Drunkblogging the Inauguration
10:55AM If Obama had any doubts about really being the guy in charge now, they’ll disappear as that helicopter takes off.
10:50AM Ex-President Bush is preparing to leave. It’s been an exhausting eight years — it might be a while before even his fans (there are still some left, I’m told) will miss him.
10:46AM I’m going to shovel some food down and refill my Bloody, and do a little prep for my PJTV.com appearance at 2PM Eastern. But I’ll keep on the drunkblogging all day long. Stay tuned.
10:43AM Good speech. A little something for everybody, which is fine for a inaugural speech. The trouble comes tomorrow or the next day, when President Obama has to make a decision and piss somebody off. Maybe everybody. Obama hasn’t had to do that yet, which is why we usually pick our presidents out of governor’s mansions instead of the Senate.
10:37AM The old guy doing the benediction would have been great… in 1957. His closing was trite, silly, and offensively out of date. But I’ll cut an 87-year-old some slack.
10:34AM Pajamas Media sources intercepted a copy of a memo delivered yesterday morning to the Office of the Vice President Elect. It reads, in part, “Dear Senator Biden… the Vice Presidential Ball will be held at Elks Lodge #2710 in Bowie, Maryland… live goat required.”
10:31AM This really bad (and poorly read) poem strikes me as an excellent time to grab a cup of coffee to go with my Bloody.
10:28AM The worrisome part is, he sounds his best when running down the economy during what is, so far, a not-too-awful recession. President Obama — and everyone else in Washington — can taste that trillion dollars.
10:25AM This is an interesting speech. Maybe even a revealing one. Obama sounds the most liberal on issues where he’s least likely to do anything, such as finding something to replace oil all of a sudden. And on fake issues, like “world peace” and “free hugs for poor people in foreign lands” or whatever. He sounds the most conservative, sometimes even neoconnish, on issues of substance. Let’s hope he governs like he speaks.
10:22AM “America must play its roll in ushering in a new era of peace.” That’s boilerplate, but nice boilerplate. “Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not on what you can destroy.” “We will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
10:20AM “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense… we will defeat you.” There’s a lot to like in this speech.
10:18AM “Those ideals still light the world and we will not give them up for expediency’s sake.” Unless there’s a credit crisis. Or Detroit gets into trouble. Or stuff.
10:16AM “Without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control.” Uh… who’s watchful eyes set up and managed Freddie and Fannie? And whose forceful arm twisted theirs into the subprime market? Mmm?
10:14AM “Our capacity remains undiminished, but our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions… that time has surely past.” Did we elect the first black president, and the first black Republican president at the same time? No, wait… now he’s talking about pumping your gas tank full of hope and change and algae farts.
10:12AM Is it just me, or is Obama praising entrepreneurship in a way that would almost make Ayn Rand smile?
10:11AM I’ve read and heard some background chatter that President Obama sees a small window for real entitlement reform — tackling our unfunded mandates problem. That seems to be what he’s hinting at in the first part of his speech. If so, the left is going to be howling like you’ve never heard them howl before.
10:09AM Graceful nod to the outgoing President. But a small correction: Only 43 men have taken the oath, not 44. There’s a historical quirk involving President… oh, I should shut up, drink, and listen to the speech.
10:06AM OK, so that happened. All done now. Nighty night.
What, are you kidding me? I’ll be here all day and most of the night. We’re just getting started.
10:05AM Did Obama just giggle as he took the stand? And he can’t remember the words? Oh, this is bad.
10:03AM We have a new vice president. In a time of war, we went from Darth Dick Cheney to Joe Biden. Feeling safer yet? It’s as if FDR had picked Truman first, then dumped him in ’44 in favor of Wallace.
9:57AM Time for Biden’s swearing in. As Article IX, Section Potato of the Constitution states, the Vice President must be sworn in while wearing a live goat. At least that’s what Obama’s people told Joe last night.
9:55AM Aretha Franklin with what sounds like a full orchestra and choir. The music in DC just took on a whole new — and much improved — tone.
9:54AM If the White House were a frat house, you just know that sometime around midnight tonight Biden would end up with an Atomic Wedgie.
