Deep Thought

Does the fact that I am not feeling the whole "First Black President" thing (except insofar as it pisses off racist Republicans) as much as I am feeling the whole "Holy Crap! A fellow Generation Jones-er is taking the reigns of power and he is smart, competent, good-looking, and a decent human being" thing mean I am emotionally disconnected from history and/or post-racial?

Soon-to-be-President Barack Obama: I am rooting for you!

Welcome to BizzaroWorld

Reading accounts of BHO's Saturday train trip, the spectators at the Baltimore rally yelling "We love you!", BHO responding, "I love you back!", seeing all the happy faces, feeling just great myself, and thinking, "When was the last time Americans let loose so much love on a politician?" We have entered some sort of BizzaroWorld -- one I've certainly never experienced -- and you know what? I like it. I like it a lot!

Best of luck to almost-President Barack Hussein Obama!

Well, too bad about that...

Such a poor choice of a visual backdrop isn't it? ;-)

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Fund this man a movie hippies!

Sounds like something for the Andrew Breitbarts of the world to suck on:

At times, the multitudes seemed to dance as one, Americans from every corner of the country, of every generation.

Stephen Sherman danced wearing the jacket of his World War II uniform. Sherman, who grew up in an almost all-white town in Colorado, asked family and friends to give him only money on his recent 88th birthday so he could fund his dream: going to Obama's inauguration.

"I still got a mean dance," he said in between taking photos with dozens of new friends.

There is more on Mr. Sherman here.

Late last year, he had a strict message for the 100 friends and family coming to his 88th birthday party: No gifts. Just cash. He needed to get to the inauguration.

"The main thing is I want to get to the presidential ball and do the jitterbug with Michelle Obama," he remembered writing in his invites.

I hope (and think) he will get the chance.

This was awesome

I know I'm like the 457th liberal blogger to post this, but still, how nice to see Pete Seeger out there with the boss singing a Woody Guthrie song the GOP would like to have banned for all time.



Dick Cheney, Suck. On. This!

In the squares of the city,
by the shadow of a steeple,
By the relief office,
I saw my people.
As they stood there hungry,
I stood there whispering,
This land made for you and me.

A great high wall there,
tried to stop me,
A great big sign there,
said private property.
But on the other side,
it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

Nobody living
can ever stop me,
As I go walking
that freedom highway;
Nobody living
can make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

So,

Is this like the best Martin Luther King Day ever?

Yes, I Loved "Slumdog Millionaire"

This is from the soundtrack.

What it meant

I'm not all that into pre-term hagiography but there is much more emotional resonance in this coming couple days than normal [MLK Day followed by Inauguration Day]


via Juan Cole

I do love stories like this

It almost robs me of my cynicism:

In the thousands they came Saturday, alone or as families, bundled against the arctic cold, jumping, waving, and screaming out as the silver train with the blue caboose whizzed by. In their hands they held posters, magazine covers, cameras, flags and hand-made signs. "Fired Up," said one. "We Did It," went another. "Happy Birthday Michelle," read a third. A scattered few stood with toddlers clutching a pant leg, the bundled children learning what it's like to watch history happen...

All along the train route, police cordoned off bridges and underpasses, stringing yellow police tape to hold back the onlookers, who sometimes gathered by the hundreds, and sometimes by the handful. ...

Most people could only see Obama's train for a matter of seconds. It rarely slowed, and Obama only stepped outside the caboose to wave on a few occasions. But none of this seemed to dent the enthusiasm of the crowds. They cheered as if the train was coming to see them, as if Obama's victory had been their victory, and it was only now just beginning. For miles and miles, for people in dress coats and work clothes, it was the same--Americans literally jumping for joy over a president who has changed his country without yet taking office.

(REUTERS/Jim Young)

It's a Larry Craig wet-dream come true

And, of course, a fitting memorial.

(AP)

Hey, whaddya know?

Li'l Petey Biernart is still a dumbass!

Admit it, the surge worked.

Yes, amazing how when everyone moves to their designated "ethnic enclave" there are fewer people left hanging around to kill.

Viva enforced apartheid.

It's sure to work in perpetuity.

Ass.

Suck.On.This

He's earned it:

Bush's Final Approval Rating: 22 Percent

CBS News/N.Y. Times Poll Finds President Will Leave Office With Lowest Final Approval Rating Ever

M-I-S-S-I-O-N A-C-C-O-M-P-L-I-S-H-E-D!

AM Cuteness Overload

I like Nos. 2, 4, 7, and 10.

The glasses notwithstanding, No. 4 seems seriously talented. Will she wind up a political cartoonist?

Between this, the full peale planned down at Trinity Church, and about a hundred other events, this inaugural thing is getting fun.

"We're over here jackass"

REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

I didn't know that

Bush was close friends with a dude in a "Barbara Hershey Drag Act".

That family sure knows how to dress...for three rings.

(Jason Reed/Reuters)

Well, we know one guy

Who's going to be sitting next to Michelle Obama at the State of the Union Address.

God, how nice is it to type that sentence?

"My fellow unindicted, co-conspirators..."

Before the expected horrendous proclaimation of "so long suckers!" farewell address, one of many off-putting things about Bush's speech was the setting. The notion of a farewell address is not a new one, after all George Washington issued one (in writing) but delivering an actual speech seems to have started with Eisenhower.

We remember that moment when Ike warned us about the dangers of the "military industrial complex" and how we've ignored the advice for nearly a half-century. After all, what the hell did he know about that stuff?

Farewell addresses have now become the norm. But not before a "live audience" of sycophants. Eisenhower spoke from the Oval Office and so have his successors like Reagan and Clinton. But not ol' 43, he has to speak from the East Room three-fourths filled with his remaining supporters, all 204 people out of nation of more than 300 million and utter 15 consecutive minutes of laughable and tragic delusions.

Who else would ever do such a thing?

Oh, right.

How fitting. At least he didn't say his mother was a saint.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Well, that was a lovely Kiwanis Club Meeting

An audience?

The only "farewell address" I remember with an audience was Nixon's goodbye speech just before he got on the ol' helicopter.

Fitting then that Bush did the same thing.

Bush's Valedictory

I hope Karl Rove's sitting in the front row.

If for some reason

You watch the "Farewell Wank", here's something to keep you productively occupied.

The Shoe Tossing Game!