Wow.
America is an amazing place and this was an amazing day.
Obama isn’t the black candidate I had in mind to do this, but he means something very special to the black community and he will forever be treasured.
That’s pretty cool.
The speech was pretty much what I expected. Maybe a little rougher on Bush than I would have liked. And Politico is reporting the new White House site slams Bush.
That’s looking backwards if you ask me.
A few excerpts from the inaugural speech that I didn’t exactly appreciate:
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord…
We will restore science to its rightful place…
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals…
Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more...
On the flip, thanks to Obama for a few conservative talking points in his speech. He didn’t have to do that.
In spite of directly following a fear-mongering global warming point, this was my favorite:
We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
No thanks to the classless liberals who booed Bush/Cheney and chanted the “Nah Nah Nah Nah Goodbye” song on this day where Republicans and Democrats stood united.
Also, big loud boos to the Rev. Wright-like speech that Rev. Lowery gave.
“We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to give back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man, and when white will embrace what is right.”
Ugh. When will that stop?
And, I was going to say something like this, but David Horowitz sets the bar so:
How should conservatives think about these events?
First we have to recognize and then understand that whatever happens in the Obama presidency, this Inauguration Day is a watershed moment in the history of America and a remarkable event in the history of nations, and thus a cause for all of us who love this country, conservative and liberal, Democrat and Republican, to celebrate.
Second, in order to do this as conservatives — as conservatives who have been through the culture wars — we need to get past the mixed feelings we will inevitably have as the nation marks its progress in moving away from the racial divisions and divisiveness of the past. These feelings come not from resistance to the change, but from the knowledge that this celebration should have taken place decades ago and that its delay was not least because our opponents saw political advantage in playing the race card against us and making us its slandered targets.
If we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday at a time of presidential inaugurals, this is thanks to Ronald Reagan who created the holiday, and not to the Democratic Congress of the Carter years, which rejected it. If Americans now have accepted an African American to lead their country in war and peace that is in part because an hysterically maligned Republican made two African Americans his secretaries of state. And if, after the passage of the Civil Rights Acts, race has continued to be a divisive factor in our politics over the last 40 years that is because the generation of Sharpton and Jackson and their liberal supporters have made it so.
