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TUESDAY,  JANUARY 20,  2009

BAD TASTE IN ABUNDANCE - AT 10:59 P.M. ET:  I was sweeping the TV news coverage a short time ago, and unfortunately happened on MSNBC.  I could only stand it for two or three minutes.  Chris Matthews, outdoing even his own previous rotten taste, wouldn't even mention President Bush by name, as he ridiculed the war on terror.  He referred to Mr. Bush as that guy who was president earlier in the day, or some such construction.  It was insulting, and embarrassing for a once-great news organization.  David Gregory, the White House correspondent, was also on the program and gently tried to straighten out Matthews, recognizing how obnoxious Chris was, but he didn't get far.  I turned the whole thing off.  They don't deserve to be in business. 

INTRIGUING BRITISH TAKE - AT 8:45 P.M. ET:  I thought this was a particularly provocative lead, from Britain's Telegraph.  See if you agree:

Not because America is the only country in the world where a man born so far from privilege could become president, but because only in America would someone have the audacity to believe he could become president with so little preparation.

Obama is a man of great talent – as a speaker, a writer and a politician – but what stands out is the nerve that allowed him to act upon the knowledge that his time had come, that the nation's mood chimed perfectly with views he had been shaping for years.

Hmm.  Neither a criticism nor a valentine, but it certainly makes you think about #44. 

A NOMINATION - AT 8:20 P.M. ET:  We humbly nominate, as the most over-the-top statement of the day, this line from an editorial in Britain's reliably leftist and anti-American Guardian:

As we absorb and anticipate the many lessons of the Obama era as it stretches before us, remember this one in particular. The events of 20 January 2009 are the greatest celebration of a purely democratic achievement in human history.

Oh my, oh my.  That's a lot of history, isn't it? 

The rest of the ridiculous editorial is standard-issue left-wing claptrap.  Worth reading only for a laugh. 

SELECTION - AT 7:59 P.M. ET:  We have just selected the recipient of this week's Pompous Fool Award.  Announcement will be made at The Angel's Corner, which will be sent out tomorrow night.  Speculation has already begun around the world.  Recipient receives a plaque and a certificate of authenticity from Hamburger Helper.

BRITS ON DISPLAY - AT 6:49 P.M. ET:  Just watched, briefly, a discussion on the BBC (through CSPAN) on the coming of Obama.  Basically useless and other worldly.  Any connection between the BBC and reality is accidental at best.  One of the participants rejoiced that Obama wants to prevent the planet from "burning up."  I wish he could see my heating bill.

FIGHTING BUSH - AT 6:47 P.M. ET:  Former President Bush has arrived home in Texas, and he's not in a retiring mood.  He's onscreen now giving a fighting - really fighting - speech in defense of his administration.  It's a surprise.  Maybe he just got tired of all the "analysts" tearing him apart.  Good for W.

DOW DOUBTS - AT 6:41 P.M. ET:  Wall Street did not exactly greet President Obama with open arms, or wallets.  The Dow plunged 323 points to close at 7949, below that psychological 8000 mark.  It was the worst inauguration day drop in the Dow's history.  Concern about the financial condition of banks apparently drove the decline.

6:06 P.M. ET:  The inaugural parade is still on.  A few things we've learned: From The Hill:

It was hard to miss Desiree Fairooz and Medea Benjamin among the thousands of VIPs in the front seating section: they were dressed all in pink as demonstrators for — you guessed it — Code Pink.

To evade security rules against signs, both women held aloft blankets written with messages urging President-elect Obama to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.

VIPs?  Really?  In whose eyes?  Also from The Hill:

The crowd packed on the west side of the Capitol grounds serenaded President Bush in mocking fashion when he took to the inaugural stage alongside Vice President Dick Cheney.

"Nah nah nah nah, hey hey, good-bye," a section of the crowd chanted.

The crowd packed immediately below the podium received Bush in stony silence when he took his seat on the stage surrounding the podium where Barack Obama was scheduled to take the oath office to become the 44th president of the United States.

It's too bad some of his supporters can never display the style that the Obamas displayed today.  They were gracious toward the Bushes, and the Bushes were gracious toward them. 

I'm going to take some time away now to search the web for international and domestic reaction, and will be back a bit later.

3:13 P.M. ET:  Senator Edward Kennedy, described here earlier as looking worn and haggard at this morning's ceremony, apparently collapsed at the Capitol luncheon and had to be removed by medical personnel.  Late reports say that he's responding to treatment.

