I wandered into the break room during my lunch break, and on the TV is some guy reading poetry. I’ve heard that Beyonce and other people will be performing later. Is it just me, or is this getting utterly ridiculous? It’s a presidential inauguration, not the Academy Awards.
It won’t be completely over the top until one of the headline performers has a scripted ‘wardrobe malfunction’.
What’s wrong with a bit of festivity?
They had Katy Perry on over the weekend for their Kids Inauguration ceremony. Was that really necessary?
Correct me if I am wrong, but the Inauguration has always been a celebration - with lots of Inaugural Balls and parties - no matter who gets elected.
Trust me - if today would have been Mitt’s day, I am sure there would have been an equally large, festive party with literally a dozen big name celebrities attending and millions spent in dresses and floral arrangements and gift bags with “47% off your taxes” coupons for supporters and big donors.
Plus, it would have had dancing horses!
The party for Andrew Jackson was a drunken brawl that went on for days. Jackson had to sneak out a window and go to another location for the party to start winding down.
So this is quite tame.
Bush had Brooks and Dunn and Clint Black. All that has changed here is that this inauguration has a younger and more inclusive audience in mind.
Perhaps Romney would have had the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (instead of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir we saw today). And as for the poet at the event, that goes back at least to JFK, who had Robert Frost reading a poem. (Frost was supposed to read a poem he had written especially for the occasion but the glare made it impossible for him to read the paper, so he recited another poem from memory.)
I HATE it when someone always HAS to bring up Bringing on the New Messiah :mad: 
Inaugurations had poems written for them since the 19th century (and likely before), when it was expected that a poet would write something for every public event (including things like 4th of July celebrations, opening of a new city hall, and anywhere else there was a ceremony). I’m glad the inauguration keeps this tradition alive.
I found it pleasantly understated. Just Obama, his wife and daughters, and the Chief Justice. Lasted about three minutes.
ETA: The presidents should “elope” more often.
It was awfully fucking churchy for my tastes. I only caught a few bits and pieces on the radio while off at lunch, and I thought I’d tuned into the Ernest Angley Hour for a little while there.
I especially liked the Predator drone flyover.
Is it just me, or did the First Lady have a different outfit for the swearing-in, luncheon, and parade?
It was just you. Her coat, which she wore during the Oath and the parade, was the same pattern as the bottom of her dress. She took her coat off at lunch which made it look like she’d changed her clothes; the top piece of her dress had a little jacket thingy that was made out of a solid colored fabric. It looked to me (going from memory) that she could have taken off the jacket thing to make her dress all the same pattern again. I thought it was very nice, and apparently quite versatile. But damn, those were some high heels to be walking the parade route. More power to her and her podiatrist.
In 2009 there was a lot more in the way of festivities. I think there was a much bigger inaugural program that included several concerts and other things. There were also 10 official inaugural balls that year. Tonight there will be two balls - I was trying to figure out a way to avoid suggesting a pun but I give up - plus a concert for military families.
I wish I had seen the President’s speech but I only heard clips on the radio - from what I heard it was FANTASTIC!! We The People, indeed. 
If you still want to watch the speech, visit a news website like CNN’s. They have the speech available as a video to watch, or a transcript to read.
Yeah, my kid looked over at me and said “Geez, dad, are you CRYing?”
“sniff:: No, that’s ridiculous ::sniff” But then I said “It just took me by surprise, this feeling of being proud of my country.”