Be sure to read my column this week. It addresses some issues seen here on Bessemer Opinions. It follows this post.
I'm not sure if it was a request or not, but for John, and for the rest of America, here is the President and First Lady's first dance to "At Last" sung by Beyonce. I'm not sure how long this video will stay up, I will try to replace it if it is removed.
I want to clear one thing up. Barack Obama did not flub the oath. Chief Justice John Roberts did. He tried to cue Obama from memory, and screwed up. Obama knew the oath, and kind of laughed it off, but had to decide whether to repeat what Roberts was saying or say it right. Anyway, either then or later he said the complete oath correctly. Two previous presidents had to repeat the oath due to similar issues - Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur.
Now that the pageantry is over, the work begins. For all of us. We have been called to service. I have an idea for myself, more on that if it turns out to be doable.
In addition, the Bessemer Historical Homeowners Association agreed last night to look into new service projects (in addition to our work at Jonesboro Community Garden and Davis Middle School) as a way answer the President's challenge by addressing needs in our community.
The administration has begun their work too. Look at the new White House web page, whitehouse.gov .
From there, you will learn that President Obama's first official act was to proclaim January 20 2009 a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Read the whole thing, but the meat of it is this:
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.
If you look under the "agenda" tab, you will see Civil Rights listed first, mainly because the list is alphabetical. From there, you can be assured that President Obama recognizes the importance of inclusion and equality for the GLBT community.
But President Obama also recognizes that there are serious issues at hand. He suspended prosecutions at Gitmo . This is seen as a first step in shutting the place down.
The Year of Moving Forward
At our 4 person wedding reception in DC
5 comments:
In addition, this is what I read on Niches (link in my blog List),
Somebody’s probably already said this, but when Roberts botched the oath [...] it was obvious that both he and President Obama quickly realized his screw-up.
What really struck me about the moment is that Obama’s first impulse wasn’t to correct Roberts on this relatively trivial error, but rather it was to continue along with the oath, helping Roberts save face.
Now personally I don’t think John Roberts needs any face-saving, but I’m glad that we have a President whose first reaction was driven by a combination of empathy and a desire to salvage the best out of an imperfect situation.
Those are two qualities we’re going to need a lot of in the next few years, and we’re fortunate to have them. Jed Lewison
I'll bet the Obama's both had some stinky feet after yesterday. LOL
I agree with you about what happened on the 'Oath of Office' but had that been "W" we would have never heard the end of it from Oberman and Matthews and there would be endless Saturday night live skits about it.
It will be interesting to see if Obama is made fun of as much as Bush has been. I seriously doubt it.
Just to make clear much of that post was quoted from someone else, but I felt it heartily!
John from Hoover:
Since there was no flubbing on GWB's oaths, that's what we call a strawman: no one cares. Since there was no appreciable Olberman at that time, that's what we might call a red herring. And since only the most wingnuttiest of wingnuts have been cut off at the knees by Chief Justice Roberts' gracious agreement that he screwed up and re-delivered the oath later, there's no reason to have to make fun of any one.
Thanks for posting the video clip, Joe - it was broadcast way past my bedtime over here!
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