The Austerity of Hope, AKA The Inauguration of Barack Obama

Today, I spoke in Akron, Ohio at a wonderful gathering for public information officers (PIOs) who work in settings that involve children and families (DR court, juvie court, hospitals) that focused on the media. My session ran to 11:50 am and then the hosts wired up the room so we could watch the inauguration – it came on just in time to hear Joe Biden take the oath and we watched through the benediction. I followed many friends who are in D.C. through Twitter and also people I know around the world who were following the inauguration but from their homes or offices etc. It was a great way to get a sense of what things were like on the ground in D.C.

As I drove to Akron today for my presentation, I listened to NPR’s coverage and enjoyed it very much – I thought they did a very nice job mixing information with commentary and reflections and a real sense of how this inauguration differed from those that came before it.

As I watched Biden, I was thinking about what Hillary Clinton has said if anything about Jill Biden’s gaffe about how many jobs Joe was offered before choosing VP, but I haven’t found anything that addresses that. I couldn’t figure out what the hell Chief Justice Roberts and Obama were doing and then others started saying that Roberts flubbed it. Oy.

George Bush looked positively in post-partum depression – separation from the White House anxiety or something. He’ll get over it. It must be like having had a big event with everyone visiting – for eight years – and now everyone’s vacated, except he’s the one vacating. And he looked rather vacant. Anyway – it was a bit of downer having him there only in contrast to the faces of everyone else.

Obama’s speech: I actually really, really liked it. I’ve heard some commentators say that they thought it was “ascetic” and while I do think that’s accurate, I would say that was austere in the sense of “markedly simple or unadorned <an austere office> <an austere style of writing>” - and these are austere times. I think that was appropriate. I will, however, note, that as much as I do not want to rain on anyone’s parade, in his third sentence, he made a mistake. Yes, a mistake. And, as readers of my blog, Writes Like She Talks, probably would know, I kind of have it out for Jon Favreau the speech writer – but I don’t know who is accountable for the error – here it is:

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.

Immediately, I thought, no – no. That can’t be correct. Maybe we have had 44 presidents, but there have not been 44 different Americans who have taken the presidential oath. I tweeted this thought and several people came to Obama’s defense immediately saying yes yes he is #44. Well, yes – that’s right. But that sentence is not right. Tonight, I received a tweet from a friend who linked to this:

A Political Wire reader notes that President Obama actually made a factual mistake in his inaugural address when he said, “Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.”

It’s actually 43. Although Obama is the 44th president, President Grover Cleveland served two terms which were not consecutive, making him both the 22nd and 24th president.

Now – I’m still not convinced that corrects it either – because we know that FDR and Clinton and Reagan – they served multiple terms too. So – how many Americans have taken the oath? According to this chart, it’s 43. But, I would say, that it is in fact, 42 – because Grover Cleveland is not two different people – even though he took the oath twice. For that sentence to be true, it should have been, “Forty-two Americans have now taken the presidential oath.”

Anyhow, about that speech. I liked it a lot. My favorite line was about how foreign leaders should realize that their people will judge them not by what they destroy but what they build (”To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.”)

And my least favorite phrase was probably “our patchwork heritage.”

I’m not liking the patchwork imagery – I think maybe they were shooting for rural voter appeal or something, homey, Christian – I don’t know. But I don’t think it quite matches the intent of who we come together for a variety of reasons to make our lives here and commit to living by the order of this society. But that’s a quibble – because in the next sentence, I really liked that he mentioned “non-believers.” I thought that was very cool.

Hope should be spare in times like these, lest our expectations lead to disappointment and failure. While those results are inevitable given the length of service and the enormity of what a president must accomplish, and the fact that he cannot accomplish it alone but must in fact work with Congress and to a lesser extent the U.S. Supreme Court via the laws of our land, nevertheless, I’m keeping a long list of what I hope will be accomplished, but expectations that if a certain number of them get attention, and an even smaller number see progress, that might be enough to say job well done.

But the guy’s not been in office even 24 hours yet and already I saw an ad on CNN from an energy company that used footage of Obama hawking clean coal – something I desperately want Obama to reconsider as worthy of any significant investment (other than to clean up what we’ve got, if not shut that down and replace it). I understand that some regulations have been stopped in their tracks – do they include the conscience rules? I don’t know.

And what about the Middle East?

Tonight – there are balls. Tomorrow, Obama will be feeling the weight of the balls and chains that Bush left behind. Hopefully, he’s got an administration and a Congress willing to lift a load.

For those who haven’t yet read or seen enough, here are links for your heart’s delight:

THE INAUGURATION

Aretha Franklin performance

Rick Warren - text

Rick Warren – video

Yo Yo Ma – Itzhak Perlman performance

Obama inauguration speech – text

Obama inauguration speech – video

Joseph Lowery – text

Joseph Lowery – video

First dance at Neighborhood Ball

COVERAGE

Trip to Washington leaves local group tired, jubilant

More Cleveland.com coverage with photos etc. (and on the PD’s blog here)

Twitter coverage: here and here (others who had great photos: Andy Carvin, Deanna Zandt (who is reporting this evening that the Youth Ball has been a big fail – she says they sold 7000 tickets but are only letting in 3000), Queen of Spain aka Erin Kotecki Vest)

Great photos at Newsday.com

More great photos at Boston.com (a very reliable source for good photography)

Wonderful photos of Sasha and Malia Obama during the inaug festivities over the last three days

Photosynth presentation of inaugural photos from CNN – different 3D look

COMMENTARY

Bob Herbert op-ed today in the New York Times, I Wish You Were Here – about one of the greatest and possibly under-recognized allies of all time, Lyndon B. Johnson (many thanks and a big hat-tip to Megan Smith who has a nice post about the inauguration here)

Got to get in my daily Sexism is Still Here post: Jewish clergy invited to inaugural prayer service are all men

The new Whitehouse.gov’s Women page under Agenda

More about the renovation of Whitehouse.gov

And finally, the Whitehouse.gov blog (no comments allowed and no bylines) and an article about it