A few thoughts on the Inauguration ...
1) Totally unnecessary -he's a sitting president , shouldn't waste so much money in war time. Also when he was so stingy about giving money to the tsunami victims (increased the amount only after arm twisting by the UN and Powell) its quite shameful that he would want to spend more than double (the original amount pledged) on celebrating his own victory.
2)A damned inconvenience .. road closures due to "security" have forced me to sit at home (which is not too bad since I have flu ..)
3) Its so bloody cold outside ... I can see the snow and the frozen monuments from my window ..totally admire the enthusiasm/idiocy/compulsion of people who have to go outside in this weather to view the event
4) everyone seems to be bundled up .. and forcing a smile on their faces..which then freezes in that position. I feel so bad for the soldiers and the band conductor.. they have shaved heads (no hats) and no gloves .. now thats torture !(Maybe all the soldiers * and their superiors * who were responsible for the naked pyramid in Abu ghraib , should be made to march naked on the national mall .. that'd be appropriate punishment.)
5) I just heard the cannons go off in the distance, when Rehnquist finishing administering the oath of office to W.. can now hear the music. Just realized how close to downtown I live .... maybe I should be glad for all the security measures they take in this area..
6) W's speech is crap .. has been going on and on .. about "liberty" ( appears atleast once in each sentence) , "freedom" (same as liberty) with many cliches thrown in like "america will not bow to bullies" (irony??), "the only way to have freedom and liberty in our world is by spreading it in other worlds." (didn't quite understand the distinction between " our world" and "other worlds" .)
7) Yay .. he's finally done .. they're playing some church like music. Revd. Colwell is about to deliver the benediction (another prayer.. there were quite a few earlier in case I forgot to mention it) and then it'll finally be over when the national anthem is sung.
posted by mightypen @ 1:07 PM
6 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Umm. I DO expect a sitting president to say, "You know what? Let's not bother with the ceremony, since I'm already in office anyway."
I DON'T think it would be arrogant and disrespectful to the democratic process. The year's worth of time wasted campaigning for the re-election itself is disrespectful to the nation's time and money. I don't think Bush and his cronies did jack's worth of work in 2004.
In Bush's case, there is an ongoing, for the most part, unjustified, war. AND he won the election by a narrow, narrow margin. Nothing to celebrate here.
I have no problems with there being an inaugaration or with W being sworn in ceremoniously. In fact he probably thinks he has all the reason to celebrate this time after being *elected* as opposed to being *apppointed* in 2000.
The ceremony might be a continuing exercise in the democratic process , but "powerful display of confidence and security" its not :) Unless you consider having snipers on every building, anti aircraft missiles, road and air space closure as a confidence building measure!
I don't think anyone expects the sitting President to deny himself the right to be sworn in.. by "totally unnecessary" what I meant was the expenditure when so much money is needed for the war in Iraq and when he was *stingy* about giving money to the Tsunami victims. And about celebrating the whole event with such pomp .. one wonders what is being celebrated looking back at his first term and the current mess in Iraq .. but thats another issue....
Am posting this on behalf of Rachel, whose comment was the first one and got deleted by mistake :(
Ah, like we only held one inauguration for Washington? Clinton? FDR?
As far as ceremonies go, it's a poweful display of confidence and security. We held an election, now we celebrate the continuing exercise of democracy by swearing in the winner.
Does anyone really expect a president to say, "You know what? Let's not bother with the ceremony, since I'm already in office anyway." That would be more arrogant and disrespectful to the democratic process, I would think.
Let him go ahead and celebrate victory and let the red states enjoy the affirmation that it gives them. He *was* elected, after all.
The $40 million everyone gripes about is coming from *private* donations. (How much has been given in private donations for the tsunami victims?) It's a free country, supposedly, which means we are free to throw money at our president's ceremonies. And it's a country with a lot of traditions, among those being inaugurations and the associated celebrations. If we didn't celebrate with great pomp and circumstance, it'd feel like something was wrong. Let the tradition continue. Come the day after the election, you're supposed to forget about percentages and acknowledge the democratic result. Say hurrah for freedom, yada yada, have a piece of chocolate with the presidential seal.
Post a Comment
<< Home