Obama II: What will the next four years hold?
The National Mall at sunrise, photo courtesy of blog poster Brosephus
Barack Obama was officially if informally sworn into office for the second time Sunday, but the formal, public ceremony is taking place today, on a bright, cold Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with Obama taking the oath on bibles owned by King and President Abraham Lincoln.
We’ll be live-blogging the rest of the ceremony ….
11:38 — A nicely done, dignified prayer by civil rights leader Myrlie-Evers Williams, a woman who has seen a lot.
11:41: With Sen. Schumer of New York as inaugural planner, it’s understandable that a Brooklyn choir is doing the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” But really, a southern choir would have done it righteously.
11:47 Taking his oath, Biden’s just repeating what Sotomayor is saying. Didn’t he get in trouble for that once?
11:51: Obama takes oath, with one small stumble certain to cause comment among a few. The Capitol looks resplendent.
11:58: A call from Obama to the necessity of joint, unified action. “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it if we seize it together.”
12:03 “Social Security, Medicare … do not make us a nation of takers”
12:04: A call to action on climate change. The first real news of the day, committing to a second-term goal.
12:08: A strong embrace of gay rights, equal respect, immigration reform … a broadening of the American family.
12:10: “We cannot mistake absolutism for principle.” I suspect that was directed to some Dems as well as Republicans.
12:12: A relatively brief address by the president, with talk of national unity and purpose interspersed with indirect if sharp reminders of issues that divide us.
12:20: A rather prosaic effort by poet Richard Blanco.
12:31: But a stirring version of the Star Spangled Banner by the lovely and talented Beyonce to close the ceremony.
– Jay Bookman
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937 comments Add your comment
Adam
January 22nd, 2013
8:45 am
Williebkind: As for Obama it is the begining of the end today. Everyday that passes means less time the Amercian people will have to endure socialist programming.
Says the guy who has been programmed by the devil for hate and anger toward the man.
godless heathen
January 22nd, 2013
8:45 am
You really switched the D & the G?
Yup but I’m afraid TaxPayer is going to turn me in to the authorities.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 22nd, 2013
8:46 am
What happens if they send the guy his gay plate, does that settle the suit or are we going to get stuck with a big price tag on this lawyers money grab?
Fred, now why would it be a “lawyer’s money grab”? The State surely knows there are 1st Amendment issues. Protecting those rights is certainly worthwhile. But really overall it depends on the plaintiff what they settle for. The state should have its act together on something like this. I am sure other states have addressed it. It’s not rocket science. “gay” should not be offensive.
Adam
January 22nd, 2013
8:46 am
Conservatives seem to believe moderates and liberals are not entitled to the pursuit of happiness by enjoying yesterday’s inauguration.
Adam
January 22nd, 2013
8:47 am
“gay” should not be offensive.
Neither, IMO, should “F*ck” and “Sh*t”
Fred ™
January 22nd, 2013
8:49 am
Williebkind
January 22nd, 2013
8:44 am
As for Obama it is the begining of the end today. Everyday that passes means less time the Amercian people will have to endure socialist programming. It is a good day, we can see the light and it is getting closer.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Preach it Brother Willie, Preach your HATE vent your ANGER give us your FOXBOT LIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s been like 5 minutes since the last hate filled angry little FOXBOT loser was on here spewing FOXBOT lies, hate, anger, and fear. He even used the samer hateful angry little FOXBOT words.
PREACH THE HATE WILLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Escaped from Email Purgatory
January 22nd, 2013
8:49 am
I’m a relative newcomer to Bookman’s Bandits – we band of brothers and sisters who post random comments to his thoughtful blogs.
At the risk of sounding presumptuous, seems we’re kinda like a big, old dysfunctional family. And every day is Thanksgiving.
