Are you watching?

[mommax3]

Re: Are you watching?

I wish him the very best. He and his family are so beautiful and I am happy for them. I think I am in Nellie's camp, though. The world hasn't changed because he was elected. I agree with Abigail that his speech (actually, all of his speeches that I have heard) was well-written and well-delivered, but vague. I am pulling for him, I really am, but all of the breathless anticipation gets a big from me. He's just a person, you know? I am afraid he is being set up for a big fall.

Sally

Re: Are you watching?

I wish him the very best. He and his family are so beautiful and I am happy for them.

I agree and I'm eager to see what happens over the next four years. I also agree with the last part of what you said. I wonder if the expectations -- of himself and from the public -- will mellow over the next few months. Otherwise I think it is overly-ambitious. Again, making me a cynic according to his speech today.


Slight change of topic, what is up with Cheney being in a wheelchair? How long has that been going on? Can't the VP get a mover?

[mommax3]

Re: Are you watching?

I don't know....I heard this morning that he hurt his back while packing boxes and his docs ordered him to stay in the wheelchair. Truthfully, all I thought is that I had better be careful when we start packing/moving. (Because after all, it's all about me! )

I was sad for Senator Kennedy. It would be hard to fight that losing battle on a public stage. Poor guy.

The cable at our new building isn't hooked up yet, so we were showing the ceremony to our students via the internet. Since everyone was doing that, the video feed was really S...L....O.....W, although the audio was pretty much real-time. I was projecting my monitor onto a big screen, and the kids were cracking up because what we heard didn't match what they saw at all (Aretha's singing face as we listened to the swearing-in, for example). The kids were pretty blah about the whole thing, except for a couple, but they were respectful. I hope they will think back to today when they are older and remember something about their lame choir teacher who made them watch it even though the presentation left something to be desired.....kids don't always realize the significance of things at the time they happen, but I thought this was worth suspending normal class for.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Are you watching?

I am pulling for him, I really am . . .

Despite my disagreements with him on pretty much everything of substance, I am pulling for him, too. I just wanted that to be clear, given my comments. My disputes with his policies, I hope, are not mistaken for wishing him ill-will or failure. That is not the case at all. I hope that his term is successful for this country and brings us safety and prosperity. Our country is bigger than my politics; I would never put the latter before the former in my hopes.

Re: Are you watching?

I'll just chime in and say that I am not naive enough to think that Obama will be able to cure all of our problems -- I don't think that most of his supporters are. I haven't met one person who is the glassy-eyed freak that would be enthralled by a reading of Dr. Seuss for an Inaugural Address, but I guess there might be some ....

What I do believe is that we now have an intelligent, thinking person at the helm of our country, and that difference alone is enough to give me hope.

I'm a 36 year old white woman, and I think it is AMAZING that our country as elected an African American, especially one with the middle name of Hussein. It's huge - all politics aside. Of course I could always see it -- in the frame of realizing that a person's skin color doesn't mean squat to who or what they are. But there are STILL a whole lot of people in this country who DON'T think that way, and some of those follks had to be convinced as well.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Are you watching?

I haven't met one person who is the glassy-eyed freak that would be enthralled by a reading of Dr. Seuss for an Inaugural Address, but I guess there might be some ....

I think I may have askewed perspective...it seems like EVERYONE in STL is like that. Whatever he says, everyone unthinkingly, instantly cheers. It is cult-like. And people get PISSED if they find out you didn't vote for him. Booed in public, cars trashed, houses vandalized--that kind of thing. It was so bad that a local private school had to send a letter home to all the parents, advising them that the Obama-mania had gotten a tad carried away, and that they should not be "distractingly" obvious in their support for Obama, because there "might be" parents that don't support him.

[MrsK]

Re: Are you watching?

The cable at our new building isn't hooked up yet, so we were showing the ceremony to our students via the internet. Since everyone was doing that, the video feed was really S...L....O.....W, although the audio was pretty much real-time. I was projecting my monitor onto a big screen, and the kids were cracking up because what we heard didn't match what they saw at all (Aretha's singing face as we listened to the swearing-in, for example). The kids were pretty blah about the whole thing, except for a couple, but they were respectful. I hope they will think back to today when they are older and remember something about their lame choir teacher who made them watch it even though the presentation left something to be desired.....kids don't always realize the significance of things at the time they happen, but I thought this was worth suspending normal class for.

This is how I watched it too. They set it up in the conference rooms at our office. But it wasn't just slow, it kept freezing! The broadcast was so choppy that we didn't even notice that they flubbed the Oath of Office. We thought it was the feed and joked that we'd watch it on the news that evening.

Re: Are you watching?

I think I may have askewed perspective...it seems like EVERYONE in STL is like that.

