- So Obama went with the red tie.
- One of the coolest traditions of the peaceful transfer of power is the note the out-going president leaves on the desk for the in-coming president. I would love to be able to read just one of those letters, but they are never made available to the public since it’s such a personal note. I wish I knew when this tradition first started (I couldn’t find anything online), and it stinks that Presidents Truman and Johnson never got a chance to receive such a letter. Charlie Gibson thought Reagan started the tradition, but I think it goes back much further.
- Michelle Obama gave a present to President and Mrs Bush . . . nice touch and I saw a new tradition.
- Not that I’m a fashion expert, but I wasn’t fond of Jill Biden wearing boots.
- Man, that presidential limo sure is tall, just about six feet. It’s about as tall as a truck, yet it’s a car, or a tank.
- Cheney pushed around in a wheelchair was an interesting site. He reminded me of the banker in It’s A Wonderful Life. But I give him credit, he stood when he needed to.
- I wonder what other countries think of the inauguration festivities.
- It looked like the elder Bush had a teddy bear in his coat pocket, turns out it was a hat.
- I saw Bill Clinton actually give him a hug and helped him walk, that made me smile, two “enemies” now embracing.
- I wonder if former presidents send each other Christmas cards. All of which seemed to get a decent amount of appluase except for the current president.
- Lady Bird Johnson was the fist wife to hold the Bible during a swearing in ceremony.
- It was great watching the whole think in HD.
- It must be interesting being president for eight years and having ‘Hail to the Chief’ played everytime you enter a room and then all of a sudden it doesn’t happen any more.
- ABC cut over to the moving trucks at the White House right before the start of the inauguration.
- It might have been cold in Washington, but that sun sure was shining bright upon that city.
- I thought Rick Warren’s prayer was very appropriate, he ended it in Jesus’ name but in a unoffensive way, I think.
- I’m not a fan of when early excerpts of a speech is released, but my favorite line is: Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
- The oath of office didn’t go exactly as planned, but it was the first time for both of them to do such a thing. Not really a good way to start off, but I got hope. It’s going to be the most viewed YouTube item of the year I bet. Blame will be pointed somewhere, but I wonder who will get the brundt of it. It appears that Obama was expecting Roberts to pause, he didn’t which caused some crazy awkwardness, then Roberts moved some of the words around that confused Obama. Here’s a decent article about the flub, and the comments are entertaining.
- When a news anchor points out that that Roberts goofed, I can hear my Republican friends yell, “That damn liberal media!”
- In the CNN feed you could see someone from the Air Force placed a stool down for one of the Obama girls so she could be seen right before the oath. In another feed, you could see people on the state look at the crowd and not at the acutal swearing in. Both wore JCrew in case you were interested. But stock in the company now.
- Speaking of CNN, this feature was just awesome. CNN.com/TheMoment
- Bob Schieffer described the crowd as a “sea of citizendry.” That sounds nice. He also said that he’s covered a total of 10 inaugurations, and haven’t seen one like this one.
- There weren’t any arrests, I find that amazing.
- Poems are boring. Did you know that when Robert Frost read his poem it got blown away, and then he decided to recite one from memory.
- I really enjoyed listening to Air and Simple Gifts.
- Biden is the first Catholic VP.
- People were walking on the reflection pool, that was kind of scary. I hope no one got hurt.
- Eight years ago Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, and Tom Brokaw lead the coverage, now we have Katie Couric, Charlie Gibson, and Brian Williams.
- Katie’s new hair . . . I don’t like. She looks like Suzy Orman.
- I enjoy listening to Peggy Noonan.
- The new cover of the New Yorker has a funny Obama cover.
- Ouch, what happened on Wall Street?
- It was kind of a cool seen seeing the helicopter take off from the capital.
- I wonder if any of the former presidents while walking through the rotunda thought that perhaps the next time they will be there will be when their body is lying in state. Yeah, it’s a dark thought, but I wonder these things.
- I think my Senator, John Cornyn, is just trying to get some attention.
- There’s a Turbo Tax commercial that comes on in which actors are dressed as Benjamin Franklin and Presidents Jackson and Grant. It really creeps me out because they are painted green like the currency of money, but to me, they look more like corpses.
- I’ve wondered if the many Christians I’ve seen pray for Dubya would pray for Obama. Well, some folks are praying for Obama, to fail.
- Quirky Obama Merchandise. Link
- http://www.isobamapresident.com/
- Almost unrecognizable celebrities. Link
- Dubya was the third Methodist to serve in the White House, and there’s an article on the United Methodist’s website assessing his presidency. Link
- Al-Qaeda hit by the Black Plague? Article
- Google G-Drive is coming. Link
- And today’s random theme show song is a modified West Wing intro . . .
