My thoughts on the Inauguration

The Inauguration was everything that it was hyped up to be and more. Waking up at 6 a.m., walking down to the Capitol with thousands of other history seekers, I was encapsulated into the D.C. experience. Despite the cold weather outside, the five hours I spent waiting for the special moment were tremendous. The National Mall turned into a beautiful place to observe what was taking place. The Inauguration concert from Sunday being replayed on one of the big screen televisions to the San Francisco Boys and Girls Chorus and United States Marine Band singing to the arrival of U.S. Congressman, Supreme Court Justices, and former U.S. Presidents, I reveled in it all. When the time came for the 44th President to step out after his family, the crowd erupted with effervescent cheer.

Once the ceremony actually began, I was amazed at how the millions of people around turned silent to catch every word or sound being projected. I thought Senator Feinstein did a great job of introducing each individual and event that took place during the ceremony. Her short introductions set the stage perfectly for each upcoming event. John Williams came through yet again with his composition for the Inauguration. It felt so magical listening to the piece and it transmitted confidence and hope. This was fantastic considering that President Obama’s speech was sure to carry on these same themes later on in the ceremony.

The big moment came during the oath that Chief Justice John Roberts helped oversee. A few people around me were unsure about the timing of the swearing-in as it came a few minutes after 12 p.m., but Barack Obama had become President at noon regardless of whether or not he had been sworn in so I was not too worried. It was very interesting to see Roberts and President Obama together in their first official act together because it was the only slip-up the entire day. For some reason it seemed as though Roberts was in a big hurry to get out the words he was supposed to say and it came across as though he was not allowing President Obama the necessary time to repeat the oath of office. President Obama had to interrupt Roberts during the initial line so that he could repeat his name, “I, Barack Hussein Obama.” Later on in the 35 word oath, Roberts mistakenly forgot to include the word faithfully before executing the office of President of the U.S. until the end of the sentence. By rearranging the order of the words, President Obama was thrown off a bit and he stopped until Roberts made the correction. Then after all of that, President Obama still mistakenly placed the word faithfully at the end of the line as Roberts had done initially. Although not many in the crowd picked up on it, I was just puzzled by the lack of execution in citing the 35 words in an accurate and timely manner.

Coming into the Inaugural Address, I was expecting brilliance in rhetoric and delivery by President Obama. His speech did not disappoint, as he conveyed many messages to the public that truly needed to be stated. Many in the crowd started to boo, when President Obama mentioned his appreciation for former President George W. Bush’s cooperation in the transition period. I disagreed with the booing because President Bush had been very generous in offering his personnel (including Chief of Staff Josh Bolten) and by giving advice on which posts in his staff and cabinet needed to be filled the quickest, so it was nice to see President Obama recognize these nice gestures from the get-go. I especially liked the next part of his speech in which he mentioned that there were many challenges ahead facing the nation. Although we are at war, our economy and school systems are failing, and many have lost their houses and jobs, President Obama made it seem as though these challenges will be overcome in the long run because America is dedicated to hope and change rather than conflict. When he spoke the words of the Declaration of Independence, I was reminded of what our country was founded upon and the great history of our country. By evoking the memories of the past, I could see that President Obama saw our history as a means of uniting Americans and renewing the strength of our nation.

Moving into the middle of his speech, President Obama labeled areas in which he feels are necessary to help the nation recover. Acting boldly in terms of bringing about a stimulus package was presented as a means of improving the infrastructure of our roads and bridges and providing better health care to Americans. By stating the need to improve the economy, it is easy to see that this is where he will commit a great deal of his time to during his initial stages of presidency. Even though I was a bit skeptical of all of the things that President Obama stated he wanted to accomplish in office, I was glad to see him take a stand against companies receiving federal dollars by saying he will hold them accountable so that the money being sent in their direction will no longer be spent to host lavish retreats like AIG had recently done in California. When he was talking about those who seek to hurt America through terror and violence, I was especially happy when he said, “You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.” It sent a strong message that just because he is less inclined to go to war than his predecessor, if the time comes where action needs to take place, he will ensure that it does. By demonstrating this responsibility, he made his next piece about what values Americans need to reconnect to even more powerful. Overall, I thought the speech was a tremendous and was well worth the wait. I am just glad that I was able to experience this great part of American history and share this experience with a largest number of fellow citizens that I have ever been around at one time.

Lastly, the benediction given by Reverend Joseph Lowery maintained the hope and inspiration just presented by President Obama. His rhyming patterns transformed his verse into poetry. By talking about all the different colors he gave each person a goal to accomplish and a means of bringing Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream to light.