Conor scoffs at Powerline’s Bush retrospective. Powerline:
…at present it looks like a good bet that history will record Iraq as a successful foreign policy initiative, and possibly one that started the long process of reforming the Arab world, to everyone’s great benefit.
Clinical.
"[Obama is] just one of those guys, you know, like Will Smith. There’s no Will Smith jokes. There’s no Brad Pitt jokes. You know, what are you going to say? "Ooh, you used to have sex with Jennifer Anniston. Now you have sex with Angelina Jolie. You’re such a loser." What do you say? "Ooh, your movies are big. You make $20 million." There’s nothing to say about Brad Pitt…[With Obama it’s] like "Ooh, you’re young and virile and you’ve got a beautiful wife and kids. You’re the first African-American president." You know, what do you say?," – Chris Rock.
Madrid, Spain, 4 pm.
" I hope that Barack Obama is a failure as a President.
Before you recoil in horror that I could express such a sentiment, allow me to remind you what the pleasant face and smooth rhetoric hide in the case of Barack Obama: they hide a morally depraved and crooked man. A man who, in the midst of a discussion about infants left to die without medical care on an operating table, blithely explained that he was more concerned about the grisly prospect of one abortion doctor second-guessing another abortion doctor (presumably Obama supported eliminating medical malpractice suits in Illinois, and such support was tragically lost to posterity). A man who used his position of authority in the Senate to funnel money forcibly extricated from taxpayers to his wife’s employer, and interests friendly to his Presidential campaign bundlers. A man who has gotten to his position of power by climbing the greasiest and dirtiest ladder in all of politics," – Leon H. Wolf, Redstate.
As promised, liberal reaction to Obama’s inauguration. Adam Serwer:
Today, Obama sought to provide a vision of our adulthood; an attitude that rejects the impulsiveness, painted as toughness, of the Bush years. It is no longer a time to put "leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame." While rejecting "as false the choice between our safety and our ideals," Obama nevertheless promised that "we will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense." This is not "Bring it on." This is not "Dead or Alive." It is time to put away the cowboy hats and pop guns, for "the world has changed, and we must change with it."
What I love about those crowd shots – they are demonstration of a real mandate – not a spin manufactured image of a mandate. With high poll numbers and this kind of demonstration, it’s clear the direction of the nation.
…if the standards of polite political discourse now require accepting people who pray to god in different ways, it doesn’t require recognizing those who choose not to pray at all. At least not yet. That made this line in Obama’s address significant: "For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus–and non-believers." Perhaps this is another barrier, albeit a rhetorical one, that Obama intends to tear down over the next few years.
Barack Obama has the makings of a great orator, but his inaugural speech was not a great oration. It was well-delivered, but it consisted of a hodgepodge of themes, injunctions, and applause lines that did not speak directly to the crisis that the country faces.
I think I’ve heard too many Obama speeches. I’m unmoved. It’s not his fault.He sounds awesome as ever. But I’ve seen this too many times, I think.
Not one of Obama’s showier performances. Unless I missed it, he never turned on the million-candlepower smile. Nothing intended to get the crowd moving: none of Obama’s trademark soaring cumulatives. Much of it would have fit in his stump speech or a State of the Union. As always, he seems to feel the weight of history
So many of us see Obama as our sole hope (we’re that desperate, yes, but maybe not delusional, if you can believe the polls that say even with expectations for the guy sky-high, we’re willing to give him two years to repair decades of damage) that even if his speech had been a dud, it wouldn’t matter. We’ve gradually become so in sync with this transfiguration of America that we’d collectively, silently, fill in any poetry he might have missed.
This was a good speech. It began with the usual platitudes and was full of generic rhetoric, but it also gave indications where this administration will view the world with different eyes than the last. Specific references to restoring “science to its rightful place”, and “we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals” suggest direct policy changes while more general references hint at priorities that will change.
What saddened me was the continuation of excluding gay persons from any reference in the grand fabric of the nation. Of course some will dismiss this as an overreaching demand for such a small community, but Jews and Muslims – both much smaller populations in America – received specific reference. As much as I hope and wish for meaningful change for our community, I now fear that gay Americans are seen as a less insignificant part of Barack Obama’s America.
