Andre's Belated Reflections on the Inauguration

I know by now these things have been covered ad nauseam on the Internet, but not in the Visions of Ypsi style, & as I haven't had time to post over the last few days, here it goes.

The Dog & The Dress: I'm glad it's over so we can stop focusing on Michelle Obama's dress & actually start talking about real issues again. On Monday morning, some fashion jockey on The Today Show actually said that the entire nation has a vested interest in the dress. I understand that the fashion industry does, but the entire nation? Give me a fucking break! The other issue that has finally run its course is the White House Dog. "Holy Shit!!! What kind of dog will they get???" You all know how I feel about dogs, but even dog lovers should have been getting a bit sick of the constant concern everyone seemed to have about this fucking dog. I had neither a vested interest in the dress nor in the dog. There are a few things I have been interested in though so here we go.

Aretha's Hat: The Free Press seems to have overstated people's love for it as I've not heard anyone actually support it. I liked it though. It seems that when a woman reaches a certain age, she's allowed to wear ridiculous hats & it certainly fits the bill. Furthermore, it was Detroit-Made which is always good for everyone in the area. Also, it only cost $179, not that I've ever spent that much on a hat, but I would have thought it was a lot more than that. I imagine people performing in that sort of venue have spent thousands on hats.

Audi: I don't know about the television feeds, but on-line all the feeds were sponsored by a German based auto company. I know the market demands the sale of sponsorship goes to the highest bidder, but considering the economy & the state of the Big 3, 1 would think that we'd get an American (union) company sponsoring the Inauguration.

The Crowd: I haven't paid this much attention to an Inauguration in quite a long time, but I don't recall them ever being like this before. There were a shit-ton of people paying attention to it. Not just the crowd, but the TV audience too. Even my students watched it.

Cheney's Wheelchair: Even the London Telegraph seemed a bit unclear about this issue. Supposedly, he pulled a muscle in his back while moving into his new home... really? The 67 year old 4-time heart attack victim who was also still the VP @ the time was moving his own boxes? Even to the Telegraph, it seemed more likely that he suffered from something more serious but wanted to keep it quiet... which is obviously his M.O. I like that even w/ 10 minutes to go in office, he may have kept on lying to us. Way to go Mr. VP... Biden will have to go some to match your sneakiness.

The Speech: It was fantastic, but @ times a bit creepy. The Daily Show commentary pointed out something I noticed & jokingly dealt w/ it the same way I did. When Bush talks about hunting people down & fighting an endless war, it's scary & imperialistic... but when Obama does it, I kind of assume he's just going through the motions... I sure hope that's all it is... & w/ his immediate changes in Git/Mo that seems to be the case.

The Tears: I'd be lien if I didn't admit that I squeezed out a few over the course of the hour or so I was able to watch. I told myself I would stay distant & critical of the administration, but as soon as they walked out I got a little misty. In fact, even before they walked out, when Bill Clinton & George H. W. Bush hugged, I teared up a bit. What can I saw, it was an emotional time.

The Oath: Obviously too much has been made of the stumbling over The Oath, & if anything, Obama should have come out of it looking good since he was aware of the problem & stopped. The vagueness of the Article 2 & the 20th Amendment have made people a bit too worried about the way the Oath was taken the other day.

Either way though, it's done now & we can finally celebrate a new president. But stay vigilant because he's, above all else, a politician so our optimism must remain cautious & we need to ensure he does good things in his 1st term before we start looking towards his 2nd.