I have some interesting neighborhood graffiti I'd like to share with you, and a picture of a dinosaur made out of model magic by my 2nd grader, but I feel that these things should be put to one side today, as the world watches Washington DC.
I feel a bit cheated here. There hasn't been much excitement about the inauguration. They did get the kids to watch it at school on tv, but I haven't felt much of the buzz and the awe that seems to be around elsewhere in the world. From what I gather, you're more excited about it in Britain than here in the Midwest. Perhaps I should clarify. I heard Chicago, home of the Obamas in their pre-White House days, described on the radio this morning as "the Midwest", and I bet they're pretty excited about it in Chicago. But oh my goodness me. Chicago? That's not the Midwest. When I say "the Midwest" I mean "the proper Midwest" which is what I believe some people call "the Plains". We're a staunchly Republican state, so maybe that is why I haven't sensed too much excitement about the inauguration. Which is a shame, as elsewhere, if the media is to be believed, Americans of both political persuasions are excited about Obama, at this significant moment in the history of the country. Vision, hope, optimism - these are all words that have been ringing in the ears of anyone watching or reading the media reports. I'm a bit sad it's passed me by.
I'm sorry to disappoint any of you who were hoping for great things from this blog on the inauguration, but I'm just telling it like it is. I'll have to rely on a story from the UK, since there is little of interest to report from here.
A friend of mine tells me she was watching some of the inauguration with her 4 year old daughter. She tried to explain what was going on, and said Barack Obama was probably the most important man in the world. Without a second's hesitation, her daughter asked, "Well, what about Father Christmas?" (That's Santa Claus to my American readers, in case you didn't know.)
Quite right. Let's get our priorities straight here, for heaven's sake!
ReplyDeleteThey are even more excited about Barack Obama in France than they are in the UK. As I have predicted elsewhere, this will last until the French realise Obama may know where France is - unlike his predecessor - but may not necessarily care. Still, it makes a change from America bashing!
ReplyDeleteIt was pretty exciting here in Dublin too, in fact I believe parties have been held around the city by Americans away from home & non-Americans alike. Any excuse for a party :)
ReplyDeleteI watched a bit of it on tv this afternoon and was wowed by the huge ocean of people in Washington. His speech was very statesmanlike, I thought, but not as rousing as I was expecting. But the best bit was him forgetting his lines for the inauguration bit. He might have been word perfect on his speech - there wasn't a note in sight as far as I could see - but when he had to repeat the presidential oath it all got a bit muddled up. Would Father Christmas have got it right, I wonder?
ReplyDeleteJust come and stand here and tell me we're not part of the Great Plains, or the Mid-west. Flat as a pancake.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm with you on the other thing - it wasn't nearly as rousing as I thought it would be but you could tell by his face when he first came out that it would be different. It hit the nail on the head but i was squirming for Dubya there, even tho' I'm not a fan!
It was great! We watched it on BBC World. The new 'First' couple, (& did you notice they were repeatedly referred to as 'young'. I liked that) One half-kenyan, the other a descendent of slaves. You couldn't make this stuff up. Fantastic. West Wing goes live, though I gather, Obama was in fact the stimulus for the Santos story in West Wing , so art did imitate life, albeit prophetically rather than retrospectively....
ReplyDeleteMy son just wants to know why he's got such a strange name and said: "is he from Krypton?"
ReplyDeleteI watched it on TV and actually felt quite moved - but mainly by seeing the reactions of people in the crowd. I was even quite overcome by Aretha Franklin, despite her rather surprising outfit! I thought his speech was good - Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight last night was trying to suggest it didn't have any great lines, but maybe those only emerge with hindsight?
ReplyDeleteI think you're on to something here. People in the UK have asked me several times what I "normally" do for the inauguration and I have not had the heart to tell them that this is only the second time I've ever seen it, and the first time I was in DC and heading to the ball that evening so it was sort of relevant. But normally I don't think I ever noticed the whole thing when in America. Too bad we can't package up some of the British excitement to send to you...
ReplyDeleteYour friend's daughter's comment had us in hysterics. I read it out to hubby and automatically used a very cross child's voice, which was basically how envisaged R saying it. He was curious as to whether it was said in a cross voice, a curious voice or just a plain cute voice.
ReplyDeleteSorry you have had no buzz, there. It does seem that world is celebrating this a lot, though I do have American friends and relations who are over-the-moon about too.
We watched it in Hong Kong, well after midnight and full of excitement. Haven't been commenting for a while but I have been reading and am inspired to pass on an award for charming blogging which you can pick up over at mine. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is a midwest thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Texas and I have to say that there was a lot of buzz here. Everyone watched it at work. They set up TVs and we watched on our computers. People where in tears.
When I met up with some friends last night the whole conversation was ... "Where did you watch? What did you think?"
Hee hee, Father Christmas will be around for ever. I hope Obama is around for a good while too though, I'll be interested to see what he does.
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