Quick thoughts after a long day and the release of most of 4 years worth of tension:
“Politics doesn’t have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path. Every disagreement doesn’t have to be a cause for total war.” - President Joe Biden (Inauguration Speech)
“For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, If only we’re brave enough to be it.” - Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate - who totally rocks…I really want to see her live sometime
Whoever thought to put President Biden inside the Lincoln Memorial for the evening speech was a friggin’ genius! The echo bouncing off the walls gave his words a weight and gravitas that sent chills down my spine.
Holy crap, those fireworks! I guess the firework guys used up all the ones they haven’t gotten to use during COVID.
"People don’t work for us, we work for the people. I work for the people. They pay my salary. They pay your salary.” and “I’m not joking when I say this: If you’re ever working with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect or talk down to someone, I promise you, I will fire you on the spot — on the spot.” - President Joe Biden (Administrative Swearing-In Speech)
“I have deep respect for a free and independent press in our democracy and for the role that all of you play. As I noted earlier, there will be moments when we disagree and there will certainly be days we disagree for extensive parts of the briefing even perhaps. But we have a common goal, which is sharing accurate information with the American people.” and “Thank you everyone, let’s do this again tomorrow.” - Jen Psaki, Press Secretary and my new crush (my wife’s too)
Michelle Obama is a gorgeous confident woman and that outfit screamed it out for the world to hear. Wow!
Tom Hanks could totally be SNL’s new celebrity Biden stand-in.
On the command “Eyes right” everyone except the righthand file* turns their head 45o to the right. The person in charge of the unit salutes. On the command “Ready, front” everyone who was looking to the right faces forward. If the person receiving the salute is to the left side of the formation, replace all of those rights with lefts.
* File: Row of personnel from front to back. Rank: Row of personnel from right to left.
I remember visiting the Lincoln Memorial, on a visit to Washington DC. I stood where Mr. Biden did, and read Mr. Lincoln’s words, off the walls where they are engraved. They resounded with me, and I’m not even American.
Mr. Lincoln’s “Second Inaugural” was one of the reasons I became a lawyer.
@ThelmaLou the fireworks were at the end, during the Katy Perry song.
(Oddly enough, that’s the only part I saw. I had recorded all the inaugural stuff during the day and was rewatching it with my wife last night. That was the point we turned the DVR off and went back to watching regular TV.)
Ditto. I wonder if the denizens of a message board that communicate primarily in words and text are predisposed to think in the same manner as the poet laureate.
Biden’s got two years before the mid-terms which, traditionally, swing against the party in power and the Dems have no margin for losses.
If they want to effect change it needs to be now. We don’t need boring, business-as-usual. Otherwise we will be back to the same bullshit we recently had with McConnell back in power before you know it.
It’s common among engineers, at least my co-workers. We had a discussion a couple years ago that started about “left” vs “right-brained” people. We couldn’t really agree what those terms meant. We ended up with the terms “visualizers” and “talkers”. And almost all of us were visualizers.
Watched Biden’s inaugural speech yesterday, and also his speech when zoom-swearing in 1,000 new employees. That second speech was underrated IMO - simple but fantastic to me. The sort of speech a new CEO gives to employees to lay out their working philosophy. Pretty straightforward (“we have hard work to do for the American people I’m proud of you let’s get to it”) and with some refreshing directness (“you will treat people with dignity and respect, if you don’t I’ll fire you on the spot.”)
But what struck me was his manner - even though it was as “public” as the big inauguration speech and from behind a podium, he seemed much more relaxed, personable, and downright honest, talking directly to employees. Compared to the inauguration address and campaign speeches, it felt like he had much less of the (slight in appearance) struggle he has with public speaking, as he directly addressed the myriad employees on the zoom screen.
I came away thinking “sure Obama inspired me with soaring oratory, and Bernie inspired me with righteous anger, but Biden is the understanding, supportive, but quietly-tough boss I’d rather buckle down and work for.” During the primaries I was not in Biden’s camp, and while watching the post-election debacle I wondered if he’d be too nice to succeed, but now more than any other candidates we had, I have some fresh hope that he can keep working that personal magic with Congress, and I think that’s what we need right now.
Anyone else have actual fireworks going off nearby last night? Here, within 10 miles of the White House, someone a block over was shooting off between 10:30 & 11.
Work has kept me from watching most inaugurations in the past but, truth be told, I’m not a “ceremonies” guy and probably wouldn’t have watched anyway. But I retired last year and watched a lot yesterday and I’ve gotta admit that I became a little emotional watching Kammie Harris take the oath. I thought it was a big step in the country’s history.
oh, thelmalou, the fire works were amazing! they were in 2 areas of dc, one around the washington monument, and one i believe was at the lincoln memorial.
vp was at the reflecting pool watching, the pres at the truman balcony at the white house.
just amazing!
wondering when the dogs arrive at the white house.
We had more when the AP and the other final sites called the election for Biden on a Saturday. Once it was official and Trump had no shot, we had fireworks at night.
True. But I was talking about the stream of crazy coming out of the White House the past four years. I think we’re all looking forward to a president who drones, rather than froths.
I think the GOP is in disarray right now. That gives the Dems a bit of a leg up over usual mid-terms.
I disagree that we want big-time actions. Can Biden push an agenda that doesn’t create enough of an uproar to drop the Democrats out of power? I.e. slow-and-steady. (Caveat: I’m a moderate so I’m biased towards a moderate approach.)
Between those two I think there’s a reasonable chance that the Democrats will keep their position. 538 disagrees with me, though, and they know better than me.
