Yes, I watched. The ceremony, the crowds, the former US Presidents, the US Supreme Court Justices. The speeches, too, and all the accompanying pomp and circumstance.
So, we have a new President. President Obama. Not to cast aspersions, but it really does sound like the top official in a third-world country somewhere on the globe.
He seems like a nice guy. Young, although he’s a bit older than I. I did not campaign for him, I did not vote for him. I was, and am, opposed to Barack Obama being our president.
Too bad, you say? Yes, it’s done. But I will not sink to the level of many who condemned our most recent president, who were hateful, and used horrible names to describe him. Any president deserves our backing and our respect.
My objections to President Barack Obama still stand: he is an idealist; this is not a bad thing, unless one believes, without question, in his own idealism and his abilities to deliver. He has many wonderful ideas – but many of the people who voted him into office are absolutely convinced that he can make a huge differenc, almost immediately. They believe in Obama, but not in this country; they do not believe in themselves.
I think that many Obama supporters have always been so based on their feelings – and feelings will not turn this country around, feelings will not raise up the economy or create jobs or fix our healthcare system.
I saw a lot of feelings today, during the inauguration festivies for our 44th president, Barack Obama. They were good feelings. But are they enough to make a change? I don’t think so. I think the majority watching today, those who believe in the man, have only that to hold on to. And when things don’t turn out they way they hope, and as quickly as they dream – things may become quite ugly.
I hope not. But hope can be fallible.
Robin Writes 
Surely I’ve been accused of being too literal, but you seem to be contradicting yourself a bit. How do you reconcile these statements:
a)President Obama. Not to cast aspersions, but it really does sound like the top official in a third-world country
b)But I will not sink to the level of many who condemned our most recent president, who were hateful, and used horrible names to describe him.
Or these two:
a)I was, and am, opposed to Barack Obama being our president.
b Any president deserves our backing and our respect.
With respect to the first set of contradictory statements, you are specifically attacking his name, claiming that it doesn’t sound appropriate for a United States president. It sounds therefore that you are very explicitly sinking to the level of those who opposed President Bush, not by calling him a horrible name, but by saying horrible things about his name. Frankly, I get the feeling you’d prefer every President to be Anglo-Saxon (or would you be ok with a non-white president so long as he/she took an Anglo-Saxon name?).
With respect to the second set, how can you both be “opposed to” Obama’s presidency at the same time that you are “backing” your president?
Finally, I’m wondering whether you noticed that Bush was an idealist, who was extremely confident in his ideals. His neo-liberalist ideals got us into the mess in Iraq, and his free market ideals (and those of a majority in Washington) got us into the current mess in the financial markets. What I’ve seen from President Obama isn’t simply a spouting off of ideals, but tangible action in bringing together a great many ideas from people on both sides of the aisle. If any label were appropriate for him, and many have made this critique, it’d be that he’s too much of a pragmatist.
I didn’t vote for Obama because he was an idealist, or because I had good “feelings” about him. I voted for him because he appeared to be intelligent, thoughtful and patient: three things the last president was not. Beyond this, I was opposed to McCain because his followers (and Palin) were too frequently arguing against Obama on the basis of hatred and fear (that he was un-American, socialist, Muslim, or black). I think it’s unfortunate that McCain became associated with all of this hate-inspired nonsense, as I think that McCain is a fairly decent person, but I (and a very great many of other Americans) am tired of being led by those kinds of feelings, and ready for something a bit more reasonable.
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Michael, you are making me think too much today!
Re the first point:
Giving my opinion of a man’s name has little to do with disrespect – I could liken it with folks calling Bush “Shrub”; I could laugh at late-night jokes even, regarding our former president, but that doesn’t mean I had no respect. I’m talking about those who seriously called him “idiot” as opposed to referring to some of his decisions as “idiotic” – see the difference? Those who said they “hated” him and that he didn’t “represent” them because they hadn’t voted for him – that’s the difference between respect, or lack thereof, and making a comment on a name.
Point two: I am opposed to Obama as president; I didn’t campaign for him, or vote for him, therefore my opposition. He is, however, our President, and I will respect that office. I even respect the man himself, for executing a very well-run, masterful campaign; he won, after all. I will, however, reserve judgment as to his capabilities as President until he has done a bit more. Sometimes it seems as though I’m merely watching this all play out, and becoming rather amused in the process.
Pres. Obama IS my president – he represents me and all the American people, regardless of whether I agree with everything he does or says, or even if voted for him or not. THAT is what I mean by backing – when he does something dumb, or something I don’t like, sure, I’ll speak up. That doesn’t mean I’ll bash him, or his office, it just means I have an opinion and I don’t worship him – and I live in America, and we are a democracy last time I checked.
I don’t believe I EVER indicated that I preferred a white, Anglo-Saxon male as president – no way, no how. But I do prefer some experience.
I beg to differ – the market fiasco is a direct offshoot from the Clinton Administration. As for Bush’s ideals – idealism that can be harnessed and become productive is the best kind; some idealism may never bear fruit but only be a distant dream.
I’m very happy to hear your reasons for voting for Obama – and I would hope that many others who did, also did so for similar reasons; unfortunately, I’ve seen and heard all too many who did not. All that aside, I suppose we could go ’round and ’round about campaign and who said/did what about which or to whom. Suffice it to say, McCain’s supporters did not all play nicely; neither did Obama’s.
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