Oh, Happy Day...

Some thoughts on the Inauguration...

Dick Cheney in a wheelchair = Old Man Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life. Pure, unrepentant evil on wheels, right up until the very last. If only there were a way to sub in Cheney for the SNL "Lost Ending" version.

Joe Biden will be the administration’s go-to guy for (occasionally unintentional) comic relief. See, e.g., him snapping digi pics just as the Navy chorus is starting the National Anthem. I say this will total affection; he’s like the country’s funny, eccentric old uncle. Looking forward to lots of laughs with uncle joe.

Warren’s invocation was lame—beyond the help of even Jesus. All false piety and neo-evangelical (a.k.a. hipster Christian) bluster. Obama’s only real misstep so far. It was totally redeemed by Rev. Lowery’s awesome benediction, though. Getting two million people to offer up an Amen! is what it’s all about.

The speech itself.
Some people have a way with words; others, well, not have way, I guess.
Took me back to Stephen Colbert’s address to the National Press Club; loved how pointedly he basically, but eloquently, said, “What these jokers here have been doing the last eight years, yeah, we’re not doing that anymore.” Science, justice, engagement, inclusion.

Chief Justice Roberts is a bit of a tool.

Was Scalia rocking a Kangol? I wish more men today wore hats—and NOT baseball caps.

Everything is showbiz.
I loved the Simple Gifts airs. For me, Aaron Copland is the de facto composer of the American Soundtrack, even more so than Souza. I liked the idea of a simple, four-part arrangement, (including a clarinet seemed like a nice nod to Gershwin). But something about it—maybe just the fact that we had to hear that it was a special arrangement BY John Williams—seemed counter to the humble themes of the work itself. Also, Yo Yo Ma looked really cold; I wondered if playing in 17-degree weather improves your vibrato . . .