Obama's first act as President: a proclamation proclaiming a "National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation". It's fairly traditional:
"...On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright -- it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.
So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
Full text (on the promptly updated new White House site) here.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
--Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair. Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice. A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, "Take out your pencils. Begin."
Maybe it’s not all out fault. After these eight years our view has been of sand as the cart came off the track. Maybe we can point the blame in all directions. Are you pointing at me now? I’ll kick it back somehow the hell from the USA.
Wake me up when it’s over, or please just let me sleep. I was in a dream where everything was beautiful and we were secure in the same little houses with all our big box stores where we can buy some more to prove we’ve made it big right here in the USA.
Man, it’s been a dream that someone would wake up. Shake up!
Maybe we need not feel so bad about what we did or didn’t do. What we said. What we should have said. After all, we’re such a nation that we will lay the blame or acquiesce. Lay the whole mess: It’s how it’s done in the USA.
What can one say? What can one say? I’ll take it. I’ll make it mine. If you answer, you thousands say, “Everything will be just fine.” You’re beautiful. This place is fine. Everything is all right. Everything is all right.
"Someone to Wake" Music and lyrics by Christian Kiefer, featuring Will Johnson. Download it here. More about the "Of Great and Mortal Men" collection here.
The President and Laura Bush leave the White House to greet the Obamas this morning.
"We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson's invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday's program. We regret the error in executing this plan - but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event."
That was Obama inaugural committee spokesman Josh Earnest, explaining why the openly gay episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, didn't make it on TV giving his invocation to the inaugural kick-off "We Are One" concert last night. You'll recall that the Rev. Robinson was announced right around the time that the furor over anti-gay preacher Rick Warren was heating up (Warren will be opening the inauguration proper tomorrow morning). Further a technical glitch in one of the speaker towers at the event prevented the Reverend from being heard by a large portion of the crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial. I give the benefit of the doubt when I say "technical glitch," because I refuse to believe that that bit was intentional, but it's worth noting that sound doesn't appear to have cut out during any of the other speeches or performances.
This concert was exclusively aired by HBO, who have stated unequivocally that the decision to have the Reverend speak before the scheduled start of the event was entirely that of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. When I first heard about this, I was inclined to give the benefit of the doubt...maybe it was just a simple mistake. I'd still really, really like to believe that. The more I look into it, though, the more that explanation seems ridiculous: if you have a show scheduled to start at 2:30, a third-grader can figure out that someone scheduled to give a four-minute speech at 2:25 isn't going to wind up on TV. The committee says it will air the prayer on the mall tomorrow, but there's no indication that it will wind up on TV. Rick Warren's prayer, meanwhile, is expected to be seen by a viewing audience of 150 million plus an additional two million on the mall. So here it is, distributed to the massive readership of Rosserford.com:
I've said it before, but it feels more true all the time: when you're a gay dude (or anyone concerned about civil rights) who supported Obama, gave him money, voted for him, and encouraged his friends to vote for him...well, you start to feel a bit like the battered wife who keeps coming back for more. The one with the exceptionally pointy coffee table, to hear tell of it. But still, we're afraid if we stand up to him, he might leave.
I desperately want to be thrilled, elated by this almost mystical, at least highly serendipitous confluence of an inauguration with unique historical value wrapping a round-number anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., along with the forthcoming Abraham Lincoln bicentennial. I want that more than almost anything during this week--it's history that's happened, and it's history in the offing, and those are pretty much my two favorite things. President-elect Obama seems almost determined to ruin it for me. It's as if he can't help himself.
I still believe Obama to be an exceptionally competent, self-assured leader who has yet to let the adulation of most of America quite go to his head. That, in itself, is extraordinary. I think that he's put together a talented and experienced team of people who won't be afraid to question him (I'm looking at you, Hill). Aside from the, in my opinion, far overstated fact that he is, indeed, black, I have every reason to have hope that he will be a skilled administrator, a thoughtful leader, and an inspirational figure. On one of the central civil rights challenges of our day, though, he has told us that we're on our own. This is all just symbolism, you may say. I say that this man understands symbolism like no one who has ever aspired to the office of president. He knows exactly what he's doing. This isn't hope. It's not change. It's politics.
All of the obituaries focused on Ricardo Montalban's role in the pop-culture trifle Fantasy Island. Nothing against that show, but it's simply criminal if he's not remembered as one of the greatest villains in film history. It's the guy who killed Spock, for Christ's sake. Ladies and gentlemen--by reader request...Khan Noonien Singh.
Obama transition officials have suggested that an early act of the new administration could be to shut down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, via executive order. Saturday Night Live imagines how such a scenario might go down:
The big news from Macworld this year (apart from the absence of Steve Jobs): iTunes is changing its pricing structure, and, more significantly, will be eliminating digital rights management from most of its catalog.
Faced with slowing growth in the digital download market, as well as new competitors like Amazon, iTunes is moving to a three-tiered pricing structure: .69 cents for the "vast majority" of songs, .99 cents for others, and $1.29 for the most popular items. The DRM thing is probably more significant, and represents something of a final surrender on the part of the music industry. The digital rights protections on iTunes songs give you something like a license to use a song rather than owenership of the music. If you bought the same song on CD, you'd have unfettered access to the song to move around as you choose. Personally, my various players react differently to iTunes songs, so I never know if I'll actually be able to play a song that I've payed for where I want to play it. And try getting those songs to play on a new computer without hassle.
I'm pretty sure that this means that the digital-download wars are over. It's about time the music industry looked to the future instead of trying to fight it.
For you Facebookers out there, EqualityMatters.org is holding an "Online March for Equality" during the week of the inauguration All they ask is that you change your profile picture to one of their badges the week of January 18th to the 24th.
You can search for them on Facebook, or go to EqualityMatters.org to download one of their 12 badges to add as a profile picture beginning on the 18th.
There are a lot of comments on the Facebook page, making the point that the whole thing is stupid and lazy. I actually kinda disagree-there are a lot of Facebook addicts out there, and many more people, like myself, who are on there at least once a day. When you see that a third of your friends have matching profile pictures, it does cause you to take notice. Nothing more than a simple, easy way to get people thinking about an issue that may not be foremost on their minds. Perhaps I'm just rationalizing my inherent and shameless laziness, but the cost-benefit analysis seems entirely reasonable to me.
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