President Barack Obama
by Kelly
I thought his speech was great, click here for a full transcript. What were your thoughts?
P.S. For those who noticed the confusion over the oath, it was not Obama who forgot the lines, but rather Chief Justice Roberts who recited it incorrectly. Obama caught this and waited for the proper phrase. At least that’s what I’ve read (I’m sure there will be more articles about it in the next couple of hours).
Please share your thoughts on this historic moment & hopes (and fears!) for the Obama administration. Full posting on RLG will resume soon, I’m in the middle of the start of classes so bear with me :)
“To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”
*sigh* I am so happy!
And yeah, the Chief Justice screwed up :p
It was Chief Justice John Roberts who screwed up the oath. Justice John Paul Stevens is the one who swore in Vice President Biden (with no problems ;-)
It was wonderful. I realized I’ve never watched one in the past–was in college in a dorm without a tv when Clinton was sworn in. I think I cried more on 10/4 but I *was* at work watching this for today.
The benediction was perhaps my favorite.
I’ve just been talking with Cecelia of Ojibway Migisi Bineshii and she has a great criticism of the speech regarding its complete omission of Native American issues. While I was grateful that someone finally brought up the elephant in the room of Muslim Americans, there are probably a lot more elephants to be addressed as well. (Atheists as “non-believers?” Seriously?) My feelings are that racism gets drawn according to lines of black and white in this country, and while we should be absolutely thrilled that a black man is finally president, we should be aware that there are so many barriers to be broken in addition to that. Don’t get me wrong–I’m super happy about having Obama in office. But sometimes I fear that he won’t be as progressive as most of us blogging would like.
Obama will be a bigger disappointment than GWB. He preaches hope and change like a salesman of snake oil. I have been pleasantly surprised with somethings he has done so far. Closing GITMO was a bold opening move, but I am very displeased with the time frame.
@ Evilslutclique — Thanks, I corrected my mistake.
@ Dolly — It was unfortunate that Native Americans weren’t mentioned in his speech. I was pleased by his reference to non-believers though, even if that’s the term he used. I was holding my breath when he started naming religions and I let it out when he gave my people a shout out :P
@ Ian — I don’t know, call me naive but I trust Obama. Am I skeptical of everything he promises? Of course. I’m just watching and waiting. I think it’ll be hard for him to disappoint more than Bush just because he inherently stands for the same things I do (pro-choice, sep. of church and state, etc) whereas Bush’s neo-conservativism is the antithesis of my beliefs.
I find it hard to trust anyone who manages to get elected. They make big promises that inherently fall away, they take the same money as their competitors from the same large corporations that I can’t stand, and they are all basically cut from the same clothe. I like obama much more than the other guys, but I just don’t trust him.