☆ENGLISH ONLY☆コミュのPresident Barrack H Obama`s Inauguration

I think one prayer would have been enough. But anyway... in the end it was very inspirational.
The after parties seems like a lot of fun as well. Bush sure looked happy to pass that baton and head off to pasture. Does Obama get to go to Camp David now ? How cool is that!

I agree with クラウス(Klaus)!
America influences all countries so we hope America will change this situation!

yes u can

Also I envy Americans who have a bright new presidentthat is not to be compared with our prime minister

I didn't watch the inauguration speech, was rather busy to play EVE Online However the subject is interesting for me.

Firstoff I have to say again, I'm glad that Obama is the new president and not McKain, guess I'm not alone with that feeling. Also I understand Tokyo OGs point and also would sign it - church and state should be seperated. If people really feel the need for including gods or religions, they should also accept other countries do the same - like in arabian countries.

Then other points are still in question for me. In my opinion there are things to be done still, which are not likely to be done by the americans. After WW2 they called it denazification in Germany, bringing former Nazi functioneers to justice and removed all of the injustice laws. In the US, they should bring Bush and key members of his government to justice - death by hanging in my opinion. And then there are still their laws, which rather resemble to martial law then anything else. In example travelers to US have to transmit all their data beforehand to US authorities, leave fingerprints and other Gestapo shit. These still exist and doesn't make people from Europe, Asia or any other part of the world like visiting a friendly and humane nation when going to the US.

In order not to sound all negative, Germany is still suffering under it's own "Bush" in person by Angela Merkel. She's waiting for this years election to govern with neoliberals in order to totally turn the country into a poorhouse with wage dumping and modern slavery.

#5 Maybe Obama is just a man, but so was Hitler, Gandhi, and many others who influenced the world in big ways...

#10 I hope so, but people still seem so retarded. They think that Obama is gonna bring change, but they're the ones who need to start changing as well...

Some of my observations:
Excellent speech by Obama. It had a little more bite than I expected. I truly hope his message of "self-reliance" and "government efficiency" will be followed. But whether I agree with Obama's positions or not, it's nice to have an articulate leader after 8 years of a guy who was lucky not to stumble through reciting his own name.

Dick Cheney got booed when people saw him. That was totally without class. It made Obama supporters look bad. Even Chris Matthews (a partisan democrat supporter) remarked on how classless that was.

This inauguration cost over $150 million. Bush's cost about $50 million. I remember the media years ago belly-aching about how "too expensive" and "extravagant" Bush's inauguration was, yet I've heard few complaints about the cost of Obama's. This doesn't surprise me.

That poem by Elizabeth Alexander... OMG!
I think we just found a new replacement for waterboard torture......

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200901170003

The channel I was watching cut that Elizabeth Alexander poem so I didn`t hear it.
Japanese networks showed her no love at all... that`s funny. No one so far seems to have liked
that poem. I didn`t really want to hear anyone speak if they were not taking office.
Reverends and Priest are different( but I really didn`t want to hear them either to tell the truth). So I can understand why they didn`t waste air time on her.
Since Obama didn`t use any government funds for his campaign the bill for his inauguration will not be an issue.

He mentioned several times very strongly that the American people are the ones that have the most power to make sure the changes needed happen. And I think everyone understands that.
No.. Obama can not walk on water or part the red sea but with his global popularity, and his power to unite people of all ages, races, etc... I believe he can be the glue needed to finally start putting the pieces together for the benefit of all countries.
He said " People will judge you and respect you more for what you can build rather than what you can destroy"
Everyone needs to take that quote to heart.

America has been motivated by fear under Bush presidency and it was like a massive therapy to see Obama enlighten people with the spirit of Love, Peace, and Kindness. Maybe that magnitude of the celebration was needed to really reach deep down inside of every American's heart as well as people around the world. I loved watching every minute of the celebration

#13
Always the apologist.
Media Matters is so partisan that it makes Fox News look like the poster-child for neutrality.

Not sure what poem you have referred to but I enjoyed the speech in spite of the few shortcomings. I may have misunderstood what Obama was trying to say bu I hear "Quit slacking off and blaming others for your shortcomings and GET TO WORK!"

Finally I am proud that I have learned English for a long long time.
Yes. Finally I am proud. How tough and miserable time have I spent only to learn English. Finally I got back my pride on my heart.
I feel so grateful.
Now I feel as if I had been just waiting for this day. I really feel so. I had survived just waiting for this grate day.
Thanks god.

I saw most of it live, in a cafe with a Japanese friend. It was inspirational. We were both happy, and celebrating the fact that Bush was out of office. Obama may not be able to fullfill all the expectations, but even my neighbour's dog could have run America better than G.W. Bush. I think things might not be perfect sailing from now on, but they will improve.

It was an inspirational speech. Yep, all the prayers is a little bit crazy (it is an unheard-of thing here in most european countries, and we do find that a little bit strange), but Obama was clear on his speech about reaching out to muslims and jews.

14# I hope people are motivated. Maybe they'll start exercising and stop eating crap everyday, too...

