Posted by
Bullfrog on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 12:56:29 PM
Several thoughts struck me as I watched the inauguration proceedings.
First of all, Obama's speech was full of platitudes. He just had to bring up segregation and racism, in a "we shall overcome" kind of way, didn't he? It was like listening to an MLK speech. Is that what an inauguration speech is supposed to be all about?
The woman in the red coat who follwed Obama's speech with a poem didn't know how to read it. She looked around really nervously for several seconds before she began to read. When she finally began reading, she did so in a really stilted tone that did the poem no justice. The poem itself had racial undertones. Was this supposed to be a message of hope, or a look back to the days of, um, George Wallace in Alabama?
After that came Rev. Joseph Lowery, who gave a speech that again, had racial overtones. I can forgive his halting speech pattern; he's in his 80s. It was the content of his speech with which I took issue.
I missed the very beginning of the inauguration. Obama had already begun speaking when I flipped on the television. Yet, the only white person I ever saw up on the podium to get anywhere near the microphone was the woman who introduced each person to speak. Every time she tried to make the introduction, the cheers from the crowd drowned out her voice. No wonder she just went on, regardless, and waved the next person up to the mike. All the speakers I saw were black. All the speakers I heard mentioned racism in some form or other, in the context of bringing the nation together, as if it's something to which we can all relate.
The only good thing I heard in any of this is that Obama did address the issue of Muslim jihadi terrorism, not using that particular terminology, of course. Diplomatic, as it was, he did convey the message that he had no plans to be a lapdog for the jihadis. I hope he backs up those words with action, if it becomes necessary.