Granny Godzilla? Was that you who just cut the cheese? Fred, did you forget to let the toilet seat down again? Did TaxPayer bring that gawd-awful sardine cassarole again? Nobody eats it. I thought you were gonna talk to him about that.
alex
January 22nd, 2013
8:49 am
you guys are still just writing to each other and proves my point… echo chambers, no novel thoughts, the art of the reflex response, on and on and on….lots of anger out there, would have been REAL ugly if romney had been elected, time to move on , work to do reduce medicare /SS and the like, increase the inhertance tax, th ecapital gains tax, flat tax , anyone?….The pres needs to meet with the new Chinese premier..WHAT ABOUT THE NEW TREASURY GUY, DOES HE HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF, WHAT ARE HIS IDEAS ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE…??
Granny Godzilla
January 22nd, 2013
8:51 am
If ones AR-15 does not match their shoes and purse it’s a fashion fail.
Oh and no white assault weapons after Labor day.
That’s it for todays powder puff fashion update.
GT
January 22nd, 2013
8:51 am
When I hear McCain tell Obama he needs to come to the Republicans reach out to them, I think why?
What vision do the Republicans have for the future? If we mainlined their policies into the America they want, what picture do they see that a fuller population of Americans would be better off? I really can’t put the picture together, because I am seeing death on every page. Bodies in front of hospitals where they were not admitted, bodies on battle fields with oil rigs of foreign lands as part of the landscape, bodies in school yards waiting for gun control. Wall Street becomes a real Wall Street with a wall around it and the rest of America, outside the wall.
I wish Obama would have invited McCain up to the podium to expand on his vision of the right for America. They say their problem is the getting the message out here’s a microphone have at it, what I have to say can wait because what I have to say the American public already has in its heart. But you Republicans who think you just lost the election because the country misunderstood you. Tell us what you got in mind the floor is open and we are all ears.
St Simons - aboriginal Bootakook 2014
January 22nd, 2013
8:51 am
What will the next 4 years hold?
Change, baby. Change.
barking frog
January 22nd, 2013
8:52 am
Escaped from Email Purgatory -are you now in heaven?
TaxPayer
January 22nd, 2013
8:52 am
You really switched the D & the G?
Yup but I’m afraid TaxPayer is going to turn me in to the authorities.
I don’t know what the penalty is but I can guarantee you that the “Christian” community of which folks like scout belong to would surely shun you. Maybe even perform some sort of excommunication by charging your neighbor for the use of his or her once-free cell phone or something like that.
Granny Godzilla
January 22nd, 2013
8:53 am
Escaped
I shred cheese, and eat bullies for breakfast, with spam and eggs.
Yum.
indigo
January 22nd, 2013
8:53 am
Williebkind
Before accusing Obama of being Socialist, you ought to at least know that the word means.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/socialism
Fred ™
January 22nd, 2013
8:54 am
WHAT ABOUT THE NEW TREASURY GUY, DOES HE HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF, WHAT ARE HIS IDEAS ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE…??
Is that the new line Herman is preaching right now? Come on alex, preach the hate, spew the anger, tell the lies……..
TaxPayer
January 22nd, 2013
8:56 am
no novel thoughts
We’re not allowed to post anything longer than a short story, alex.
Fred ™
January 22nd, 2013
8:58 am
isn’t it quaint how the foxbots post about “novel thoughts?”
kayaker 71
January 22nd, 2013
9:00 am
The next four years?….. more of the same. More lies, a staggering debt, more people on food stamps, runaway govt spending that remains unchecked, more Bookman rants that only tell half of the story and more murders in Chicago, Macon and Atlanta. What else?
barking frog
January 22nd, 2013
9:02 am
Four more years of hope and change forward.
St Simons - aboriginal Bootakook 2014
January 22nd, 2013
9:05 am
Bike week & sunshine is a month away.
That makes me have a navel thought.
oh, now I have a novel thought.
if demographics overtake them by 2015, don’t negotiate.
Corbin Sharpe. I think, therefore I am...I think.