Grace, Peace, and Love
Regarding the Limo – I recently read an article on it. In a nutshell, previous limos were meant to quickly remove the president from a threat. Starting with this limo they are taking the attitude that they will have to “stand and fight” in a future altercation. That is why it is built so much sturdier.
Some interesting presidential limo pics and facts can be found at http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4300349.html.
So if everyone calls President Bush “Dubya”, is it not disrespectful to call President Obama “Hussein” or “H”?
And if the ‘many Christians’ you’ve seen pray for ‘Dubya’ don’t pray for President Obama, I wouldn’t consider them Christ-like…we should always pray for our leaders, regardless if we voted for them or not.
The booing and bashing of President Bush is tasteless.
Personally I don’t consider it disrespectful to call Bush “Dubya.” A lot of his campaign slogans was based on that middle initial, and I think it’s a tip of the hat to our Texas drawl. And as a liberal living in the south, I wasn’t offended when Clinton was called Bubba. However, I think calling President Obama “Hussein” or “H” is an attempt to try link him to terrorists (Saddam) or implying that there is something un-American about being from that heritage or being Muslim, which he is not. Just my opinion.
The ability to clash opinions is the one of the great thing about our country. Grace be with you, Tom.
PS noticed your obs about the plague hitting AQ- the cool thing is when it hit the camp they split up and went to different camps and locations!
George W. Bush has been called “Dubya” since he was young, as a way of differentiating him from his father who shares the same name, George Bush. It’s like “junior.” It wasn’t invented in a politicized climate to stir up associations with something sinister in the way that calling President Obama “Hussein” would.
Regarding the ex-President getting booed yesterday, I agree that it was distasteful. The man needs to be held accountable for his actions, but there is a time and place for it, and the inauguration isn’t it.
Regarding the article that calls Christians to pray for the president’s failure. Wow. Um. I’m not sure what to say, except this to the author: please keep those ignorant words to yourself. You’re making all Christians look pathetic.
A call to pray that Obama fail is the ultimate in lack of faith in God. The article references scripture (Rom. 13:1-4), then disputes the literal interpretation to conveniently argue his personal political viewpoint. If this author doubts God’s authority in this way, he, at the very least, is guilty of the sin of disobeying God’s Word and quite possibly, blasphemes the Holy Spirit, which is the only unpardonable sin and means he is not a Christian at all. As a Christian, it is a joy and honor to lift up anyone before God, much less a man with a task this daunting. Though we couldn’t have predicted this historic moment or know what the future holds, the God true Christians pray to knew all before the beginning of time. (And, yes I’m a Baptist) A scripture that I will pray constantly over this man is Proverbs 21:1, knowing that it glorifys God when we pray in His will. Imagine the testimony of the power of God’s direction on this presidency! God Bless America and Barack Obama.
Geeding, great point on my Dubya comment…..I forgot about President Clinton being called ‘Bubba’…..While “W” doesn’t have any negative connotation, ‘Bubba’ I think does.
I lived in Austin for 3 years of the Bush presidency, and was amazed at how much people despised him. Disagreement with his policies, I have no problem with that. But I would see bumper stickers that said “Bush is a punk-a** chump” and “F the President” etc.
I hope not to see those things about our current president.
The letter tradition started with Reagan as I recall.
The newest Presidential State Car (correct term for his limo) is based on a GM Topkick frame so yeah, it’s a monster alright.
Dressed in black with that wide-brimmed black hat, Cheney reminded me Judge Doom from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit†or one of those James Bond super villains. I found it hypocritical that in a retrospective interview Cheney was quick to take credit for all the jobs created during the early portion of the Bush presidency, but then claim that the financial meltdown at the end was something they had no control over.
Forty-one has a hard time walking after his hip surgery and yet he’s still planning on parachuting from an airplane again on his upcoming birthday.
Frankly I’m suffering from inauguration fatigue. We have been going through this transition for three months. The country is in turmoil and we have spent three months turning over the reins of power.
Carter really doesn’t like Clinton
It scares me that if Al-Qaeda is suffering from the Bubonic Plague they’ll start an operation of sending suicide victims into population centers.
I believe I heard the new Secretary of the Treasury nominee say he did his taxes himself using Turbo Tax. Is that positive advertizing for Turbo Tax or negative advertizing?
Um… Biden identifies himself as a Catholic, but he is not faithful to the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
That’s a huge difference ~ he’s about a Catholic as Kennedy was ~ not at all.