2:57 P.M. ET:  In a day that went smoothly and elegantly, there was one discordant moment, a part of the benediction by old civil-rights warhorse, the Rev. Joseph Lowery.   This is what he said:

'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 in back, when brown can stick around... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen'...

It's sad when people fall behind the times.  Someone should inform Rev. Lowery that blacks no longer get in back, and that whites just elected the first black president.  There is a moment when a man should quietly leave the stage.

2:56 P.M. ET:  A number of commentators have now "analyzed" President Obama's inaugural address, and no two pundits agree.  Some say the speech broke strongly with President Bush.  Others say it continued a tough line on foreign policy.  By tomorrow no one will remember it, as there is work to do.

1:38 P.M. ET:  Some tidbits.  The TV camera swept the luncheon being held in the president's honor at the Capitol.  We saw Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, and probably the second most powerful man in Washington.  Who was sitting next to him?  Cindy McCain, with John McCain next to her.  Obviously, this was intentional.  There's been talk of Obama calling on McCain for advice and assistance.  Fascinating. 

Also fascinating was a shot of Hillary Clinton in a long, animated conversation with Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who is holding up Clinton's confirmation as secretary of state for a day.  He's still concerned, rightly, about Bill Clinton's foundation accepting foreign donations.  Don't know the outcome of their conversation, but reportedly Clinton approached Cornyn.

12:29 P.M. ET:  The president has given his address.  These things have to be studied, read and absorbed to be fully evaluated.  Mr. Obama spoke eloquently, as he always does.  The speech struck me as a workmanlike, but not particularly brilliant address, laying out the general themes of his campaign.  There were no new ideas, nor did there seem to be any lines that will live in history.  But again, we have to study it.  On first hearing, I'd say that I don't think it will rank with the great inaugurals, but there were very few of those.  It was more similar to FDR's first inaugural than to any other inaugural address in its structure and tone.  I did not hear anything reminiscent of Lincoln, which surprised me, given Mr. Obama's attachment to Lincoln.

12:08 P.M. ET:  Obama is now delivering his address.  Every word will be examined.  We listen.

12:05 P.M. ET:  Barack Obama has been sworn in.  The oath, incredibly, was messed up by Chief Justice John Roberts in a stunning gaffe.  Roberts blew it.  But Barack Obama is now president. 

11:58 A.M. ET:  Joe Biden has been sworn in.  He didn't make any mistakes.

11:49 A.M. ET:  Pastor Rick Warren is giving the invocation.  As you know, the choice of Warren was controversial because of his stand on gay rights.  It seems like a perfectly appropriate invocation.

11:45 A.M. ET:  Everyone is now in place on the inaugural platform.  Mr. Obama should be inaugurated in about 15 minutes.

11:30 A.M. ET:  Okay, I wrote too soon.  Clinton and Gore are now speaking.  All is well with the world.

11:26 A.M. ET:  Gossip note.  Let's face it, you're interested:  Bill Clinton walked in, and was positioned right in front of Al Gore, his vice president.  They exchanged not a word, not a nod.  Absolute coldness.

11:21 A.M. ET:  Best comment of the day thus far:  Brit Hume, watching Bill and Hillary Clinton enter, said that he always felt Bill Clinton was searching for exactly the right expression to wear.  Great observation.

11:09 A.M. ET:  Al Gore just entered.  I'm sure he thinks it's too hot.

11:05 A.M. ET:  We're about an hour away from the inauguration.  All the dignitaries are entering the Capitol balcony, where the ceremony is held.  CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta just entered, in disguise of course.  (Just kidding.  He left his Angelina Jolie outfit at home.)

10:40 A.M. ET:  A remarkably routine inauguration day.  Very orderly.  No untoward incidents.  We are an hour and fifteen minutes from Mr. Obama being swon in.  I'm watching a TV screen, and an old-looking and haggard Ted Kennedy just walked in.  He looked awful, and I say that with no joy.

One interesting point:  Several commentators, on different networks, have made the point that we really don't know what kind of president Mr. Obama will be.  There is still the mystery, perhaps a greater mystery then we've ever faced with a new president.

9:42 A.M. ET:  Gateway Pundit reminds us of something else to celebrate today - and that is the liberation of Iraq, which is about to hold a major election.  Who would have thought, eight years ago, that Iraq would be turned into a democracy, even a struggling one.

9:30 A.M. ET:  We're about two and a half hours from the inauguration.  I've swept the networks again.  It seems to me that CNN is the most giddy, which is understandable when you're fundamentally an in-the-tank-for-the-left operation.  MSNBC is the most mean-spirited, with real Bush-bashing and GOP bashing going on.  Bob Woodward was just on that "news" channel talking about the "hand grenades with the pins pulled" that Mr. Bush is leaving for Mr. Obama.  Real profound.  Fox News is the most neutral, and, I think, the most serious.  There have been some good discussions and interviews on Fox. 

