It's going to get worse before it gets better."

*The videos aren't YouTube, so if you're using Google Reader you'll have to actually go to my blog site to see them.