In case you didn’t know it has been made a law that every blog on earth has to make some comment about the Inauguration of Barak Obama. I thought I would get mine out of the way now.
What a spectacle! Millions and millions of spectators. I was amazed at Rick Warren being invited to give the invocation. What a word of praise! I was stunned that they got Aretha Franklin to sing. She’s still alive? They didn’t bring her back from the dead for this did they? They got John Williams to write the theme song???? Yo-Yo Ma, Izak Perlman get second billing???
I was totally blown away that Obama messed up his lines when he was sworn in. Surely he practiced these lines before today. They don’t change this every time do they? And then as Obama’s being sworn it I looked at the clock. It was just after noon. Coincidence? Hardly. This is the most engineered media event I have ever seen. I am typing this as it happens and I have no doubt I will be able to find a link to the copy of the text of this speech already. The picture I’ve got above was available minutes after it happened on the Internet. That still amazes me.
Then the speech. Whatever you think of Obama’s policies you have to admit
this guy is inspiring. How I wish Canada had someone, anyone who could cast a vision so grand and vivid. I wouldn’t listen to Steven Harper for five minutes, I wouldn’t hear Michael Ignatief for one minute. I wouldn’t watch Jack Layton tie his shoes, but I could listen to this guy for an hour. It is sobering to realize that the world of the next four years will be dictated by the themes of this speech; and a Christian ethic was everywhere. I thought it was the Republicans who were the spiritually inclined party. I know this is a gross over simplification but do you mean to tell me that McCain would have featured God more on this day? How is that even possible? The crowd could hardly hold it’s applause during the prayers for Pete’s sake! An American poet wrote, for this very occasion, a Praise Song for Today. In it she amazingly said, “the most powerful word is love.”
Sometimes, (only sometimes) I wish we did politics like our neighbours to the south do. Who is our Prime Minster? We may have a new one without even knowing it next week. In the US you would have to be living in a hole WELL underground to not know about this event. What an event!
Then they sung the anthem! That was impressive! It stirs the soul, and I’m not even American. This is the way to name a head of state. We have got to start doing this.
ephesians2eight 
Noel, I agree with almost everything you said. As inspiring as he was, his policies hardly support his “spiritual” words. I really struggle with that. How can a man who speaks so eloquently about love for all and serving the “least of these” be so eager to pass a law that supports full-term abortion and the killing of the babies who survive? What will he do for the smallest of these? It makes me ill.
I would imagine that every world religion was represented through qoutes in Obama’s speech.
In my opinion, the closing prayer was the best part of the day. Now that was inspiring… and real!
I, too, wish that we made a bigger deal out of the prime minister. I was able to share a day in history with my children today. What can I tell them about the day Steven Harper became prime minister? I can’t even tell them *when* he became prime minister!
Now, one more thing, a word in Obama’s defense. He did rehearse the oath of office. It was Cheif Justice John Roberts who messed up the words. It took Obama by surprise.
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