BULLETIN AT 9:07 A.M. ET:  To remind us that there's a real world out there, where there are no parties, no celebrations, and a lot of threat, we just received this e-mail from an Urgent Agenda reader, an American in Afghanistan.  Please read and remember:

I was coming out a small outdoor trailer, when KABOOM!, 50 yards away, just outside the camp blast wall, a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy.  I cannot describe the pressure wave that came from that blast...takes your breath away and makes you black out just for a second.  

The plume of smoke and debris that rose above me was QUITE impressive...full of car parts, garbage, pieces of the bomber, etc. etc.  
Many Afghan passers-by were badly injured, an American soldier in the rammed vehicle was thrown free and landed on TOP of the blast wall.  He later died.  The other passenger and a young female soldier were very badly burned; they do not know if she will make it.  

Many people in the buildings surrounding where I stood were injured by flying glass.  Thank God I was in a relatively open area and was completely unharmed.  I came away extremely impressed by both the power of the IED (reports of IEDs seem theoretical and abstract until you are actual near one) and by the ability of the blast protection walls to do their jobs...they certainly protected me.

It's easy for us to forget the danger Americans are facing, protecting the very things we celebrate today.

8:28 A.M. ET:  I was just monitoring the news channels.  Pretty straightforward so far, except for MSNBC, which was slobbering all over the racial aspect, recalling the sixties.  I'm glad I have a remote with fresh batteries.  I have spare batts, too.

8:25 A.M. ET:  Several readers have asked, but, no, the inaugural address has not leaked.  We don't have an advance copy.

8:17 A.M. ET:  Fox News reports that 200,000 have already gathered on the Mall.

8:11 A.M. ET:  We'll point out good journalism as well.  The Washington Post shows again this morning that a liberal newspaper can be sober and thoughtful in its editorials.  I like this quote from its lead editorial:

More than a few grains of salt are called for here. Mr. Obama is a man of great promise but relatively little experience. The hopefulness of recent inauguration days soon gave way to cynicism and disappointment. Each new administration promises to reject the slash-and-burn politics of the previous crowd, only to get caught up in more of the same, or worse. Too often, the way presidents pledged to govern as candidates bears little resemblance to the way they operate once in office. And history plays its own tricks: The challenges a president ends up wrestling with are rarely foreseen on Inauguration Day.

Yet, like most Americans, we can't help feeling something particularly special about this Inauguration Day. Like most Americans, we will be rooting for Mr. Obama to succeed.

Well stated, with class.  New York Times, please notice.

7:59 A.M. ET:  Crowds are gathering for the inauguration, which is a bit more than four hours away.  We're monitoring the TV news outlets, as well as the print press.  We expect to see and hear a great deal of over-the-top journalism, and we're getting it.  Two questions about coverage dominate:  Will the media overplay the race question?  Will the media control its pro-Obama bias?

The New York Times shows this morning, on a day when graciousness should prevail, that it can't bring things under control.  Last night Mr. Obama held a dinner to honor his recent opponent, John McCain.  It was unprecedented.  The Times reports that...

In an unusual effort to create political opportunity out of what is usually a dead period in the days leading up to an inauguration, Mr. Obama reached across the aisle and across the battle lines of the last election, calling his former opponent a man who sought common ground... 

The Times then goes on to say: 

"He did not mention that Mr. McCain evinced little of his bipartisan side during the presidential campaign."

Utterly uncalled for and tasteless.  Let's hope for better quality today.

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. becomes the 44th president today.  Urgent Agenda will suspend its usual format and blog throughout the day, reacting to events, and especially to the inaugural address.  Please visit us often.

As Americans, we wish Mr. Obama the best.  We want our country to succeed.  We will support him when we think he is right, oppose him when we think he is wrong.  But, as members of the opposition, we will never descend to the level to which the haters of President Bush have descended over the last eight years. 

We observe not only the special character of the day, but, even more important, its ordinariness.  We change leaders by ballot in America.  Please note that there are no tanks in the streets. 

MONDAY,  JANUARY 19,  2009

QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 3:10 P.M.  From Bill Kristol, in The New York Times:

Many of Bush’s defenders have praised him for keeping the country safe since Sept. 11, 2001. He deserves that praise, and I’m perfectly happy to defend most of his surveillance, interrogation and counterterrorism policies against his critics.