9:51AM Rick Warren is giving the invocation, and I think I just saw the weight of office fall on Obama’s shoulders. “So help me God” just took on some new meaning. It’s a helluva thing he’s about to take on.
9:49AM Feinstein: “This was the moment… that the words of the Lincoln Memorial finally reached the White House.” A bit unfair, perhaps — the words reached there decades ago. Obama is, after all, just a man. Not that anyone will be discussing THAT on a day like this.
9:47AM Telling, I think, that a relative moderate like Diane Feinstein is speaking first, rather than a foaming loonbat like Nancy Pelosi or a corpse like Harry Reid.
9:45AM Obama has taken his seat, and I’d like to ask one of the tough questions the media are too in the bag to trouble him with: Mr President-elect, where DID you get your topcoat?
9:41.5AM I’ve gotta switch off of NBC to something less biased. Does DirecTV carry the Beeb?
9:41AM NBC News believes that Biden will save Amtrak by “opening the spending spigot.” And — yes, there’s more! — Obama will “save the economy” by spending “a trillion dollars.” Let’s call it what it is: Borrowing prosperity from our grandkids. Oh, and some train tracks, too.
9:38AM Biden. Joe Biden. I am so sick already of that useless stupid schmuck. And don’t you get the feeling Obama is, too?
9:36AM While I’m still sober enough… my only real concern about Obama, as we’ve seen him move ever rightward since Election Day, is that he might be too thoughtful, too methodical, too moderate, too, well, sober. Sometimes in a crisis you have only enough time to act from the gut, and sometimes not even that much. We haven’t seen him have to do that yet (in no small part because of a compliant campaign press), and it’s worrisome.
9:32AM Michelle Obama and Jill Biden look *great*. If I were drinking in a bar instead of on the sofa in my living room, I’d be hitting on one or both of them.
9:25AM “One of the things I admire about the Obamas…” That’s your unbiased reporting from NBC News!
9:23AM Back on CBS, and somebody needs to get the mic away from that woman hootin’ and hollerin’ at Hillary Clinton. I suspect it was Katie Couric.
9:21AM I am going to have to drink a LOT more before I dare another look at President GHW Bush’s purple scarf.
9:18AM Brit Hume: “President Clinton always looks like he’s trying to figure out the right expression to have on his face.” Second best line so far.
9:14AM I’m tuned into CBS News for the moment, and because I always feel masochistic before my coffee. Katie Couric is so bouncily happy today, that it seems at least 47% of her Artificial Spunk has been replaced by the real thing.
9:06AM (All times Mountain, I think.) Best line of the morning so far: In his wheelchair, Dick Cheney looks like Dr. Strangelove.
The one about “where’s Cheney’s white cat?” was good too.
I am drink blogging (tea at the mo) and coming up with one liners about the whole thing.
I’m gonna crack my first beer at noon. Then I’m going to continue to drink until I can convince myself that this whole day was just a very bad dream.
I just can’t get past Biden’s comments about FDR going on TV to calm the American public when the stock market crashed in ’29. It’s so stunningly ignorant on so many levels that I can hardly believe he said it, yet the media gave him a total pass. Just imagine if a Republican had said that.
DiFi (left out Hussein middle name), Warren (shouting in Heaven?), drink, puke. Put on Rush.
re: 9:18…priceless!!! *LOL*
Definitely needed the comic relief today, get that man anther drink!
Hey I’m jealous! I called in Capitalist today and went to work. I could use a stiff one, have one for me.
BBC America is channel 264 on DirecTV, Steve. Not that I’m recommending it, mind you.
Atomic Wedgie! love it
Did Feinstein just say “Oaf of Office”? I must be drunk.
HE FLUBBED IT!!!! TAKE THAT OLBERMANN!!!! YEEHAA!!
Roberts flubbed the oath. Does that mean 0bama can’t actually use the powers of his office!?
hey Mr. oath giver guy, “So help me God.” is not a question.