Marty Lederman gets a job:
As of today, the commencement of the Obama Administration, he begins work as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel. There he will be joined by two of his former OLC colleagues, Dawn Johnsen, nominated to be head of the office; and David Barron, who will serve as the Principal Deputy (and as the Acting AAG while the Senate considers Dawn’s nomination).
I knew it. And he kept denying it was even possible. Very few lawyers have worked as hard or as brilliantly in exposing the war crimes of the previous administration and trying to repair the damage.
Scott Feschuk chuckles:
I’m watching today’s inauguration coverage on TV for my column in this week’s magazine. The highlight so far? Getting up early enough to hear CNN’s John Roberts begin an interview with a hip-hop star by uttering the words: “You know, Bow Wow, this is an historic…” (You’re probably curious to know Bow Wow’s take on things. I’m here to serve. “Man, it’s beautiful. It’s just a beautiful situation. This is just a beautiful situation… It’s beautiful, man.”)
Some have asked why I thought Lowery stole the show. Here’s why:
"REV LOWERY: Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get back, when brown can stick around — (laughter) — when yellow will be mellow — (laughter) — when the red man can get ahead, man — (laughter) — and when white will embrace what is right. Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.
AUDIENCE: Amen!
REV. LOWERY: Say amen —
AUDIENCE: Amen!
REV. LOWERY: — and amen.
AUDIENCE: Amen!"
Byrd and Kennedy are rushed from the Inaugural luncheon.
A president’s critics are often more interesting reads than his supporters. Here’s a round-up of responses to Obama’s speech from the right. Reaction from the left later today. Conor Friedersdorf:
If only solving America’s troubles were as simple as putting petty grievances aside. I share the desire to do that, or course, and there is a great deal of trumped up disagreement in Washington DC.
What Barack Obama failed to address in his remarks, however, is that some political disagreements are real — grounded in principle, or differences in judgment, or varying emphasis on different priorities, or the inescapable fact that human beings have different preferences. This is why it can never be the case, unless there is a war so terrible that our very existence is immediately threatened, that the country is going to join together in unanimity to address what ails us.
I thought it was pedestrian, and at times petty in its many shots at Bush. There were of course some good passages—I especially liked the bit about not apologizing for our way of life—but some real clunkers too. "We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories." Good luck with that, Mr. President.
There were, as one would expect, a few lines at which a conservative would cavil; but on the whole I was impressed by the new President’s tone, by his précis of the American tradition, by the tribute he paid to our forebears and to those “guardians of our liberty” who are making sacrifices today, and by my sense that he himself is acutely conscious of the preciousness of the legacy with which he has been entrusted.
I thought Obama did the minimum about Bush — the barest minimum: “I thank him for his service,” or something. He could have done a lot more: not with more words, but with better, truer, more gracious words. Bush has certainly done a lot. For one thing, he is passing on to his successor the means with which to fight the War on Terror.
Having just listened to the speech, I think there was a lot to like there for those whose greatest concern is that Obama is soft — that he doesn’t appreciate the role violence has played in forging our democracy. Dianne Feinstein opened the ceremony by talking about how the ballot is more powerful than the bullet, how non-violence has made this day possible. It’s a bizarre revision of American history that focuses on Martin Luther King rather than William Tecumseh Sherman or George Washington.
An unduly perfunctory thank you to President George W. Bush was the only glaringly false note. He leaped right to the heart of the matter — outlying the daunting challenges ahead. A splash of cold water, perhaps surprising in its bluntness. His terse statement that the challenges would be met was again more stark than what one might have expected. But he pivoted toward poetry with a call to unity and higher purpose and the summoning of historical precedents. And then a blunt call to “pick ourselves up and dust itself off.” He drifted for a bit into gritty talk of electric grids and roads. And then a call back to more expansive themes, declaring, “We are ready to lead again.”
I think this is a muddle — half a state of the union, half an inaugural address.
(Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty.)
The Dish 