What did you think of it?
Here's my review... I might have missed some of it like when the phone rang but here's what I saw:
Invocation: not bad.
Aretha Franklin singing My Country 'tis of Thee: I love her and her music from 40 years ago but she shouldn't really be singing in public anymore.
Biden's swearing in: I was impressed; he must have rehearsed that.
Cello/violin/piano/clarinet quartet: completely awesome. And did you see the look on YoYo Ma's face? He was loving it! Great arrangement by John Williams for the occasion.
Obama's swearing in: ouch, too bad he flubbed it a little.
Obama's speech: lackluster.
That one lady's poem: perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Benediction: no wait, this was the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
My kids came home all excited about it because they got to watch it at school. I'm all for that, I'm all for them learning about the democratic process in action, etc. BUT I'll tell you what I'm NOT all for; their teachers hyping it up SO much that Noah came home and told me, "Today was like the second most important day of my LIFE!" Um, what? Being born? Being baptized? Which of those takes a backseat to Obama's inauguration? I reminded him, "You know, Noah, you were also alive for both of President Bush's inaugurations; you just don't remember them." To which he replied, "Yeah mom, but this is the FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN PRESIDENT!!!"
Hubs and I were discussing this last night. While I agree that it is a great thing to have a black president for many reasons, I disagree with my kids' teachers making such a big deal about it to them. Doesn't all this hype only reinforce old race stereotypes? Like, "Wow, can you believe a black man is actually president!" It only plants the idea into their heads that there IS a difference between people with different skin colors. So far, we in this household have not planted that seed; we talk about everyone as equals, we don't use racial slurs, etc. Don't you think that if we as a country have really come so far in race relations, we shouldn't be making such a big deal about Obama's skin color?
Don't even get me started on the closing prayer's references to yellow, red, white, etc...
{we're getting our new puppy tonight!}
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Inauguration
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6 comments:
Oh my goodness...that closing prayer! I didn't see the whole thing during the day, but saw a re-cap in the evening. But when that guy started with "If you're yellow, be mellow..." "The red man can get ahead, man." I thought for sure it was a joke. It was like a YouTube video they pulled up. No one would actually say that in a prayer, to God, in front of the entire nation! Oh wait...but HE DID! It was absolutely ridiculous!
And I agree with you about the black thing. I don't really think my kids knew there was a big difference between black and white people until now. Yes, they are smart and can see different skin colors. But this has made it stand out even more. I'm annoyed.
Here's what I love about my kids. In describing Martin Luther King day, Gabe explained that it was about "this lady on a bus who was tired, and so she just sat down." To him, she was just a lady. It wasn't until later in his story that he explained about how the white people would sit and the black people ("that means they have brown skin") had to stand. Which to him was the most ridiculous thing ever. He didn't designate her as a color at first because it wasn't important to him. Which is what we are teaching him at home--Heavenly Father loves all of his children.
And I agree with you. I don't think the speech lived up to expectations. Might that be the theme for the first term?
Amen.... You put it perfect.
Did not see the Inauguration, so I missed the excitement. I agree with you about making it a race issue, it becomes a race issue.
I am just hoping and praying that he does well and that their is not too much long term damage done to the supreme court and other critical laws.
I guess a fair portion of that benediction was from the Black National Anthem. All the colors? Not sure though. Aretha...don't get her now, the past yes. And today I saw a feature on the Today show about all the advisors, the unofficial cabinet, who all seemed to be black women. Race is a big issue when you make it one. We don't make it a big deal in our house. Although when Lindsay's BFF asked when we are going to have a brown baby like her (she is adopted with white mom and dad) I was stumped for words.
I love that they still have prayers in such government proceedings, but it hurt my ears to hear those prayers. I thought the first one was just as bad... if you are a minister and you can't even say a prayer without it being written down, there are problems!
I thought it was all just ok. I thought Obama's speech wasn't as when he won.
I guess it's just time to see if he can accomplish something or if he is just really good at speaking :)
I love the new puppy!
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