The Little Things: Inauguration Day

Everyone in the whole world is talking about the inauguration day and most of them are repeating themselves, but I have just a few things to add to the mix, and I'll try be as original as possible.

____First of all, I thought Rick Warren did a pretty good job with the prayer. It was a bit long, but he certainly did not seem to be using the occasion to push his own religious or political agenda. He did however make me (and all my friends) laugh hysterically at the way he said "Malia and SASHA!" This spiraled off into a game of who could say "SASHAAAaa!" with the most pizazz.
____The John Williams piece was beautiful, as expected. Simple gifts was beautifully arranged. I particularly enjoyed watching Yo-Yo Ma. He looked like he was having so much fun playing up there. The last three notes were crunch-tastic.
____So the speech... It was moving, it was nice, but honestly I felt like he's done better. I followed the campaign pretty closely from Iowa on, and my favorite speeches of his come mostly from the primaries (My tops were the Iowa victory speech, the now-famous "yes we can" speech, the South Carolina victory speech, and the election night speech). What I DID really notice and appreciate most from the speech however was the declaration that America is a friend to every nation who seeks peace and dignity. This stands in stark contrast to the "our way or the highway" (and by highway we mean lots of bombs) Bush era idea that only democracy was a valid system for a prosperous and peaceful country.
____None of the talking heads commented on it, but I definitely heard the crowd singing "Nananana, Nananana, hey hey hey, Good bye!" at Bush's helicopter as it circled capitol hill one last time. Poor guy. I mean, I do hope he knows that he let us down, and it was kind of a funny moment for spontaneous song, but he's retired now. Can't we banish him to Texas with a little bit of dignity? At least until somebody puts him on trial? (C'mon Fitzgerald, I know you've got it in you)
____Oh and the next day Obama and crew actually did stuff! So good job! Know who didn't do a good job the next day? Every 24hour news channel. Okay we have a new president. We can either talk about the new policy changes he just signed (like closing Gitmo, putting a choke collar on lobbyists, redefining the Freedom of Information Act, and putting a pay-freeze on some of his staff) or... "OMG Lets do a feature on Michelle's dress!! Did you hear the kids were wearing J. Crew?"

Winning Enemies

Social psychologists say that to win over an enemy, you should ask them for a favor. Typically people will justify their favor to you by liking you more (because it would be foolish to do favors for people you don't like, and nobody likes to feel foolish).

I've just got to say, Obama is a smart man. The move infuriated the gay community, who are offended by Warren's opinions on homosexuality, as well as members of Warren's church, who are offended by Obama's opinions on homosexuality (and abortion) Obama is asking a favor of his enemies. Rick Warren and those who still support him will end up having to defend his friendship to Obama either to themselves or others.

He has also been to a dinner with conservative journalists and will be hosting a dinner in honor of John McCain. He is doing all he can to give a "no hard feelings" vibe. Nice guy or political genious, at least he's doing a good job at it.

puppy update!

The Obamas were in full on adorable couple mode and talked for a short while about what kind of dog they are looking for in an interview with Barbara "Wawa" Walters.

Barack says no girly or yippy dogs. I'm still holding out for my evil demented plan (see original post on the puppy situation) muahaha.

post race post race thoughts

(Originally written Nov. 6th)

Ok, newsflash: Obama is half black. We all knew this right? I mean... its kind of obvious (unless you got convinced he was muslim) and there was a lot of discussion pre-election about the Bradley effect (where white people SAID they would vote for a black guy to look good, but then didn't actually do it) but nobody, especially Obama himself, really harped on the fact that "hey look, this black dude is doing really well". People said "Barack Obama is doing really well".

What I mean to say is just what the massive crowd of my fellow South Carolinians at the victory speech of the democratic primary said: "Race doesn't matter". I was moved to tears by that speech, not because of the speech itself so much, but the reaction of the crowd. Didn't we JUST take down our confederate flag in 2000? I hate to play off of a negative stereotype of my state but honestly, when South Carolina says that race doesn't matter, start listening.

And so, after winning South Carolina, and the nomination, and the presidency, everyone has started talking about race again! The news anchors were saying "how great this is for an african-american." What about "how great for a democrat?", "how great for an underdog?", "how great for an idealist?", "How great for a man who has worked his way up from the bottom?", "how great for any American to win an election by such a historically HUGE margin?". I understand it is a great achievement for African-Americans and I do not mean to state by any insinuation that that's not true. I just think that this is more of an indication of the transition from race being an issue to a non-issue than an indication that this one man has overcome that issue all on his own.

I had come to appreciate the fact that Obama is essentially post-race. This in itself is a milestone, more of a milestone in fact than if race had really been acknowledged. The fact that nobody really thought it was a big deal says SO MUCH MORE about the state of American society than if people thought it was a problem, and overcame their bigotry to vote for Obama. Bigotry didn't even come into play (ok I know there are assholes out there still playing that card, I'm talking about the vast majority of Americans who apparently know its crap). I mean... you can't get more equality than not even needing to acknowledge race. I think it is pretty wonderful that an individual's race has little to no impact on what the American people think of them.


Sooo... does race matter? Do I not understand this because I'm not a minority? Is the media suddenly harping on it just because it is history or because it suddenly matters? Is Obama really "post race" the way I think he is?

Puppies!

As much as I love to resist the pull of emotion in favor of reason when it comes to things like politics, I am PUMPED about the Obama puppy! Ever since he promised one to his girls on election night I have been totally captivated. The secret, dark evil part of me wants him to get a stereotypically black dog just to completely challenge anyone to make fun of him. The rest of me just wants to see a cute puppy! Good lord how did I get so wrapped up in this?

Apparently I'm not the only one. At his first press conference after the election he got questions from reporters about it when they were supposed to be focused on the economy. Obama responded with the concerns of his family on this "pressing issue" and in the process referred to himself as a mutt (maybe he shares my secret dark evil sense of humor about what breed they should get). There's even www.nameobamaspuppy.com (Bar(ac)k the vote!).

It's so cute I can't stand it. Even if I have to put up my "refusing to be swayed by emotional news stories" hat for a while. OOohshapuppy!!!