SO far today, I’ve had the Waltons on. Just witnessing all the mindboggling horsecrap on TV yesterday, I realize nothing worthwhile would be on today, in the way of news stuff anyway. I actually don’t mind Obama so much…I mean ‘so much’ as in as much as I wouldn’t mind McCain either. But all the media hoopla and the horrendous, overwhelming fawning over Obama just goes way beyond what might pass as a reasonable inauguration. This is way too much like God has finally arrived, regardless of who God might actually be. America has finally done a good thing! The country is now saved. The rest of the world can now respect us. We’ve ditched that hillbilly retard from Texas and have finally reached out senses. This is the new America, and we can finally be proud of it — of ourselves, for having elected a man who is partially Black. He’s also partially white. I am thinking its the latter color that makes no difference. And honestly, I don’t really care what color he is. In that respect, I am adhering to the admonitions of MLK — you know, don’t judge men by their color, but by their character…
At least try to spell correctly. He said, “America must accept its role,” not “roll.” Unlike Republicans, Obama does not see government power as a buffet table.
“He sounds the most conservative, sometimes even neoconnish, on issues of substance. Let’s hope he governs like he speaks.”
That might make a difference if I believed a single word coming out of his mouth. It was a pretty speech, but then he always gives pretty speeches. The fact that he’s making pleasant-sounding noises *right now* has absolutely no bearing on what he thinks or will actually do.
Shef —
You’re picking on typos during an unedited liveblog written by a guy on his second very large Bloody Mary.
Really?
Referring to Biden, obviously.
Re: #18
Very funny!
This guy is scary. I don’t know who he was angrier at, the American people or the American people. His mis-reading of the founding documents is appalling. All men are “created” equal, but they aren’t certainly equal and BHO epitomizes this.
Look out everyone, the shadow of Socialism is descending like an Iron curtain across this fine land. And to our allies, I say it was nice knowing you. Obama is about to cast you under the bus as he did his grandmother, his pastor, his friends, etc.
#15 Shef Rogers is mad because we are having a party getting drunk while he is having a let down getting a dose of reality. Poor baby.
Re the 10:25AM comment. I’d have to agree. I was surprised to hear some of the comments about foreign policy and the war on terror. There is a definite change in the rhetoric from two years ago.
Was that a poem? Was that a prayer? What the heck was going on there?
“Obama hasn’t had to do that yet, which is why we usually pick our presidents out of governor’s mansions instead of the Senate.”
Yeah, I’ve tried that argument on people before, and it’s amazing how far it doesn’t go.
“This isn’t Hope and Change.
This is Back to the Future with Biff in charge of the Casino.”
Trillions for a global warming Ice Age.
He’ll always be Hussein to me…..
What inaugural address starts with a laundry list of Americans problems??
That’s what obama gets for ‘writing his own speech’. He should have let that 27 kid do it so it would sound all pretty and stuff like all the other speeches Obama has given off a teleprompter over the last year(s). Nobody is gonna want to quote Obama speeches.
@20. Mike Jefferson:
That’s the price of our citizenship!
gore was wearing shorts as he put cheney under arrest
I am happy to report that CNN is impressed with President Obama’s penmanship!
21. LynnS.:”#15 Shef Rogers is mad because we are having a party getting drunk while he is having a let down getting a dose of reality. Poor baby.”
You made my day.
Oh, by the way: first!
If a former Marxist sees that Christianity and Marxism don’t mix, then why can’t we see they are incompatible?
#31 e: Thank you…I do my best work when I am drunk.
I think Colin Powell is asking for a job.
I wonder how long I will be able to resist the draw of a drink today. Will I make it until dinner?
I would like to propose a toast that we all get toasted!
He just realized the new president doesn’t just have a really deep tan.
So when does the guvment start paying my mortgage and gas bills?
Maybe it was the absence of Bloody Mary’s but I was unimpressed with this speech. Pedestrian. “Dark storm clouds gathering” and so forth. Trite. I thought 100 years from now school children were going to be studying this speech?
As drunk as I am, I still can’t help but be impressed by the pomp and circumstance of the ceremony. The tradition is impressive.
#37 McGehee….That has to be the funniest post I have ever read online…EVER! Hilarious!!