January 22nd, 2013
9:05 am
“What will the next 4 years hold?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqwIifgs7KU
Skip
January 22nd, 2013
9:07 am
Fred, tagged a new car last week, unless you ask the county name is on the plate. Surprised no one is talking about the new cat tax structure.
Skip
January 22nd, 2013
9:08 am
Cat, car whatever.
St Simons - aboriginal Bootakook 2014
January 22nd, 2013
9:11 am
T-i-i-i-ime is on our side, libs it is….
we sing dat on de island, mon
kayaker 71
January 22nd, 2013
9:12 am
The great flight from California has been enhanced by Phil Mikleson stating that he would move from CA because of taxes heaped on him by the CA state govt. He presently pays close to 63% of his income to taxes including over 13% in state taxes. Gotta have some way to pay for those illegals. And Governor Moonbeam wanders around in some liberal nirvana haze pretending it ain’t so. The next four years? More of the same for CA.
GT
January 22nd, 2013
9:28 am
There is the story of two men who run into a huge angry bear on a hitch in the forest. One man starts rubbing his hands and fretting the other calmly sits down and changes from his hitching shoes to his running shoes. Seeing this the first man says, “What in hell are you doing? You don’t think you are going to outrun that bear do you?” The man changing his shoes calmly replies, “I haven’t got to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you.”
Obama doesn’t have to be perfect.
Gale
January 22nd, 2013
9:32 am
“hitch” someone’s spell checker let him down.
Williebkind
January 22nd, 2013
9:39 am
“They’re interchangeable because a .22 is the same caliber as a .223 dontcha know.”
No they are not but I understand your ignorance about “arms”.
Williebkind
January 22nd, 2013
9:46 am
What will the next four years bring? More executive orders to circumvent that pesky constitution.
GT
January 22nd, 2013
9:47 am
thanks Gale, hike, like I said perfection is not the goal here, but still grateful for the help.
Common Sense isn't very Common
January 22nd, 2013
9:51 am
Kayaker
Please take care of your wife as she is way much more important than what we discuss here.
I HOLD YOUR FAMILY IN MY PRAYERS
Williebkind
January 22nd, 2013
9:54 am
You liberals should start campaigning real soon and find someone who smiles, lies, states the constitution is a living document, and promotes the warfare against women and minorities. You have been inundated the Obama halo that the “second coming” means there is an end. There will be wailing and knashing of teeth.
dbm
January 22nd, 2013
11:50 am
Sometimes government interferes or regulates in a way that opens the door to people doing bad things. In such a case, we must distinguish between the issue of who did the bad things and how to avoid such bad things in the future. To avoid future bad things, we need to close the door that was opened and be more careful what doors we open in the future. Piling on additional regulations and/or regulators is irrelevant and destructive if the problem was caused by a misguided regulation or interference.
Class of ‘98 was trying to make this point, but it tended to get lost because he was also admitting to being one of the people who did bad things.
Jay had a thread on a similar situation a while back, in which a system was designed in a way that allowed it to be gamed. As I recall, he didn’t make clear to what extent government was involved, perhaps because he thought it was unimportant.
dbm
January 22nd, 2013
12:05 pm
Perhaps an analogy will make my last post clearer. If this analogy confuses you, please ignore it.
If we wander around in a blizzard dressed as though we were vacationing in a tropical paradise, and we catch a bad cold as a result, the direct cause of the cold is the germs and their actions. But our best strategy for avoiding a recurrence is to be more sensible about how we dress, taking into account current conditions.
We could say “Fight the germs! Don’t let those [expletive deleted] get away with it!” and take antibiotics for the rest of our lives in hopes of preventing infections that actually are more likely to be viral, but that is not a good strategy.
philosopher
January 23rd, 2013
7:48 am
Jay-it is so nice of you to provide Jm a wailing wall.
philosopher
January 23rd, 2013
7:50 am
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