CamObamalot Day 1

Eventually I'll dispense with the bullet points, but there are a lot of things going on that I feel like talking about and I just don't have enough faith in my writing abilities to put them into paragraph form.

- First off, I learned a lot from the inauguration festivities yesterday. For example, in his speech, President Obama said we were going to restore science to its rightful place. What a relief that is. Finally, people will stop going to faith healers to have their humors balanced and will start going to hospitals. Our shipping industry will no longer have to fear sailing off the edge of the world; and we can stop executing people for saying that the earth isn't the center of the universe. It's days like this that make me truly proud to be an American.

I also learned -- or rather, had it confirmed -- that modern poetry is absolute garbage. The poem that was read was hands-down the worst poem I've ever heard that wasn't written by a hormonal adolescent girl.

What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.

Buh? Preempt grievance? What does that even mean? Don't think about it too hard, lest you get a nosebleed.

Personally, I thought the benediction given by Rev. Lowery was much more poetic.

...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's something else I learned. I had no idea that, as a white person, I hadn't been embracing what was right. All these years I thought my respect for the rule of law, my judgment of people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, my desire for justice, etc., were all good things to embrace. Apparently I was mistaken. I aim to improve that. And really, what better way to kick off a supposedly post-racial era than by playing the race card in a benediction? Color me hopeful.

Also, why did Rev. Lowery stop there? There are plenty of colors that he left out. Thus, my friends and I came up with some on our own. We also plan to work for the day when:

Taupe will have hope. When lilac gets its groove back. When tan will be the man. When gray will show us the way. When beige will no longer rage. When buff will be the stuff. When burnt sienna will be a winna. When pink will be in sync. When brick red will no longer be a dickhead. When jade will have it made. When onyx won't go into histrionics. When indigo will be in the know. When aquamarine won't be obscene. When smalt we will exalt. When teal keeps it real. When azure will be pure. When wheat can't be beat. When bronze will be like the Fonz. When fallow won't be shallow. When ocher won't be mediocre, and when rust will be just.

- I was pleasantly surprised by the Daily Show's handling of the whole thing. I actually laughed quite a bit at their self-depricating humor. At least they admit being completely in the tank.

- It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of sheer hatred directed at now-former President Bush. The response he got when he walked out for the inauguration -- the boo's, the people chanting "na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye" and whatnot -- was completely classless and unworthy of a man who has spent the last eight years as the leader of our country. I hate to beat a dead horse or give the impression that it's just sour grapes, but seriously. I suspect that liberals would be howling just as loud if Barack Obama were to be subjected to a fraction of the personal animosity that President Bush endured for the better part of the last decade.

- When I predicted that the Dow was drop below 8,000, I really didn't expect that to happen as soon as Inauguration Day.

- It's Obama's first full day in office, and here are the highlights of his actions so far:

*Postponed the trials of Guantanamo Bay detainees for 120 days.

*Loosened FOIA regulations on the Bush administration.

*Instituted a pay freeze on his top staff.

*Instituted new rules for lobbyists and transparency in government.

Strictly item by item, I'm in favor of about half of those things. But given a weighted score (the pay freeze isn't equal in gravity, I believe, to the postponement of the trials) I'm probably in favor of about 20 percent of it. Just for what it's worth. I'm curious to see if he sticks by his promise for openness in government. I don't see it ending well. Granted, that supposes that the media in this country will actually do its job, which it hasn't in two years. So nevermind.

- I wonder if Peggy Joseph has heard from President Obama regarding her gas tank and mortgage payments.