Come on, Steve… no comments about the childish Obamatons chanting “na na na na hey hey good bye” at President Bush when he went up to the podium? Michelle Obama was right about Americans being mean and petty. Those people supported her husband. What a bunch of churlish punks.
Also, Lynn @ 40: we’re not coronating a king here. Why the pomp and circumstance? And where are our liberal friends now, wringing their hands over the costs of this obscene party when we’re 1. Still at war and 2. In the middle of economic difficulty. I guess Obama knows that tens of millions of dollars are nothing in the grand scheme of the trillion plus he has planned for this year.
All I heard in this pedestrian speech was a call for bigger government. I guess executive power is OK when liberals have it. I wonder when they will start complaining about exercises of executive power and trampling of civil rights. Obama showed us how he would run things during his campaign, and the his presidency will be his campaign writ large. Be careful in your dissent, you may find yourself in a bad place with Obama. Don’t believe me? Ask those folks in Missouri, or Joe the Plumber getting investigated. There’s a precedent here as well, look at the Clintons.
From the inaugural address:
“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.”
Starting a pool on how many non-defense programs will actually “end”. I pick zero.
The poem was just ridiculous. But I qualify by saying that I think poetry is usually useless.
#42 Put a sock in it Ferd
I’m talking about the tradition of every four to eight years a new President is inaugurated into office which would happen whether it was Obama or a Republican. The words I used for this event is entirely proper and did not speak to anything else.
Party Pooper (hiccup)
>The poem was just ridiculous. But I qualify by saying that I think poetry is usually useless
Most poetry is crap. Most modern art is crap. The carp eventually gets flushed away and the good stuff remains.
All the airheaded space cadets who booed the office of the President today at the inaugural should now assume their rightful places in the witless protection program, where in ignominy they can live out their pitiful, meaningless, moronic lives reveling in the ebonic stupor to which they have become so ruefully accustomed. President Barack Obama reflects a dignity born of inherent respect for the office he is now entrusted, unlike his many hapless followers; an abominable disgrace to mankind.
Thanks for the foregoing posts; I would have jammed pencils in my eyes and ears If I was unable to avoid the mental orgasms taking place on TV and radio.
The U.S. stock market showed it’s optimism today. I feel sorry for all those whose employment and retirement depends on the market. Looks like nothing but an all-out welfare program will fix the current situation (according to Democrats).
World wars have been propagated on these exact premises before.
Re Dramamineblogging, Google says it’s a world first. Congrats!
It was a true swearing in day for me. I have been cussing all day and can’t wait for my evening cocktail to silence my thoughts.
AN UNPRECEDENTED INAUGURATION
This one was unique in many ways.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-20-2009.html
Every presidential term consists of one day of swearing in, followed by 1,460 of swearing at.
….and now we begin to pay a seriously high price, in 48 monthly installments, for the ignorance of the yahoos who elected him….
I called the whole thing trite pageantry in an email to a moms group. I was, of course, flamed out. They talked of what a historic moment it was. My thoughts-if it’s really earth-shattering and historic, you don’t need to try to hard to make it seem that way. Insecurity and hubris, that’s what I saw. And by saw, I mean on the yahoo homepage as I quickly click on to better places. I’m pregnant and can’t drink, and felt no need to torture myself by watching that drivel.
An English friend told me it reminded her of the giddy celebrations in the UK in ’97 when Blair and “New Labour” came to power.
And now the Brits can’t wait to toss Labour out.
Unfortunately, they waited until after their country was wrecked.
Not a good omen.
The Stock Market knows a joke when they see one.
That “poem” was a joke. I read some other poems that she wrote…horrible. What rock did they find that lady under? Oh, wait I am just a whitey so I should embrace what is right? Pathetic. I am wearing all black today, out of mourning for my country that has just been raped.
Well, I had to work.
Did he exhort us to:
“…atone to the ‘A’-tone”
or not?
Oh…and Guantanamo’s closing by Friday, right?
All he has to do is show the detainees through the fence and into Cuba,(a nice wee payback for Mariel, that).
Troops home from the “Illegal War in Iraq” by February 1st, yes?
The poem.
