Ok, I should be working on my first state supreme court brief, which the administration wants to see a copy of by Friday, but I can’t let too much time pass without comment on yesterday’s events. I don’t know if I’m the first to break the news or not, but yesterday was the inauguration at which President-elect Obama became President Obama. Shoot. I should have told you to sit down before giving you that news. Well, take your time to recover from it and then join me in sharing your thoughts on the speech, the invocation, the benediction, Feinstein having the “distinct” pleasure of introducing everyone, CJ Roberts’ attempt to sabotage Obama, and whether that lemongrass color was gorgeous or not.
Since the speech, I have heard a lot of talk from talking heads more learned than I that the speech just wasn’t that great. With that in mind, I humbly — the theme of this new era, perhaps — disagree. I loved it! I will be the first to admit that I am simply charmed by this family and Obama reading aloud classified ads would probably woo me, but I simply thought the speech was great. I loved the imagery of the “icy currents” and the “clenched fist.” I loved that we know our patchwork heritage is a strength and not a weakness. While that idea is certainly not new, it seemed spoken with such confidence that it felt new. I very much liked his note that people will judge their leaders by what they build, not what they destroy. On the flip side, I was not enamored with the line about we will move forward with government programs that work and abandon those that don’t. Not that that isn’t a worthwhile notion, but it seemed a rather pedestrian idea. [Note: one of my colleagues thought the whole speech was ‘pedestrian’ by Obama standards. Admittedly, he set the bar rather high, but really — pedestrian?]
I just think the whole of it was inspiring. It reminded me that we are an awesome country with awesome responsibilities. It did what I think he set out to do: reassure us, remind us there is a lot of work to do, and fill us with hope.
Final note: all I want to see are pictures of Michelle. Why a camera would focus on anything else but Michelle (and sometimes Malia and Sasha), I have no idea. This morning I was watching a little of the prayer service at the National Cathedral and the camera was pulling away from Michelle. What? Cameraman: fired!
Ok, final final note: this.
And I now need to look at more pictures of that lemongrass dress er, I mean, work on my brief.
life and puppies 