liz_marcs | Our 8-year-long National Nightmare is Over!

Current Mood: relieved

Our 8-year-long National Nightmare is Over!

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
— Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the Unites States, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2009

And that's about where I got something in my eye. Again. In front of half my co-workers who'd gathered around the TeeVee to watch the swearing-in ceremony because, as one wag put it, "You gotta see it live instead of later on today. The first way is living it, the second way is missing history."

So, there we were in mini-party mode watching the whole thing between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Or, as another one of my co-workers said, "I think it's safe to say that national productivity dropped down to absolute zero between the hours of 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (EST), so let's take advantage."

Both men and women in the room decided that Aretha Franklin is still a stone fox, because only a stone fox could be fierce enough for that fabulous hat.

Aside from the Inaugural (get to more of that in a minute), I have to pause for this important bit of cool:

The new White House Web site. Sure, it isn't exactly new to anyone who visited Obama for America or the Transition Web site back in the day, but I love the fact that they've stuck with that simple, intuitive design. It makes it seem more...friendly...somehow.

And, oooo, look! It comes with a blog!

Unbelievable. I have a president that's close enough to my age that he not only uses communication tools I'm familiar with, but he seems to know how to actually use them. I'll be interested to see how the administration actually uses the blog going forward.

Where was I? Oh, the Inauguration Address.

A lot of us were happy when Obama specifically said "men and women" and acknowledged that atheists could, in fact, be considered American citizens in good standing. Believe, the fact that "non-believers" were specifically mentioned in a positive light next to religious groups did not go unnoticed or unremarked. I think a couple of my co-workers did a fist bump in celebration.

If nothing else, it washed the bad taste Rick Warren's dead run for Christianity left in our mouths. I, personally, don't object to "The Lord's Prayer," although I should note that it was a version of "The Lord's Prayer" that is only used in various Protestant forms of Christianity. I blame my Catholic school upbringing for my knee-jerk dislike for this version, but it's only because I find it less poetic.

You might say that by slipping "The Lord's Prayer" in there, Warren not only dissed non-Christians, he pretty much dissed Catholics and Orthodox Christians with that move. Please understand that half my office is Jewish. Of the half that isn't, it's split between agnostics, outright atheists, Unitarian Universalists, cafeteria Catholics, and liberal Christians. So I'm not exaggerating when I say that no one in my office looked uncomfortable with Warren's move at the end. There were an awful lot of hunched shoulders and teeth gritting. Me included.

As for that Inaugural Address — dayum. I know. Very eloquent, but that's all I can still think of to say. It's so refreshing to have a president that assumes that we're all adults here, and is willing to actually talk to us like we're rational human beings. Awww, hell. I'm just relieved to have a president that actually speaks English.

The other thing I love-love-loved the address for: At long last science and empirical data are going to be employed when making policy decisions. After 8 years of "going by the gut" and giving Christianists waaaaaay too much say in public policy — not to mention the lovely tactic of using both flag and bible as a vicious club to beat down people who disagreed with public policy — it'll be nice to once again place science and provable objective fact back in the centerpiece of good government.

I cannot express the sheer relief just hearing that in the Inaugural Address gave me. I can't. In the middle of my co-workers, I came very close to breaking down into a hail of tears.

aaaawwww hell, i got something in my eye again

Hearing that we're finally going to throw out religious dogma and again rely on science and objective fact to make decisions, I just...I just...

*handwaves*

I know that this is an odd thing to focus on, but hearing it...it was like...it was like...

Have you ever held your breath a long, long time? Say, when you were underwater? Or because you were doing it on a dare? Or because you had to hold your breath for an X-ray?

And they keep telling you to hold it...hold it...hold it....

And you don't think you can do it any more, but they keep telling you to hold it. They keep telling you long after your face turns red and you start seeing spots in front of your eyes.

Then suddenly they tell you that it's okay to take a deep breath.

And when you do, it's with this overwhelming sense of relief, because goddamn, you can breathe sweet, sweet oxygen again!

Hearing our new president stress the importance of science over religious dogma was just like that. That right there was like getting that perfect glass of water after being 8 years in the desert.

'scuse me, i think i got more of that same something in my eye

Personally, if he manages make 25% of his promises a reality, I'll be calling him the Best. President. Ever.

The hell with that. The fact that science, real honest-to-god science, and rationalism and secular enlightenment will be seen as positives and the key to good government already puts him head and shoulders of The Recent Evictee.

I think I'm just going to spend the rest of the week randomly hugging people.

I can be cynical next week.

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Warren also managed to culturally appropriate the central prayer in Judaism, The Sh'ma. Nasty man.

BUT PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA OMGYAY!

What you probably don't know is this prayer has been appropriated for years (at least since I was in college) by some strains of fundamentalist Evangelicals.