Hum, that wasn't my experience this December or this summer at all. Sure, some sections are more outwardly expressive than others. But, St. Louis City and County voted for Obama, he didn't get the state because of the rural vote. That said, St. Louis County went 60% for Obama and 40% McCain, St. Louis City went 83% for Obama and 15% for McCain. July 1, 2007 Census Bureau said that the city census was 350,759. The US Census 2006 stated the St. Louis county population was 1,000,510. So as you can see the city population is a bit over a third of what the county population. It's hardly what one could call "glossy for Obama". The point of the stats is for those who don't realize St. Louis is cut up, into city and county, unlike most other cities. All stats by mass media only reports for St. Louis city, including crime stats.

My family by and large voted for McCain. I think almost all of them have said respectful things about Obama. As they are evangelical Christians, they feel that they have to honor God's will, and send Obama positive prayers hoping he has good council in his decisions he makes for the country.

Also, if one goes up north on Grand where it dead ends at HWY 70 or travels way north on Delmar, or understands that even the highway systems were built to racially divide the city from the county, or the massacre of 1917, could one really not understand their elation?

East Saint Louis Race Riot of 1917
(July 2, 1917)
Bloody outbreak of violence in East St. Louis, Ill., stemming specifically from the employment of black workers in a factory holding government contracts. It was the worst of many incidents of racial antagonism in the United States during World War I that were directed especially toward black Americans newly employed in war industries. In the riot, whites turned on blacks, indiscriminately stabbing, clubbing, and hanging them and driving 6,000 from their homes; 40 blacks and 8 whites were killed.

On July 28 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) staged a silent parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City, protesting the riot and other acts of violence toward black Americans. German propaganda magnified these incidents in an attempt to arouse antiwar sentiment in the American black community, and President Woodrow Wilson publicly denounced mob violence and lynchings, of which there had been 54 in 1916 and 38 in 1917.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/referen ... louis.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_Riot

Those whom you call all like "that" still have grandparents who remember this event.

Miles Davis (from East St. Louis) in his autobiography stated:

Miles talks about coming up in East St. Louis and hearing stories from Black people who survived race riots in 1917. And throughout his book he talks about racism in the United States. He talks about how the record companies would mistreat Black musicians, denying them the money, promotion and credit they deserved. And he recounts incidents of discrimination and racist police harassment. His acute awareness of and repeated experience with racism deeply affected his thinking and couldn't help but be reflected in his music. He recounts how he'd be deep into his music and certain events would force their way into his consciousness, profoundly shaping his whole being. In the mid-'50s he was in the middle of some intense recording sessions and he said: "During the time while we were cutting that album, a horrible thing happened--a young, fourteen-year-old black boy from Chicago named Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi by a gang of white men for talking to a white woman. They threw his body in the river. When they found him and pulled him out he was all bloated. They took pictures of him and put them in the papers. Man, that shit was horrible and shocked everyone in New York. It made me sick to my stomach. But it just let black people know once again just how most white people in this country thought of them. I won't forget them pictures of that young boy as long as I live.''

http://rwor.org/a/v23/1100-99/1104/miles_davis.htm

So, as you can see, to get to a point to move past this kind of discrimination in a very racially divided city, much more divided than many other cities, well that is one of celebration. And if a few people here and there have to many Obama stickers, hats, t-shirts, whatnot, so what - I'm thrilled they have something to celebrate, a future that redefines what is possible for them, instead of having to think, we were hurt and horribly discriminated against, some day we can see freedom equality. Now they have something to be proud of, something to be proud of today. And if place needs a good male African American role model, it's the children of St. Louis.

I hardly saw Obama blind love oozing out of the 1,350,000 St Louis city and county residents.
But, that's just me.

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Are you watching?

I can always count on you guys for a good debate about pretty much anything! LOL

I caught his speech last night and...I kind of felt sorry for Bush. I also felt sorry for Justice Roberts and the whole flub, but felt like Obama really handled it well.

Do I get a sense of the freaky supporters? Yes. As a matter of fact, I had a friend call me yesterday sobbing while I was doing the preschool pick-up right after Obama was inaugarated because she was so happy. She was trying to give me a play-by-play of every word he was saying and how he was going to change the entire world, blah, blah, blah.

I think someone is going to be very disappointed! I don't think it is possible to make the many changes he has proposed.

I'm a cynic though. I do hope that Obama will be able to help steer this ship in the right direction, but I know it will come at the cost of my son's college education and our happiness...quite possibly, even our home. Thomas is having days where he is only seeing 3 consults because the hospital census is down, down, down. There are very few elective procedures happening, the clinic isn't busy....If things keep up, he will owe money back from his salary, and we're probably going to see the tax cuts rolled back and the social security cap will be increased....and we'll still get stuck with the AMT. It will be enough with our fixed costs to possibly see us on the list of foreclosed homes since the market here has tanked and our home is worth 25% less now than we paid for it. :huh: I guess that's all good as long as our money can go to pay for someone else's kid to have health insurance and a college education though, right? See what a cynic I've become.
I know that is a very unpopular opinion because after all of the years of sacrifice and having nothing, I should be happy to hand Uncle Sam 42% of everything we earn...It's a patriotic honor, right...I'm not opposed to universal health coverage of some sort (as long as it isn't single payer), helping the poor, etc. But I have to draw the line on sending tax rebate checks to people who don't even pay taxes...from the money that could be invested in Andrew's totally dwindled (thanks to the stock market) college fund.

grumble.

