Inauguration Musings.

Okay, so here are my inauguration day thoughts and observations. Along with a few thoughts on the election.

-First, the best one-sentence (kind of) breakdown of the election I've heard was from liberal radio host Ed Schultz who said: (paraphrased) "We're in the middle of two wars and a recession and what do they want to talk about? Bill Ayers? Joe the Plumber? Lipstick? Middle names? And they wonder why they got their asses kicked? " This kind of sums it all up right here.

-I can say this now. I don't think Sarah Palin is a stupid person, but she certainly plays one convincingly on tv. It was pretty much all downhill after the convention speech. "I read everything, Katie. All of them." Bob mentioned wishing I were the candidate when they asked that question. I'd have said "well, I read Russian literature, far-left garbage that I hear recommended on Democracy NOW!, books detailing the history and formation of Al-Qiada (which you'd think I'd remember how to spell by now), books about violent predators/ crime prevention, and the Bible."

-The most disturbing quote I heard all year was President Obama responding to criticism of his mind-boggling spending proposals. He said "If we can afford to spend $10 billion a month in Iraq...blah, blah, blah". This disturbed me for a couple of reasons. 1) We can't afford it. That money is being borrowed, not "spent". This is one thing he and I agreed on. 2) Debt doesn't work on a "fairness doctrine". Bush put us deep in the red, so we should let the next guy put us deeper into the hole? That's a good way to go broke twice as fast.

-How the hell did that Blago guy get elected? The word "douchebag" comes to mind. Also, George Will's statement remains true that "no modern farce is complete without a cameo appearance by Jesse Jackson."

-I have had more than enough of Sean Hannity. I think he's a well meaning idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. Yeah, we know already... Bill Ayers. If I have to hear that name one more time I'm going to throw up. Don't get me wrong I haven't heard a single defense of Ayers that wasn't intellectually pathetic or solely reliant on some questionable moral relativist argument. e.g. "He did it a long time ago (up until the early 80's)" or "other people do bad things too". That said I don't care that Obama was tangentially involved with the guy. Anyways, on to today...

-Did you notice that this new president guy is black? Apparently a lot of people can't tell, so reporters are required to mention it at least once every three sentences. Like some one's watching at home going "Oh! OK. Now I see it! I totally hadn't picked up on that." Are we really that stupid as a nation? (note: since some people make a living off of calling people racist I feel the need to clarify this point. I'm not saying I have a problem with the President, what I am saying is that I resent the media treating me as though I'm too stupid to notice the obvious, or to recognize the historical significance of this event without the aid of a talking head.)

-I probably don't want to know the answer to that question.

-Am I the only one who thinks the Lincoln thing is a little overblown? I mean I wish the guy the best, but let's let him take office before we start blasting his face onto Mount Rushmore.

-I listened to the ceremony on the radio during my lunch hour, so I didn't get the visual of the enormous crowd until I saw the replay and damn, that's an impressive site. Imagine 2 million people of all walks of life united only by civic pride, hope for the future....and the fact that they were all standing ankle-deep in urine.

-How come Reagan gets no love when they talk about great speeches from the past? I don't have the borderline-gay Reagan obsession that a lot of people on the right have, but come on. Reagan is like, ya know, the Republican, ya know, JFK. ya know?

-Did you catch that reference, or do I need to beat it into the ground?

-Did you ever stop to think about Lee Harvey Oswald's contribution to getting the Civil Rights bills passed? Sounds incredibly offensive until you stop and think about it.

-Aretha Franklin sounded good on the radio. My personal favorite performance of hers was when she sang "America the Beautiful" at Wrestlemania III back in 1987.

-Joe Biden was my personal MVP of the campaigns. He was the most "human" of all the candidates. He just said whatever was on his mind. IMO, this is how McCain should have been. Biden will be a much stronger asset to the new president than all of the Clinton retreads.

-I'd be interested to read Dick Cheney's memoirs. I kind of wonder how his mind works.

-Speaking of the Clintons, I think the appointment of Hillary was a rather weak one.

-John Roberts was clearly not ready for prime-time.

-I'll admit it. I got goosebumps when "Hail to the Chief" was played right after the swearing-in. Not because of the man himself, necessarily. But when you think of how good we have it in this country that power is transferred peacefully without the bloodshed or chaos seen elsewhere, it should serve as a reminder of all the reasons we have to be proud of this nation.

-I thought Obama's speech was pretty weak, actually. Maybe it's just because I only got about 90 minutes of sleep last night, or maybe he's just set the bar pretty high, but I thought it was rather flat. I felt like he didn't say anything. The speech could be summed up as "things are tough, but we'll get through". There weren't really any specifics and the rhetoric was not as soaring as I'm used to. That being said at least it didn't scare the bejeezus out of me like Bush's second one. After that one I was thinking "I wish we were fighting a war for oil. At least that would be a bad man acting rationally, which is less frightening than a Manichean crusader who thinks he can use the power of the United States government to force everyone to have a better life and fix all the world's problems." hmm.

-Watching the First Family freezing while watching the parade, I appreciated the 65 degree January weather we're having right now. You'd think they could have some kind of heater that keeps the reviewing stand nice and toasty.

-All in all, it was nice to see people celebrating. Even the moonbats; they kicked our asses so they've earned it. I hope the new president does a good job leading the nation through turbulent times ahead and forces me to vote for him next time. I'm sure I'll disagree with him a lot but I'll do so in a fair and respectful manner. After seeing the way the Left lost its collective mind over Bush (or Bushitler as he's affectionately known to the "tin-foil hat"crowd) I vow never to act that pathetic or to abandon logic due to political disagreement. In all fairness the Right did the same with Clinton, and both were equally pathetic. So from now on, I won't call him Barry or any other derisive nickname, or call him a Communist, or anything of that sort. My criticisms will be reasoned, and will probably be boring to those who simply want to read a bunch of name-calling.