Just watched the inaugural speech. Then some pop artist started singing her version of "My Country Tis of Thee. " Oh well. I would like to go on the MLK march here in Seattle, but it is very cold and foggy. I would like to feel inspired, too. But mostly I feel that idealism is a dead letter.
More: Look how quaint Cornell West seems. But he is absolutely right.
I felt inspired but recognize that what Obama said is true-- he's the president of all the people, not just one party or philosophy. With such a diverse country, that makes it hard to work out what happens. I watched it with a 14, 11, 8 and 5 year old and saw the difference in their ability to understand and care increase with their age. They are though the future and where my greatest concern lies
Posted by: Rain Trueax | January 21, 2013 at 10:28 AM
Cold here too Hattie...but I bet you'd like to go on the March. Happy MLK Day. Stay warm...and hope your New Year has been great so far. ~Joy
Posted by: Joy | January 21, 2013 at 11:05 AM
Rain: What an interesting comment. Thinking it over.
Joy: Happy MLK Day to you!
Posted by: Hattie | January 21, 2013 at 11:46 AM
"he's the president of all the people, not just one party or philosophy"
This sounds nice on the surface and makes the job look oh so hard, and him oh so fair.
He was, however, elected because of identification with certain points of view and projects, and with sentences like the above he takes the easy way out.
Posted by: Z | January 21, 2013 at 12:12 PM
Z: As you may remember, I was never an Obama enthusiast. I agree with Ishmail Reed that his job has been to save Capitalism and the market economy.
Posted by: Hattie | January 21, 2013 at 01:34 PM
Once they are elected, to the Senate, House, Presidency, they should put the good of the country first. It's what I expect as someone who donated to his election and worked for it, but I know I won't always like everything. In the Senate and House, they should not just support good things for their state. They are now part of federal government. I expect that from any. And basically Obama won the middle. If he had only gotten the far left, he'd not have won. I think he's right on what he has to do. He could take the view that supposedly elders didn't vote for him and so to heck with them but I don't think he'll do that. He will try to find the road that benefits the most. That won't please us all.
Posted by: Rain Trueax | January 21, 2013 at 02:48 PM
I am a total cynic as you know Hattie and find this is his way of saying no change is happening not while the pipers are paying me.
Same situation in Canada.
XO
WWW
PS and more drone kills today.
Posted by: wisewebwoman | January 21, 2013 at 04:41 PM
Obama is neither more nor less than what I expected.
Posted by: Hattie | January 21, 2013 at 06:23 PM
I almost forgot to watch the inauguration since we pretty much just got back from Los Angeles. I don't even know what day it is. I did enjoy seeing the breakfast at Statuary Hall. My son was out there watching it from a long distance away.
Posted by: Musings | January 21, 2013 at 06:28 PM
Kay: I'm in limbo too. It is bitterly cold in Seattle. But I'm glad to be here and missing the vog, which looks from the map and emissions chart from a few days ago about as bad for Hilo as it's ever been and not so great for Oahu, either. Wonder why the website hasn't been updated.
Posted by: Hattie | January 21, 2013 at 06:42 PM
The West video is great. Quaint? Me, too.
Obama, less than expected. But HRC is a hawk too. I'm for West.
It is not "being President of all" - it is what you can get done.
Yes he is middle - I did not expect a progressive - but you don´t have to be quite such a weak middle. Latest Nation has a piece on the paucity of his pardons, for example. O is better than Romney already, but there are some places he could afford to move and he does not.
Posted by: Z | January 21, 2013 at 11:42 PM
Obama was very cautious during his first term, because he is a very cautious guy. Getting re-elected was a huge task. I truly believe he will do his best to get progressive goals accomplished during his second term.
Idealism is not dead. It requires us to never give up, which is difficult and exhausting. We must take courage from one another and from our little joys.
Posted by: Maria | January 22, 2013 at 08:17 AM
The inauguration was anticlimactic. (Obama already shattered the glass roof.) I saw parts of the ceremony and the festivities that followed, but didn't watch it all. The live part of the ceremony took place early Hawaii time, and by afternoon it was all rehashing.
Posted by: Brandon | January 22, 2013 at 10:14 AM
ALL OF THE FOLLOWING IS PREFACED BY "in my opinion": The inauguration was great. I was moved and inspired. President Obama is the best president in my lifetime. I love the guy. If you don't like him, you just don't like presidents at all and want some other system that will never be. I'm so glad I've lived this long to see it happen, as I started out in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. My high school yearbook said I am a cynic. Well, I must have evolved, because I'm not very cynical at all nowadays. Maybe the success of Barack Obama has contributed to my sunny attitude. Tra la la la! He showed that the radical Rightwing idiocracy was a paper tiger just like the NRA. Rejoice, the good guys are winning in America. The country is NOT split down the middle, we are winning 53-47% and it will get better.
I have immense disregard for Cornel West. I don't want to get kicked off this most intelligent blog so I won't say the words that describe what I think of him. I've known many Union Theological Seminary people and used to hang out there when I was in college. It was an oasis of sanity and reason. Some of the best people in the world have studied there. Talk about deep thinkers with great humanity: Union Seminary, that's the place! But West is the worst I've ever seen from Union. Some of these upper middle-aged Black men can't handle Obama out of jealousy and pique. Jesse Jackson wanted to "cut his nuts off," and I quote because it's absolutely 100% true and I don't talk like that. My daughter went to a Democratic meeting before Obama was elected the first time and Andrew Young, former Ambassador to the UN and Mayor of Atlanta, was totally snarky, mean and horrible about Obama she reported to me. And Cornel West--he makes me sick the way he call everybody "brother" at the same time he's treating them like crap.
Posted by: Henry Hank Chapin | January 22, 2013 at 01:25 PM
Hank: I know how you feel about Obama! And I have some problems with West as well but believe he is mostly right. I have even had Ishmael Reed come over here to this blog and give me a hard time. Old white women like me are widely supposed to be ignorant racists. But I don't really care about that.
I do not doubt that Obama is the salvation of the nation. Bush almost wrecked the place, and Romney would have finished us off.
But what's happening now is out of the hands of our generation.
Posted by: Hattie | January 22, 2013 at 02:07 PM