Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Negative Of The Inauguration

Yesterday, I commented on the glory of the American democratic republican tradition of the peaceful transfer of leadership from one president to another.
But, today, upon reflection, there was a lot of the pomp and circumstance of yesterday that rang in loud and clear.
Do not be fooled by the "hype and no change", er "hope and change".
Now, I realize that there were few Republicans and or conservatives in the crowd in Washington yesterday. It was a Democrat victory and a Democrat day.
But, the classiness of a group of supporters of President Obama could not let go their BDS* and had to get one more slam at the now former president. In an act of class that is usually reserved for the bleacher section at a baseball game, a group chanted "Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye." to former President Bush.
Oh yes, hype and no change. They could not respect the dignity of the moment. Get that last dig in to George W. Bush.
Classy.
Then there was the swearing in ceremony itself for President Obama.
The supreme court chief justice, John Roberts, flubbed the oath as did the president.
But, so many libertards thought that the chief justice did so on purpose.
Why you may ask? Well because the oath has to be said correctly and recited back verbatim.
I am certain that Chief Justice Roberts sat up the night before, in full Snidely Whiplash hand-rubbing fashion muttering, "How can I screw-up the swearing-in- he! he! he!"
Please!
Both men were nervous. It was a momentous occasion and they both were caught up in it.
There.
But what I wanted was our new president to give a speech that would be uplifting and inviting all to be a part his vision. Even if we did not vote for him.
And there, I felt, President Obama fell flat.
But I could not figure out why until I read this post on the Weekly Standard blog by Jonathan Last.
It did have an olfactory whiff of a little too much partisanship. Especially when the president you are replacing is sitting right behind you.
Read the other inauguration speeches on the link.
I did not sense a call to duty as much as a campaign speech that could have easily been given in Iowa or New Hampshire in the dead of last winter.
To be fair to President Obama, he did assert that those who think that they will be able to wage war against the United States should not think that he will roll over for them. And I am paraphrasing, not quoting verbatim.
I want to be able to say that I can find a way to support something about the new president without giving up on the principles that I believe in. I did not quite feel that I could be a part of that yesterday.
Maybe there will be a time and place for that.
One thing for you libertards to realize.
FORMER President Bush is no longer the whipping boy for your frustrations. The candidate you wanted is now the President of the United States. All the decisions made are his, not the man you held in contempt for eight years.
LET IT GO! SET YOURSELF FREE! STOP THE HATE!
It is too bad that you could not let it go starting yesterday.

*Bush Derangement Syndrome

3 comments:

Pamela Zydel said...

I wanted to get into the so-called moment, too. I tried really hard to take in the utopia, but I kept regurgitating it. It just wouldn't stay down. You're right, we can't accept something that goes against everything we believe in; however, we can do it with class. That's more than the left will ever be able to do.

Anonymous said...

"FORMER President Bush is no longer the whipping boy for your frustrations."

My take is and will continue to be, until I'm proven wrong, that this is NOT the end of BDS.

Obama et al will have to do *something* to deflect attention from their inability to perform miracles, as promised. That something will be to harass Bush.

And who's to stop them? Who'll defend him? Who's going to say, "Stop already?" The media? The left-wing criminals who've hounded him relentlessly for almost eight years? Yeah, sure.

I fear we'e in for four more years of Bush-bashing.

Anonymous said...

Oops. Having read your blog in reverse chronological order I didn't notice you pointed out that the Bush-hunt may continue.

Here's another thought: Obama comes from among the dirtiest of the dirty political hell-holes in this nation (argue against that, if you can). *He* won't have any visible part in the continuing harassment of Bush, just as he had no visible part in the threats against TV and radio stations who "dared" to broadcast or scheduled to broadcast viewpoints that didn't fit the Obama narrative, among other dirty tricks meant to shut up the opposition.

So Pelosi et al. will do his dirty work, he'll claim innocence, and Bush is toast.

I could be wrong, I hope so. We'll see.