Kris

[DCJenn]

Re: Are you watching?

How about we let the guy have 24 hours to relish his new title and then we hammer him for doing or not doing what everyone 'thinks' he should do.

All I can say is that I'm glad Bush is gone, I thought it was a somber speech that was appropriate to the event (no one does policy speeches at the inauguation- those are saved for the State of the Union addresses) and I think I'm really glad he is dealing with the myriad of crap, not me.

I don't think anyone expects any immediate solutions to the economic crisis or any of the other big issues. There's no good answers to any of them and the bottom line is that regardless of how you voted, with the economy in the tank, we really are all in this together.

jenn

[PrincessFiona]

Re: Are you watching?

There's no good answers to any of them and the bottom line is that regardless of how you voted, with the economy in the tank, we really are all in this together.

jenn

I agree...and here's the deal...if we were all in it together, it would be ok...if Obama stood up and said "we are hurting, we're in this together, we will all pay more until things settle down...we all need to be part of a solution" I'd probably be offering extra money...."no...let me get the tip too"....but..that's not how it is. It is a "those of you that have need to give it up to those who don't no matter how you earned your money and regardless of the reason that someone else might be in need...even if it is because of their poor choices." I feel like I'm about to be punished for working so hard and sacrificing for so long. Where is the incentive? If there aren't more rewards for hard work, education and sacrifice...if you are looked down upon for being successful, why bother? It feels like when I went out with an old friend a few weeks ago who assumes that because my husband is a doctor that I'll always pay. I don't mind treating...I love to treat when I can, actually...but it's not the same when people expect it without you offering.

I feel crabby though. It's tax season, social security has kicked back in, we have done everything right and no one is bailing us out of our investment losses or the loss on our home. I feel cantankerous, bitchy....mad....but that could just be pms too.

I'm going to give Obama a chance though. I agree about letting him get started first, but he already outlined his platform.

Kris

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Are you watching?

I caught his speech last night and...I kind of felt sorry for Bush.

Oh, hey...I wouldn't feel too sorry for him ...he lives is a POSHPOSHPOSH area of Dallas, has a policy institute named after him, is in great health, and is heralded by many in Texas (where is remains very popular) as a hero. His life will be good. And, once the immediate Bush-hating subsidizes and they turn their daggers on someone else, history will be kinder to him than is popular opinion. (Remember all the genuinely nice things that were said about Nixon at his funeral?)

Re: Are you watching?

I sobbed -- I'll openly admit it. I think my sobbing was a combination of the thrill that the reign of "the Decider" and 'Mr. I'll-pack-THOSE-boxes-myself-b/c-I-have-no-intention-of-letting-anyone-see-what's-in-them' was over, the excitement at my candidate winning and being sworn in, the thrill at watching the first person of color take the highest office in our land (remembering that I am the mother of 3 persons of color), and fear that I might also witness a horrific moment because there really are people who want to kill him, and kill many Americans, and boy-oh-boy if someone could have pulled it off, they would have. I teared up again this morning watching clips. It's an emotional thing for me.

I wholeheartedly agree with what la Hussey wrote (as per usual!).

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Are you watching?

The Republicans will dig up some charismatic guy and be hammering Obama hard by Q1 2010.

Really?? Where??? Give me his/her address! Seriously, I was yakking with some conservative buddies of mine yesterday about this very thing, and we couldn't come up with anyone who could match Obama's style. We all like Bobby Jindall, but he's more wonky. Doesn't match Obama stylistically. Jeb Bush? Uh, no...he may be popular in FL, but until people nationally can say his brother's name without spitting and seething, that train's not pulling away from the station.

I can't think of anyone currently on the radar. But then, Obama himself wasn't on the radar much until 2004.

[Rapunzel]

Re: Are you watching?

No! I didn't watch it! I had important things to take care of - like my children's educations.

I don't care what anybody was wearing. What was said will only be able to be judged in retrospect so I've got to give this guy a year at least before I say his speech was overly-ambitious, on-the-mark, or utter crap.

In summary: I'm going to treat this president like I have every single other president. Now THAT is equality. And, I would HOPE that we are an America that will treat Obama as every other president has been treated. That means no pulling punches and no cult of personality.

And, no, I have never watched an inaugeration before. It's not something I see as important. Life goes on and the beauty of our democracy is that it is a smooth transition from one elected leader to the next. I love America. And, I am proud to be an American - because of America and what it stands for.

Oh, and like many of you I'm also rooting for this new guy. I don't want him to run us into the ground, after all. It's in all of our best interests for him to keep us safe, enforce good laws, and generally act to the best of his Constitutional capacity.