I remember being horrified at the time — I'm not Jewish, but I grew up in a city where there was a sizeable Jewish population — but I've (I'm ashamed to say) gotten used to it.

Which brings me to some of my co-workers today. I heard a sharp intake of breath from a couple of them when they heard him slip into that right before "The Lord's Prayer."

And what kills me is that Warren thought he was being all inclusive (especially of all Christians with the Lord's Prayer), when really it was like getting slammed in the face. I mean, other Christians, were really uncomfortable, so that tells you something right there.

But...

OMG MY PRESIDENT IS AN ACTUAL GROWN-UP YAY!

Ugh. I didn't know that.

The whole calling Jesus by his supposedly "Hebrew" name thing gives my gut the same twist. I was gonna do a post on that wrt the cultural appropriation meme going on now but I wanted to take the day to be happy

THAT WE HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO SPEAKS IN FULL SENTENCES.

I have never ben so proud to be an American.

I didn't know about that bit of appropriation either.

As far as I'm concerned, if you've got a Trinity, YOU DON'T GET TO SAY THE SHEMA.

fuckin' A.

Yeah, I kinda threw a minor wingding over it in my own journal. The comments were actually sorta fun. Come on over if you want to!

I got to watch at home and I used so many tissues. Someone on LJ said it looked like Bush was being escorted off the premises by security after he'd been shit canned. I've been snickering all day about that.

also

whitehouseblog if you haven't seen the feed.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

And the man has no sense of decorum. None. Right before President Obama was introduced, he was acting like a frat boy waiting around for the kegger to start. It drove me notes.

And thanks for the feed!

Awww, hell. I'm just relieved to have a president that actually speaks English.

Heeeeeeeeee.

*fist pump*

I keep saying to myself, "President Obama, PRESIDENT OBAMA" and it's taking a little while to sink in, even after watching everything this afternoon. I think it's that I've felt that the Bush years would never end, though I always knew rationally that they would. Our national nightmare as you put it felt interminable.

But he's gone, he's really REALLY gone. Now I'm tearing up.

*hugs you too*

You can feel my joy over the fact that science made it into the inaugural. Sure, it was just a mention, but it was mentioned as important!

I can't begin to tell you how happy it made me.

I think we all got something in our eyes. *wipes*

Yes. *nod nod nod*

Congratulations from north of the 49th parallel.

Someone brought a radio into our printing plant lunch room and about twenty of us listened to his speech after the swearing in. Our staff comes from Guantamala and El Salvador (originally as political refugees from the wars of the seventies and eighties) Jamaica and Trinidad, Hong Kong and mainland China, Sri Lanka and India. They are jewish, catholic, buddist, hindu, animist and non-believers. There was a lot of thoughtful listening and nodding. I had to wipe my eyes more than once.

This is a momentous day.

*randomly e-hugs you*

Thank you! I'm just happy we have a grown-up as president now. I cannot tell you.

And, oi, what we the U.S. have done to constantly screw up Latin America...I took "History of U.S. Involvement in Latin America" as part of my journalism degree requirement and the things that don't even make it to our newspapers in the U.S. are simply astonishing.

That, and the fact that the use of torture by U.S. operatives is, well, not exactly new. It's just that prior to the Bush administration it seemed more confined to "black ops" type stuff, as opposed to pervasive and given official sanction. And no, torture is torture and it's not okay no matter who does it, but the fact that it was given the official okay by both the president and the vice-president...*shudders*

That's not something I'm going to get over any time soon.

A lot of the black ops stuff was being reported in Canada. The CBC made a point of covering it. It was hard to miss as many of the refugees showing up on our doorstep were here because of it.

Our senior pressman was a senior union leader in El Salvador during the late seventies. He had friends in high places and influence. He fled for his life because the business establishment, backed by the U.S., felt strong enough to move against him. He was only able to start going back in the early nineties. HIs kids have grown up as Canadian, although they are starting to travel back and forth more now.

Watching it on Swedish television, it struck me how privileged we are in some ways - namely, that the commentators felt the need to try and explain to the viewers what an evangelical Christian is. "It's sort of like... well, remember when we had that backwoods baptism movement back in the 19th century...?"

Congrats, America, and thank you. Now let's hope he gets a proper shot at doing the job the way he wants to.

*envies your Swedish secular ways*

The fact that President Obama (OMG I CAN'T STOP SAYING IT!) saying it is actually a big deal explains just has screwed up things have gotten on the religious front.

What's really funny is that George HW Bush (the older Bush ex-president) actually viewed the religious right as "the lunatic relatives you lock in the attic," so it's astonishing that his son gave them so much say over scientific and public policy.

Already the president has vowed to undo as much of those initiatives as he can. (Thank God!)

His son would give anyone authority if they gave him shock troops. Whattta deal.

