Jan 30 2009
Sign of the times – this wasn’t possible, I don’t think, without Barack Obama’s election. But congratulations to the Republican party. I can hope that this becomes more the party of Collin Powell, and less the party of … so many …
Jan 30 2009
This is really nice:
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/the-inauguration-at-last/?em
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/the-inauguration-at-last/?em
Jan 23 2009
Remember that saying? That was early hip hop/r & b. Don’t know if white people talked about the flip side – I think the mainstream term was “B” side, from which you also got “B” movies (I think). Anyway…
I quoted on this blog and elsewhere, with some bemusement, about some whites who were clearly either racist, ignorant, or both, but who were voting for Barack Obama. I recalled with a good deal of approval, the Ohio man who thought Obama was a muslim, but was leaning toward voting for him anyway. (And this was BEFORE the financial meltdown!) I quoted somewhere the couple who proudly declared that they were “voting for the n*gg*r”. Change comes slow – and people are who they are. I appreciated all the stories like that. These, after all, are the white folks who won’t be easily integrated – but who will, it seems, be able to live comfortably in a pluralistic world, just the same.
OK, but that’s me looking at white people. What’s on the flip side? As is always true – there is no equivalence here – there is no racism against whites in this video – but having said that – this video is not safe for work…
Jay-Z My President is black Remix LIVE 1-18-09 from pleasedontstare.com on Vimeo.
QT
Jan 22 2009
A wonderful retrospective from Mark Schmitt
Those speeches of last winter and spring make up probably the most sustained, successful, and memorable verbal performance in American politics since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats or perhaps since Abraham Lincoln. Having worked as a speechwriter, it was astonishing to see one man, in the midst of intense, competitive campaign activity, deliver so many superb and deeply personal speeches, something few politicians manage to do more than once or twice a year. Barack Obama is president because of those speeches, something that cannot be said of any president before him in the television age, and few before that. For months it seemed the strongest case against Obama was that his politics consisted of “just words.”
***
And yet, the president has moved on. Through the course of the campaign, his words slowly came down to earth, from inspiring and cocky to the mundane and practical. As the “gathering clouds” of the economic crisis became too dark to ignore, he accelerated his move from inspiration to work. His words no longer serve the purpose of pulling us up but of naming and giving order to the work to be done: roads, the electric grid, ending torture, restoring America’s place in the world.
The speeches are over. We’ll miss them. What a joy it was to live through that period, and we can only hope that its light shines on the presidency it gave birth to.
Mark gives voice to a nagging sense that has been tugging on me; fully answering why I found Obama’s Inaugural speech pitch perfect, while so many found it flat. The days of Obama’s soaring speeches are over – and the national stage may not give him any further opportunities to soar as he had. We now must attune our ears to the stirring sound of a call to service, to hard work, to sacrifice. We have a miry sludge to march through – and at every step we will march one plodding step at a time. This isn’t pretty, and the words to push us through will likewise will seldom be so.
It was a wonderful time, and I hope to own a dvd of those amazing speeches that got us this far. But I think for the next four years, we will have to adjust to a much more down to earth Presidential tone.
Jan 21 2009
As usual, Bob Cesca hits it out the park! Hurray for liberty! Hurray for courage! 
Hurray for President Barack Obama!
QT
More on Obama’s Inauguration
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Jan 20 2009
REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
Inaugural Address
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Washington, D.C.
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
Jan 20 2009
The opening words of Rev. Lowry’s prayer were the closing stanza of the Black (Negro) National Anthem. Here’s a rendition of the song:
And the lyrics, by James Weldon Johnson: http://www.black-network.com/anthem.htm
QT
