inauguration
I took the morning off work to watch the inauguration today, travelling across town to start the day off with mimosas and pesto quiche, among other goodies. I arrive to find that my gracious hosts had created nametags for everyone. I liked mine so much I ended up wearing it the rest of the day.
The inauguration was… well, I don’t need to reiterate. You all know how it went by now.
I’ve never really gotten into politics on this blog, and I don’t intend to start now, so I’ll keep this short: the Obama victory in this last election was never so much about Obama himself so much as it was about Americans finally declaring they wanted a break from politics as usual, that they were tired of having to pick from nearly indistinguishable candidates (I voted for Gore in 2000 because I was slightly less ‘meh’ about him than Bush, and I voted for Kerry last time for more or less the same reason).
I remember the delirious smiles after the election, the fellow Portlanders I’d see in the street all grinning at each other like we had winning lotto tickets in our pockets and our favorite teams had just swept the playoffs. There was a palpable feeling of “holy crap, we DID it” circulating among–well, everyone who didn’t vote for McCain, I guess.
I don’t have the unreasonable expectation that our new President is going to magically make everything better tomorrow. I don’t think just one person can make that kind of change. As much as we despise Bush, it took more than just him on his own to sink this country as low as it is now (Cheney helped some). I don’t doubt we’ve got a long way to go in turning things around. What I think is different now is the feeling that we’re all in this together, but we’re united in wanting to turn things around and move them in a different direction.
That’s all. We’ll resume our regularly scheduled pablum for the remainder of the week.
Exactly.
I really hope we can keep the energy alive.
After this post, my nametag says, “Hilly LOVES Vahid”.
Seriously though, you and I are of the exact same view here. I just could not handle one more “old white man” running this country. More of the same, more of the same and I was less than enthralled every time. Here we have President who is different…he admits to inhaling, he’s more in touch with the people, and he uses a Mac for goodness sake! I don’t think he’s a miracle worker…not yet. I do love the change and the chance for *me* to feel hopeful yet again.
Wait a second… wasn’t it John McCain who was going to go all mavericky and shake things up by not succumbing to “politics as usual” in Washington??
Dude, you totally voted for the wrong guy!
i will be happy when everyone leaves my town. i mean, they don’t have to go home or anything, but they can’t stay here.
For the first time in my memory — and I’m old, so I have a long memory — I feel inspired by a political event. Also, like maybe I’m not alone. It feels good, and I hope it ultimately makes a difference. That WE, all of us, ultimately make a difference. I guess time will tell, eh?
Nice. What a great start to a great day.
“Cheney helped some…” love it.
I slept through the inauguration. But to be fair I was in San Fransisco Monday and didn’t get home until like 2:30 or 3am Tuesday. Then I had class a few hours later.
But my Mom watched it though, she said it was good.
HEY! That sticker looks familiar. I can’t believe you wore it the rest of the day. You’ll never know how cool it was to have you join the A-list party people. What a great way to spend the morning!
So nice to have you in our home for the historic day! I hope we can visit more in 2009! Great post! A great day!