27 Comments - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 8:33 am: People are crazy. At 6 a.m. our time, they were packed on The Mall from the Capitol Pool to the Washington Monument — a mile plus. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:08 am: The Chicago Money Crew just got a shout-out on the podium. Bill Daley, Pritzker, Pat Ryan, John Rogers. They’re the inauguration committee. - Ghost - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:11 am: I am struck by the size of this event, 2 million plus people in the freezing cold! This must world wide attention to an event, reminds me of the day the Berlin wall came down. - Ghost - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:11 am: must = much - Mo - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:21 am: George W just patted a guard on the butt! - Mo - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:25 am: The girls look adorable. - grace - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:55 am: wow, that’s some hat aretha is wearing. - You Go Boy - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:57 am: Head of MSNBC must put directive out to producers: Make sure Chris Matthews hands are in view at all times - especially during swearing in and speech. (In light of his comment that Obama ’sends a thrill up my leg’ some months ago). - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 10:58 am: Aretha from the Capitol facing the Lincoln Memorial singing “My Country Tis of Thee” for the first black president. Sixty nine years ago, it was Marian Anderson from the Lincoln Memorial facing the Capitol, at the invitation of Eleanor Roosevelt, because she couldn’t integrate a DC concert hall. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:05 am: John Williams is sampling a little of Aaron Copland here in his arrangement. Copland’s works were pulled from Ike’s 1953 inaugural because he was a lefty. Pete Seeger and Copland in one weekend. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:07 am: Stumblies? lol You’d think they’d rehearse those lines. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:15 am: Little Jerome Kern there. “Pick yourself up, dust yourself up…” - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:18 am: “false choice between safety and ideals.” Amen. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:28 am: Awesome speech. A sense of history, a call to toughen up and get to work. - Secret Square - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:31 am: Some of these things are going to need to be repeated at another inauguration we’re likely to see in the next few weeks. - HoBoSkillet - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:31 am: I’m listening to the radio to all of the events. Is it just me, or did it seem like the sense of confidence in Obama’s voice wasn’t there today? - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:33 am: Hobo, I was watching TV. His delivery was more forceful, determined than usual. No smiles, all business. - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:34 am: I agree with wordslinger. - HoBoSkillet - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:37 am: Thanks word - I’ll have to watch a re-run tonight. - A Citizen - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:46 am: The sense of confidence was definitely there - also tempered by the sense and weight of responsibility. Very sobering. - Cultural Critic - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 12:38 pm: Amidst what will surely be much well deserved praise for President Obama’s speech, let’s not overlook Elizabeth Alexander’s fine poem, which, if there is justice in this world, will revive interest in poetry. I heard echos of Sanberg, Dos Passos — it was very American, and beautifully balanced art’s highest aspirations with the social, the communal. Hope it is posted on line soon. As for the string / piano musical arrangement, it was a dream team that disappointed. Someone forgot that it IS a gift to be simple. The arrangement was way too cluttered. - What the. . . - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 1:53 pm: MSNBC just commissioned a new poll: Who is the second best American President of all time? - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 6:22 pm: What a day. The pageantry of an inauguration is incredibly moving, no matter the new president. I’m happy for W, he’s taking a load off. It’s a tough world, and he was in over his head. Expedience over principle is a greatly tempting, but terrible policy. He wasn’t dumb, but strangely incurious — not everybody’s meant to be president (or governor, as we know) . I truly think he did his best. I’m happy that my country elected Obama. I’m proud of him and his family and proud to be a supporter from Illinois. I think he’ll do well in an impossible job. More than that, I’m proud to tears of my country. When Obama was done with the oath (even after he and Roberts did their Abbott and Costello routine) I let out a yelp. I guess I couldn’t believe it until I saw it. Not possible, not conceivable, anywhere else on the planet, ever. - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 6:24 pm: word, I couldn’t have said it any better, so I won’t try. - Bookworm - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 8:00 pm: Today was proof positive that even members of the General Assembly can grow up to be president someday! - HoBoSkillet - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:04 pm: What a fool I have been. Watching the Inaugaration on television has completely changed my earlier assessment. It was quite a speech that I think will find its way into the history books. I do have to disagree with our cultural critic, however, I found the John Williams composition to be beautiful, yet I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder. - Bookworm - Tuesday, Jan 20, 09 @ 11:54 pm: As someone who didn’t vote for Obama, has serious concerns about some of his policies, but nevertheless hopes he will do well, I must say the part of his address that I liked best was his reminder that our ancestors survived far tougher circumstances than this, and so can we. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.