Am I the only one who thought it was a very good speech, but actually not one of his best?
His acceptance speech and the "yes we can" and lot's of other speeches tend to have lot's of catchy lines that really stick.
For this one, he stated a clear message and set a tone... so I thought from that perspective it was great... from the perspective of timeless oratory, I think it fell short...

Now, Rev. Lowery rocked... and was the only person up on the podium who seemed to have a sense of humor that day and you could tell that he IS and was a master orator even at 87...
I also thought it was interesting... They had Rick Warren open and Rev. Lowery close.
Rev. Lowery opened by quoting from LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING (as I recall?) and closed with that line about "white doing what is right"... Since it was the END of the ceremony (and he was followed by that AWFUL poet) people weren't listening as intently, so no one started to wine about his benediction being controversial... and he was able to make it in front of the Lincoln Memorial right after Martin Luther King day... so I think really that was the best, but least spoken part of the ceremony.

The only thing that worried me now is that the same 2,000,000 in front of the Lincoln Memorial on election day were the same 2,000,000 who were probably hiding under desks and giving George Bush carte blanche for the first 5 or 6 years of his administration. - - (o.k. not exactly... but most mainstream Americans need to face it: THEY did support Bush... and I feel its almost like Germany the day after WWII, when there wasn't a SINGLE Nazi to be found...) People forget how much support Bush had after 9/11 and how if you said the same things that now EVERYONE is saying you appeared to be "in league with the terrorists" - - Futher, whether Bush won or lost the first election or not, the fact that he got even that many votes (as opposed to just one or two) shows that at that time he represented what MANY Americans stood for - - the lesson of the story being: AMERICAN PUBLIC SENTIMENT CHANGES QUICKLY...
Today Obama is a hero... in 8 years, America might be nostalgic for Bush... I'm serious...
We're dealing with a people who watch far too much cable TV...
I think people need to stop worshiping figures like REAGAN *and*OBAMA, and get sold moreso on the ideas than the image...
Fact is, the public may eventually get bored of OBAMA (end of first term, into second) they'll be swinging back to the right again... maybe even further this time...
so people need to remember whether or not they're bored of the president and the party, the BUSH era was not, nor will ever be the "good old days" (You might laugh, but if you remember how bad the Reagan era was, then think how people worship him today, you better be careful!)

sorry to be a party pooper... but I think its true ! In conclusion, I'm very optomistic as to what the next 4-8 years will bring... however, its 9 years from now that REALLY worry me...
If Americans got bored and chose BUSH/CHEYNEY after Clinton... can you imagine what an ANCY American public might vote for after an OBAMA/BIDEN administration...
Scary, huh???

They might change the law to allow Obama to have more than two terms in office.
He is probably going to be that good.

16 メガロン

Are you saying that the article was incorrect, or that you just don't like what it's correct about?

#26 "90% of the media was in his corner!" That is because the media are made up of
intelligent human beings and they all know a good thing when they see it. Particularly after seeing so much bad for so long.

I was watching CNN today and saw President Obama taking the oath again as they (the other guy) stumbled yesterday :-)

I was not following his campaign very closely, but he obviously seems like a very good person. His speech was great and inspirational, and made me believe that he is going to do a lot of great things.

I think a certain amount of the fawning you see is that, for a change, we have a guy in office who's serious and cerebral. With that said, however, he's also a politician, and many people are going to have a moment of discomfort when something happens to remind them of that fact.

#25
I was doubting the source.

Regardless, my contention was about the media's hypocrisy, not the cost itself.
Even if his inauguration cost the SAME as Bush's (I can't believe anyone would actually believe it cost LESS than Bush's), it is media hypocrisy to bash Bush about the price tag, but not Obama.

Personally, I don' care about the cost. It's a drop in the bucket compared to our current trillion-dollar deficit... to put it into perspective, $50 million is to a trillion what a penny is to $200.

Saw the prayer of the gay bishop. He prayed for anger.... (against people who discriminate)
We need more of those curageous priests who pray for anger - or even better - hate, so that the damn atheists and heretics will finally listen to the message of love, damnit!
I guess he didnt mean it that way but then, who really is interested in how muslims mean it when they pray for something? Just dont like it when people pray to any god that more people should become angry.

As for the rest: the poem sucked, the older, african-american priest was nice, the obama-speech was nice too. The song of Mrs Franklin was so jazzy i had no idea what the underlying melody was supposed to be (didnt know the song). Just heard her all over the place. A style a bit more reserved would have been nice.

35 Seal Pool

I think if you look close you'll see some sarcasm in Kimi's post...


32 メガロン
> it is media hypocrisy to bash Bush about the price tag, but not Obama.

Perhaps you didn't read the article. It wasn't bashing Bush's price tag, it was bashing media sources who were bashing Obama's price tag and doing it dishonestly (by comparing Obama's cost with security to Bush's cost without security).

It was too early in the morning when I read that.

I was kind of surprised that in the "no matter whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jewish..." part of the speech, he included "nonbelievers". Unless I've been missing it, you don't hear that very often.

He just signed a bill allowing stem cell research.. and signed another that will close Getmo detention center in Cuba. I would say he is off to a good start. He also branded China a a country that manipulates their currency markets. Stepping on toes that bush was afraid to mess with or being paid not too.