Well, It's Official - We're an Obamanation

(Theme song for post: It's My Party (and I'll cry if I want to), 96 Tears, Crying, Tears on My Pillow)

My fellow GASP members, it is your self-proclaimed SOS/Editor/Grunt here. I received an assignment by our fearless Prez to view the inaugural proceedings and make a report. It seems as though Madam Prez was not going to be able to handle this assignment and made plans accordingly. That’s what a good leader does – recognizes their weaknesses and delegates to those better able to handle the situation. (And, apparently her instincts were right on target – the oath had not yet been administered and apparently the Kleenex box was being depleted at a fast rate.) Now, initially, I had wished to decline the assignment. I pleaded my case, telling the Prez I had more important things to do – like watching the paint dry on my kitchen walls. But an order was issued and I felt it was my duty to respond to the call.


I sincerely tried to view the day as objective as I could. My thoughts were on President Bush and how sad it was he was leaving with such little support from the American people. He is a man of great character and integrity. It is evident just from the way he handled the transition – he was gracious and welcoming to the Obamas. He did not order or allow staff to trash the White House. He did not cart out crates of possessions to claim as his own for the Texas homestead. That should have been a story, but the media ignored it completely.


As the hours ticked away it became obvious to me that we have crossed the threshold of change alright. We have obviously changed our opinion on what constitutes good manners. It must now be A-OK to shout out boos and sing rudely “na na na na, hey, hey, good bye” to men that at that very second were still the President and Vice-President of the United States. (I won't even start with the rappers and their foul language toward President Bush on the eve of the inauguration.) We have changed into the people now occupying the “era of responsibility” (Obama’s term – not mine) – as in, it’s someone else’s responsibility to pick up after me. This picture of what remains on the mall grounds kind of represents what I feel like – the party’s over and all we have now is a bunch of trash (and not just on the grounds of DC).

We have changed into a nation that apparently has fallen so hard we need to “pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America” (again, Obama’s words – not mine). If you listened to the inaugural address, you heard how awful our new president believes we were prior to his coronation. I guess a lot of others believe we’ll be heading into the light now with the coming of Obamessiah. Don King said, “I would say that he [Obama] would be Joshua going across to the Promised Land…Martin Luther King Jr. went to the mountaintop like Moses, and he said, ‘I might not get there with you, but I can see the Promised Land.’ But we gonna’ get to the Promised Land. So Joshua carried them across. Martin Luther King, Jr. was prevented from going into the Promised Land.” Here’s another statement about which Biblical character Obama is most like: “I would say any one of the Biblical leaders,” said Denzel Washington’s mother, Lennis Washington, who was attending the inauguration with her son on Tuesday. “The apostle Paul, Moses, John the Baptist – any one of them. Seriously, he is like one of those apostles for our day. He came to lead us to the original design of what we are supposed to do on this earth.” When asked how Obama specifically has changed their lives, Smokey Robinson said this: “He has changed my life just like he has changed your life…If you are an American citizen, he has changed all of our lives. America has changed our lives. We are at last showing the world that we are who we say we are,” said Robinson, when asked to be more specific. “It’s truly a wonderful day for the world.” OK, can anyone tell what the heck he just said? What does that really mean??

It is beyond me how they think this man is going to change anything for the better. He said in his address “the time has come to set aside childish things.” Well, apparently Rahm Emanuel, his own Chief of Staff, didn’t get to read the speech ahead of time. Here’s Rahm at the inauguration.

And how about that closing prayer by the Rev-Rund Joseph Lowery: 'Lord…we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen. And Say Amen.” I have never been so angry during a prayer in my entire life as I was during this one. Offended? You betcha!

So, to recap, I took my assignment, I watched, I found it all repulsive and I reported. We are definitely an Obamanation. Pass the Kleenex, Prez.