Well, sad to say, Liz Alexander thoroughly botched it. Barack called for unity. Were they just words or from the heart? Who knows. One thing, though, is sure. The Inauguration poem was created for black America, not all Americans. Betty slammed the door on fawning faces. Sat us in the back of the bus. Grabbed all the sunshine on a bone chilling day. Provided only warmth for her friends with words that had a chilling affect on those who mean her no ill will. There are good winners and bad losers. File the Alexander poem under R. for remorse. If she doesn’t have any, she should.
while in the super market i went past the magazine rack and saw Obamas picture on just about every magazine there, reminded me of the pictures of the other Hussein, only these pictures don’t have bullet holes shot in them. Obamathon to the max.
when do the billboards start getting pictures of his visage ? you’ll get arrested and sent to gitmo for vandalizing them. IDIOCRACY starts today. all hail president Camacho
It was a historic day indeed with the inauguration of Barack Obama and now Obama will have to sit down and to tackle the problems facing the United States of America. The economy, oil, jobs and two wars will all be Obama’s focal points during his historic first 90 days in office. The changing of the guard will hopefully equal an end to the crisis.
Wow. Comment spammers actually on-topic. Will 0bama’s wonders never cease?
Whenever I saw Michelle Ob. on TV yesterday in the yellow tent that made her looker wider than an Obama smile, I had the uncontrollable urge to call a cab.
My personal favorite commentator line was “Senator Kennedy has been carried out of the Statuary Room by medical personnel.”
How did they know which statue to pick up??
Mike Jefferson This guy is scary. I don’t know who he was angrier at, the American people or the American people.
what if one pretends instead that his wife wrote the speech? does the hatred toward country start making more sense now? no doubt look for more of the same over time.
Magazine sales will pick up now. At least until the country grows weary of seeing Obama’s face everywhere they look. The German media was this enthralled by Hitler, too. It sold the the product. Okay, but I’m just saying.
Woke up this morning and felt like I’d been Dewering some serious binge drinking last night. Then I realized yesterday was the B man’s inaugurationl. Half the country must be hung over. Incidentally, that Michelle cab joke I stole from Leno. As I see it, the problem with the brown eyed handsome man and Michelle is that they don’t visually look like they belong together. I mean, they’re decidely incongruent; he’s slim and kind of buff, a pretty boy faced hip Prez while she reminds one of a piece of heavyweight farm machinery wearing a gown and perpetual frown. Maybe it’s me, but if he’s to have a successful Presidency and really impress leaders of countries far and wide, he needs a babe on his arm, not some overweight mirror breaking Halloween faced scare machine with a middle linebacker’s body, who can barely clap and frown at the same time.
I bet Barack agrees with me and in due time will jettison his uglier half.
When and if he does, I have a list of women who I feel would make them the world’s most beautiful couple, and make America proud as punch. Not to mention, seal his election victory in 2012.
1. Celine Deon
2. Sarah Brightman
3. Vilayna LaSalle
4. Jill Marie Jones
5. Mariah Carey
6. Meg Ryan
7. Sharon Stone
8. Teri Hatcher
9. Marcia Cross
10.Kristen Dunst
Number one, I personally think would be Barack’s best choice. And so forth. Actually, as a white woman, Kristen Dunst is a definite dark horse.
Let’s face it, where would Martin have been without Lewis, Larsen without Berra, Sonny without Cher, Phil without Don, Butch without Sundance, Lennon without Yoko, SCRATCH THAT Lennon without McCartney, Bert without Ernie, Lewis without Clark, Simon without Garfunkle?
Michelle just doesn’t match up with Barack. He’s a rock star, she’s a boulder.
I’m sorry. But as Barack said, This generation is about change. Yes he can.
The Stock Market has been really tanking ever since the election. That’s when the job losses really began to pile up. John Galt has spoken. He’s the voice of free enterprise. All the smaller businesses are in the process of scaling back or out-and-out liquidating. Expect it to continue. We are soon to be faced with the twin monsters of deflation and confiscatory taxes. The 2nd Great Depression comes. The more the government intervenes and spends, the worse they make it.