"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."-President Barack Obama from his Inauguration speech, Jan. 20, 2009.
To me, the above sentence from President Obama's speech yesterday should be the one most cited in the years to come.
In any event it is the one sentence that most defines the arduous tasks that face our new President and our nation.
His speech was the only thing that interested me about the whole day affair yesterday in the streets of our nation's capital. I don't care about the church services, the processions from the Capitol to the White House, the parades, and the Inaugural Balls. Beyond the speech, everything is just so much fluff and pomp and circumstance.
Too much importance has been and continues to be placed upon the fact that Barack Obama is the first black President of the United States. We know that. He was black when he threw his hat in the ring. He was black when we won the Democratic nomination. He was black when he was elected President. He'll still be black tomorrow. Let's move on away from race and give the man the support he's going to need if he's to succeed.
There were two topics of discussion that I heard on the news last night, read on the Internet and heard again this morning on the news that proves just how trivial people and the journalists who report to the people can be. There were positive and negative reactions to both - articles of fashion.
File this one under: "What was she thinking?"I have to agree with the dissenters on this one. Aretha Franklin get's no R-E-S-P-E-C-T from me for whatever that thing on her head was supposed to be.
The wardrobe department for Barnum & Bailey's clown troupe must have picked that hat!
The other fashion debate was over the First Lady's Inaugural Ball dress.
I'm reminded of Carol Burnett's spoof skit of Gone With the Wind in which she comes down a flight of stairs wearing drapes. She said when asked about the 'dress' - "It's just something I saw in a window."
Her dress looks like it was made from the same material as the chenille curtains and drapes my grandmother used to hang in her bedroom windows. (Now, the outfit she wore in the parade - looked great!)I don't normally comment on women's tastes or lack thereof when it comes to fashion, but I threw it in today just because of the enormous amount of posts and discussions about "the hat" and "the dress." I don't know what the numbers are, but it seemed like the two received mostly thumbs-down reviews.
It was cold in Washington D.C., and my hat's off to those millions of people who braved the elements to be there.
Weather wise Wednesday was a curious one on the Eastern seaboard today. It was 32 degrees in Orlando, Florida and 52 in Presque Isle, Maine. Did someone turn the weather maps upside down? Do you know how we New Englanders can tell how intense our snowstorms are going to be?
I have often been confused when I was hearing the following terms with reference to the word service.
Internal Revenue ServiceBut one day, I overheard two farmers talking and one of them said he had hired a bull to "service" his cows.
U.S. Postal Service
Telephone Service
Cable Service
Civil Service
Customer Service
State, City & County Public Service
Then it hit me ... It all came into focus. Now I understand why they are called service agencies.
№ 1588
8 comments:
I agree with you about that sentence, although I thought the whole speech was fantastic. I liked her dress for the ball. It was dressy enough without being over-the-top or appearing to be too expensive (although it may have been). I don't know how she kept from freezing in the day-time dress, and I would have worn knee-high boots.
I didn't watch the inaugural for one big reason that was sustained in all the post-inaugural drivel: the slobbering, grovelling drool of commentary by the slavish press.
The speech was neither momentous nor forgettable; it was 18 minutes of platitudes mixed with the obvious. But I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to politics on either side of the aisle.
As for service, you hit that nail square on the haid ;)
Yep, it was a good speech. Things were said that needed to be said.
I was impressed with their attire. I understand that the designers of the daytime dress made it specifically to provide warmth.
He's black? Well, don't that beat all. snerx.
Judy,
I do like that one sentence. It does seem to me that way more emphasis was on the exterior embellishments of the Obamas, the Biden's and other pols. Then there were the celebs sucking up camera time.
Someone forgot it was a Presidential Inauguration and NOT a Hollywood premiere.
Skunk,
The absolute worst part of all things political when they are televised, is the drivel of the press, especially the broadcast types. They will babble on as if they were the ONLY ones who know what is happening.
Jack,
I have to grade the speech with a C- at best. I did not find it particularly inspiring and it was as full of the same arcane rhetoric as any run-of-the-mill everyday political speech. He sounds good saying it - and that's what every one who praised the speech heard - the tone, but not the words.
When I heard he had written two memos on his first day in office I couldn't help but think of Office Space..."Did you get the memo?"
VE,
Good thought - Office Space.
"Memo? What memo?"
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