But I don’t think keeping us safe has been Bush’s most impressive achievement. That was winning the war in Iraq, and in particular, his refusal to accept defeat when so many counseled him to do so in late 2006. His ordering the surge of troops to Iraq in January 2007 was an act of personal courage and of presidential leadership.

COMMENT:  There's been so much tasteless commentary comparing Mr. Obama to Lincoln, even though Obama hasn't even taken the oath.  If there's a real comparison to Lincoln, it's President Bush's refusal to concede defeat, even in the face of hatred and ridicule, both of which greeted Lincoln in abundance. 

MORE SLUSH - AT 2:41 P.M. ET: The over-the-top stuff continues, as we approach inauguration.  There is this, on Obama's inaugural address, from ABC News:

That speech will begin shortly after his swearing-in with Michelle Obama holding President Lincoln's Bible.

Sources tell ABC News that the remarks delivered to a hushed nation tomorrow will last about 15 to 20 minutes, and the theme is an era of responsibility.

COMMENT:  "A hushed nation"?  How do they know that?  Is ABC News in every home?  Why not just tell us he's going to make a speech, and this is what we know about it?  Spare us the slush. 

OBNOXIOUS - AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  In another New York Times love poem to the president-elect, book critic Michiko Kakutani explores the relationship between Mr. Obama and books.  Perfectly fine.  But in the middle of the rapture, Kakutani goes vulgar, and brings in George W. Bush.  Don't you just know what's coming?

His predecessor, George W. Bush, in contrast, tended to race through books in competitions with Karl Rove (who recently boasted that he beat the president by reading 110 books to Mr. Bush’s 95 in 2006), or passionately embrace an author’s thesis as an idée fixe. Mr. Bush and many of his aides favored prescriptive books — Natan Sharansky’s “Case for Democracy,” which pressed the case for promoting democracy around the world, say, or Eliot A. Cohen’s “Supreme Command,” which argued that political strategy should drive military strategy. Mr. Obama, on the other hand, has tended to look to non-ideological histories and philosophical works that address complex problems without any easy solutions, like Reinhold Niebuhr’s writings, which emphasize the ambivalent nature of human beings and the dangers of willful innocence and infallibility.

COMMENT:  Disgraceful.  First, what evidence does Kakutani present that Mr. Bush "races" through books?  Did this critic watch the president read?  Did she clock him?  And then, note the code language.  It's suggested that Mr. Sharansky and Mr. Cohen, two very bright men, are simply ideologues, which they're not.  By contrast, Mr. Obama reads books that "address complex problems without any easy solutions."  The idea, quite intentional, is that Mr. Bush seeks easy solutions and reads books that provide them.  You know, that speed-reading dolt.  We've come to expect this from The Times.  The paper doesn't disappoint.  Every writer seems determined to get his Bush-bashing points.   

OBAMA - FROM BRITAIN, WITH SKEPTICISM

Posted at 8:10 a.m. ET

We've said here before that British journalists often provide the most interesting perspective on American politics.  Janet Daley is one of the best of the Brit writers, and she's concerned about Barack Obama.  Her worry?  That, while he speaks beautifully, he may not do much.  Here's her take, in London's Telegraph:

The question must be whether the symbolism of Obama's election as president will be matched by his substance in office. Any attempt to answer it must run on the available facts, the first and most important of which is double-edged: Mr Obama is extraordinarily articulate.

Agreed.  But...

So why do I think that there is anything dubious about Obama's gift for words? Because the miraculous effect of them cannot be a substitute for action. Make no mistake: words can accomplish lots of things in themselves, notably changing the minds of your opponents, persuading the recalcitrant to support your plan, resolving disputes between partisans. But what I sense in Obama's love for abstract concepts and diffuse rhetorical devices is not so much the use of language as a facilitator of action, but as a way of disguising lack of decision.

Others have noticed the same thing, but Daley explains it better than anyone.

At how many points do his beautifully constructed passages connect with concrete reality? His failure to define or elaborate the famous "change we can believe in" mantra has been much commented on, but even giving him the benefit of the doubt on that point – after all, political slogans are often basically meaningless – how clear were any of his substantive intentions from his campaign speeches?

In fact, his policy pronouncements since being elected have been notable for their startling lack of any abrupt shift from the Bush years.

Well, maybe we're lucky.

All of this leads some conservative commentators to conclude that at least on the two main emergencies, the Obama administration may be comfortingly familiar. Charles Krauthammer has called the phenomenon "continuity we can believe in."

