Quick Reaction to the Inaugural

First, I didn't see most of it. I started watching it in my Politics & Religion class, only to have C-SPAN go on the fritz just as Aretha Franklin launched into a no doubt soul-stirring version of "My Country 'Tis of Thee." I ran over to the Student Union in time to catch Obama taking the oath of office and to hear the inaugural address. And I caught a few snatches of the after-speech invocation in the fax center.

So what did I think? Of Feinstein's speech, not much. She's a decent speaker, but nothing special. She wasn't helped by the fact that her topic has been worked over so many times that its been mashed into a soft, squishy pulp. Yes, the election of an African-American president is tremendously historic. But we don't need Feinstein to tell us that. The millions of people crammed onto the lawn were testament enough.

Warren's prayer, like Feinstein's speech, was nothing special. Sitting here, ten hours later, I can't remember a thing he said, other than his peculiar over-enunciation of the names of Obama's daughters. Oh, and he ended with the Lord's Prayer, but he gave it a rather unremarkable reading. It sounded less like a heartfelt plea to God the Father than an elementary school recitation.

Because of the crowd around the TV set, I wasn't able to see who it was who flubbed the Oath of Office--Obama, or John Roberts. I think I'm on safe ground, though, when I say that this is going to be a minor bone of contention between the left and right for the next couple days. Conservatives will say Obama caused the mix-up. Liberals will blame Roberts. So it goes.

Obama's speech itself was...oratorical. Always, it seems his style swallows up his content. You get so focused on his voice and delivery--both of which are magnificent--that lose any sense of what he's saying. It just becomes background noise, like the sound of traffic rumbling past your house. You hear the noise, not the words.

But if you did listen to the words, and I was able to pick up a few lines here and there, you couldn't help being both 1) impressed and 2) depressed. Impressed by Obama's command of language. He delivered a stirring tribute to self-sacrifice without veering into platitudes. He summons up memories of Lincoln and FDR, without being derivative of either.

Depressed, because today was the day Obama officially abandoned all pretense of "Hope" and decided to concentrate solely on "Change." Any glints of optimism were ruthlessly rousted out of the speech and cudgeled to death. It's going to be a long, grim couple years, was Obama's message. Maybe that explains why the crowd in the Student Union seemed so somber.

And lastly. I loved the line in the post-speech prayer about how "the yellow will be mellow...the red man can get ahead, man." I don't know if my appreciation was ironic or not, though. I guess that's one of the perils of being a college student.