Talking bout an inauguration * (to the tune of Tracy Chapman’s Talkin bout the revolution)

Talking bout an inauguration * (to the tune of Tracy Chapman’s Talkin bout the revolution)
Part Two: Even the trees are talking about Obama

Along with most people in the US I switched on to watch the coverage of the inauguration…and was amazed at the more than million people there in temperatures around or below freezing. We didn’t venture out but all over the town (and country) there were inauguration parties being held. In the end it didn’t disappoint because it had it all, including:

• Controversy- the choice of the evangelical preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at the start of proceedings had people scratching their heads. Prior to the day his website had actually posted statements to the effect that gays could not join his congregation. It was thought Obama would revoke the invitation as it offended so many of those who supported him, but he didn’t. The prayer in itself was innocuous although it still insisted on the Christian Jesus, which they don’t usually do in the US (or so I am told).
• Conspiracy – the stumble of the Chief Justice in the swearing in where he asked Obama to repeat that he took on the office of “President to the United States”, not of. Obama waited and the Chief Justice corrected it and it went on, but of course the right wing nutters were querying whether it meant that Obama’s inauguration had therefore been rendered invalid. In fact (from the saturation coverage on public radio) I learned that Obama became President at midday and the oath had nothing to do with it. Then again the nutters are still clinging to a theory that Obama was not really born in the US, and that his birth certificate was actually faked. Gotta love those looneys.
• Humour – the sight of Cheney being wheeled out for the last time and people making the observation that he looked like Dr Strangelove. A very evil man who will hopefully be indicted for his shameless (continuing) support of torture.
• Obama’s speech – not up there with his best like the speech on race or his acceptance speech on the night of the election. He was almost playing down the crowd, bringing down the lofty expectations lest people start expecting too much. Nonetheless it was amusing to observe some of the very pointed digs he made at the outgoing President.
• The closing prayer – now that was what I expected of Obama. Old time charisma, almost a prayer meeting of the gospel type and even some humour. Have to say that the humour was not appreciated by all and sundry, so when Rev Joseph Lowery made reference to a change in the conditions for racial minorities there was the predictable outrage from the right wing moral majority types. What the Reverend, an old time civil rights activist actually said was:

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 yellow will be mellow,
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

Of course some on the right had a fit of apoplexy, calling it racism, with the reference that “white will embrace what is right.”. I laughed, saw other people in the crowd laugh, I think even Obama laughed. If you listened to the whole prayer it was not offensive, just humour interjected and of a topic that most of the time (much less at a major public event) Americans just don’t touch.
• The goodbye – As Bush climbed into the helicopter to be flown to the nearby air base for the final flight from DC the crowd started spontaneously singing to the departing helicopter “Na Na Na, Hey Hey, goodbye” (an old song from 1969 by a band called “Steam” – which I only know because of the joys of being able to google things). Priceless!!!
• An only in California moment – Finally, there was the moment when I received an email at work saying that the inauguration would be broadcast on campus. There is an installation on campus of some old eucalyptus trees that were burned and they have been placed in a stand of living trees and the fake trees have been turned into a multi media installation. During the year music or voices are piped and you can’t tell the fake trees from the surrounding gum trees (which are all over the campus) but on inauguration day they were piping Obama’s big day. So on the day the Obama became the 44th US President even the trees were singing his praise…which struck me as appropriate and so very, very Californian.