Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A glorious day, Part II
It's still a glorious, historic, memorable day. But, jeez, they botched the oath not once but twice. Oh, well. ... Now for the inaugural address. More updates to come, perhaps. ...
Update -- Initial post-speech reaction: That's it? ... I thought it was a surprisingly flat speech with too many boilerplate lines and not enough soaring rhetoric. It was anti-climatic. There were some good lines in there. But they weren't surrounded by a coherent cadence you'd expect from Obama. ... Enough. I wish him well. It's still quite a day.
Update II -- Doris Kearns Goodwin on MSNBC was saying the speech was good precisely because its message was blunt and simple. Maybe I was scoring it a bit too much on style, not substance. I'll reread it later. But a first impression remains a first impression: I wasn't wowed.
Update III -- Bert on the speech:
Update IV -- Jon Keller really liked the speech.
It's still a glorious, historic, memorable day. But, jeez, they botched the oath not once but twice. Oh, well. ... Now for the inaugural address. More updates to come, perhaps. ...
Update -- Initial post-speech reaction: That's it? ... I thought it was a surprisingly flat speech with too many boilerplate lines and not enough soaring rhetoric. It was anti-climatic. There were some good lines in there. But they weren't surrounded by a coherent cadence you'd expect from Obama. ... Enough. I wish him well. It's still quite a day.
Update II -- Doris Kearns Goodwin on MSNBC was saying the speech was good precisely because its message was blunt and simple. Maybe I was scoring it a bit too much on style, not substance. I'll reread it later. But a first impression remains a first impression: I wasn't wowed.
Update III -- Bert on the speech:
I thought Obama did a good job early in connecting those in power with those not in power, those in history with those in current times. And I thought he mentioned more specific policy points than I expected.I was also surprised by his implied criticism of the Bush administration. But it's not the stuff that makes for memorable speeches.
W looked thoroughly uncomfortable from the jump. I was surprised. He’s usually the type of guy that can smile and look like he’s having a swell time even when he’s thrown (think how well he handled Gore’s debate approach). The only time I remember him looking the way he did today was during his 9/11 story time. About midway through the speech I figured out why he looked that way: he had seen Obama’s speech beforehand. Obama really raked him and his administration over the coals. I was surprised how directly he condemned the administration in that setting. As necessary and fitting as I thought it was (given the world audience), I was surprised Obama did it.
I think overall the speech was very blunt, offered a challenge to American’s to put and take responsibility for much of what goes on in this country and voiced an attempt to have American live up to the world’s expectations, to a certain extent.
Update IV -- Jon Keller really liked the speech.