But Daley's concerns are serious:

When you are confronting national emergencies on two fronts – foreign wars and domestic economic crisis – is there time to indulge in a lengthy seminar? Government is not a think tank.

Finally...

What is going to happen when a clutch of Obama advisers disagrees with another clutch? Or when the most senior of them rejects advice from the more junior? Will Mr Obama himself have the decisiveness and resolution to make a final ruling and act on it without hesitation? Or is he going to preside over a talking shop that ties his administration up in endless qualifications and subtexts, which the President will be able to present with all the subtlety and thoughtfulness of which he is capable – but which will in the end amount to fatal vacillation?

The point is well taken.  There are times when Obama reminds me of Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic candidate for president, against Dwight Eisenhower, in the 1952 and 1956 elections.  Stevenson spoke beautifully, he was the darling of the intellectuals, but in point of fact he never said much.  No one remembers his ideas, most barely remember his name. 

We want the new president to succeed.  But Daley hits on something that has bothered the most thoughtful political observers - the fact that Obama has never actually done anything significant.  Now he must make the toughest decisions, and translate them into action.  Not everything can be explained away in an eloquent speech.  Sometimes you have to get it right and do it right.  And that is the worry about our soon-to-be 44th president.

January 19, 2009.      Permalink          

OVER THE TOP, BY FAR - AT 7:26 A.M. ET:  Look, we expected this. Some of the journalism surrounding Obama's inauguration is way, way over the top.  If you watched CNN last night, you saw a gang of borderline-adolescent reporters shoving mikes in the faces of startled black children, asking them their deep thoughts on this historic occasion.  You had to feel for the children, who apparently hadn't been told that this is bigger than the Second Coming.

But some lines just stand out.  Get this one, from a story in London's Telegraph, about Obama's upcoming inaugural address:

"He is a big game player," said Matt Bennett, who was a deputy assistant in the Clinton White House. "This will be the most consequential speech since Roosevelt's in the Great Depression and in the top two or three since Lincoln."

COMMENT:  Oh, be still my heart.  One of the top two or three speeches since Lincoln?  Look, we're not fighting a civil war.  We're not fighting a world war against Nazis and Japanese militarists.  We have economic problems, but the unemployment rate is about seven percent, not the 25 percent of the Great Depression.  The country is not falling apart.  Let's have a little perspective, shall we? 

THIS IS CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN? - AT 6:29 A.M. ET:  From the New York Post:

DESPITE claims that he's still undecided, Gov. Paterson is "certain" to pick Caroline Kennedy to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton in the US Senate, several unhappy contenders for the job have told friends and associates in recent days.

The contenders based their conclusion on the view that Paterson, after nearly two months of indecision, would "greatly embarrass" and "entirely humiliate" Kennedy, anger her prominent political family and even offend President-elect Barack Obama by picking someone other than President John F. Kennedy's daughter.

COMMENT:  What a disgrace.  Caroline Kennedy is, by all accounts, a fine woman, but she has flopped horribly in her campaign to be named senator.  Her qualification is her name, and this is not what we were promised for the new political age.  Add to this the embarrassment of Roland Burris, named by a corrupt governor in Illinois to replace Barack Obama in the Senate, and the shining city on a hill starts to show more than a little tarnish.   

THE COUNTDOWN

ONE DAY TO THE AGE OF OBAMIUS

Posted at 6:39 a.m. ET

We are one day away from the dawning of the Age of Obamius.  The current cold wave gripping the east is proof that Barack Obama has already cured global warming.  The impact is clear, and obvious.  Welcome, O cold, pure air.

The crowds gather in Washington.  The crowd tomorrow will be the greatest in all human history.  Ben-Hur never drew this number of customers to any of his chariot races.  The storming of Normandy in 1944 was an intimate get together compared with tomorrow.

Peace is blossoming, and June is busting out all over. 

We can report the following developments:

- There was a last-minute crisis as Hillary Clinton had second thoughts about becoming secretary of state.  She was discouraged when Bill told her that the throngs on the Washington mall weren't for her. 

- CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta was turned away from the CIA building in Virginia because they don't accept striped, plastic trench coats.   

- Washington choirs greeted President-elect Obama with hymns and patriotic songs.  MSNBC reporters greeted him with a chorus of "I Won't Grow Up," from "Peter Pan."

- The president-elect ordered Joe Biden not to add more than six paragraphs to the vice-presidential oath.

- The same Joe Biden camped out on the Capitol balcony, where he'll be sworn in, before being told by a cop that he didn't have to do that because he already had a ticket. 

January 19, 2009.      Permalink