The Recent Evictee

*pumps fist*

I missed Warren, thankfully, and I want to give Rev. Dr. Lowery a big, smooshy hug.

PRESIDENT OBAMA!

Be glad you missed Warren, and be glad you got Dr. Lowery instead. It's better that way.

HOORAY!

Dr. Lowery was awesome. When he got to the "tanks into tractors" -- which I've been calling "updating Isaiah," except a bit of Googling tells me that because he went into "vine and fig tree" after, it was actually the Micah version of the passage -- and HOW AWESOME was it that he used gender inclusive language for that bit? anyway, when he went into that part, I must have had something in my eye.

I am so pleased. SO pleased. I'm glad that I work from home: I could be as teary-eyed as I wanted to be with no one judging me.

Warren explemifies the worst part of the fundamentalist Christian movement.... it was painful and ugly to listen to his ham fisted prayer.

And Rev. Dr. Lowery -- he gave the blessing that should have been at the beginning -- I'm rewriting in my mind what I witnessed today -- and he gave the blessing twice. Warren was never there (grin)

and it would have helped if I'd actually spell checked! dangit.

An inclusive, inspirational speech. Tomorrow the hard work begins, today we bask.

Word, word and word. The end.

Honestly, what had me baffled at all was… uh, separation of church and state. USA seems to be pretty big on that, and so bringing any sort of religious happenings into the biggest state event that crops up every four years… yeah.

: ) Yeah, me too.

Except I didn't get to watch it live. : (

I loved the inauguration speech! I loved the line on science too! Thanks for the whitehouse link! Cool!

I actually would *not* have been allowed to watch the inauguration at work. I don't think anyone else would have bothered to watch it live. (Mostly Chinese co-workers, Obama-hating boss)

So I freaking came to DC!!!! :D I wanted to live it!

I first "got something in my eye" when Biden swore the oath, which I did not expect. All of a sudden, I realized that Dr. Strangelove was OUT! It's like I too was holding my breath, but I had forgotten that I was, it's been so long. Now I'm gasping for air... hey, I remember oxygen!

Thanks to the atheist shoutout, I found two other very committed "positive atheists" among my friends. I had no idea! We're talking about starting a group, Obama has really riled us up. As you can probably tell.

Want a souvenir?

I'm so happy.

I's ok. People were getting things in their eyes all over the place. Sitting here in Scotland, my eyes were full of specks!

I was though very unsettled by Rick Warren's prayer near the beginning of the ceremony - I thought church and state were legally kept apart in the US.

But aside from that, I thought it was great!

Call me cynical but .... although it's nigh-on impossible not to feel hopeful in spite of everything, realistically we know he has the same overall budget to work with, the same powerful lobbies to deal with, the same media "interpreting" his governance to the public ... it's not that I think the Pres/PM or whatever of a country makes no difference, but there are limits to the amount of difference they can make in practice :(
There was a fluttering of hawk wings .... "Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. " - 'ol Bush's war against terror by another name? Does this imply that foreign policy will really be more of the same ....????
But on the other hand, he has the nerve (I should admit that as a non-USAnian I'm assuming that in the USA political context this takes some nerve) to acknowledge his non-religious compatriots - YAY! - and at last here we have someone who isn't a scientific philistine like his predecessor! That alone means a hell of a lot. And he doesn't seem to be in anybody's back pocket, unlike Bush with his Big Oil cronies ....
The fact that science, real honest-to-god science, and rationalism and secular enlightenment will be seen as positives and the key to good government already puts him head and shoulders of The Recent Evictee. - you said it! Hear Hear!!!!!

Hell, I'm going to be hopeful until proven otherwise! In spite of everything .... :)

...already puts him head and shoulders of The Recent Evictee.

Dude. A myopic cow would be head and shoulders above the most recent evictee. *nods*

EXACTLY. I had to fight tears watching that speech live at work too. My eyes teared up.

I've never seen a leader like this guy.

And have you read "Audacity of Hope"? Because he says a lot of this in it, and backs it up. After I read that book last Feb, I knew I desperately wanted him as President. The last 8 years (and those months between Feb and November last year) felt as if I were holding my breath under water forever...

I think someone should make a T-Shirt that says, "I survived the W. Bush Presidency." They'd make millions.

As for me, my work is full of anti-Obamaists. Wanna know what one of them told me before the election? "I could never vote for one of /them/." Like he was a brain-eating illithid or something. And, this is my favorite: "He's not wearing a flag pin, I got no use for him." Oh, I see, so he can sell your kids' future out, trash our honor overseas and try to police your very thoughts but as long as he wears a flag pin, it's okay? *Headdeask*

I'm super happy
And I would like to take this opportunity to compare it to the 2005 Bush inauguration

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Our 8-year-long National Nightmare is Over!

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