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Obama's sister, Maya said,
"There was always a joke
between my mom and
Barack
that he would be
the first black president."
Now the
joke's on us.
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event |
description |
| Stumbles |
Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Obama
stumbled slightly over wording of the presidential oath of office on
Tuesday, providing a brief, awkward moment in the inauguration ceremony.
Initially, Obama interrupted Roberts midway through the opening
line, in which the president repeats his name and solemnly swears.
Next in the oath, which is enshrined in the Constitution, is the
phrase "... that I will faithfully execute the office of president of
the United States." But, Roberts rearranged the order of the
words, not saying "faithfully" until after "president of the United
States."
That appeared to throw Obama off. He stopped
abruptly at the word "execute."
Recognizing something was off,
Roberts then repeated the phrase, putting "faithfully" in the right
place but without repeating "execute."
Obama then repeated
Roberts' original, incorrect version: "... the office of president of
the United States faithfully." |
| Weirdness |
Inauguration day
brings to mind the reason I don't read science fiction. It's
never weird enough.
Yesterday, America placed more power
than any president in almost has wielded into the hands of a man
nobody knows. He has convinced more incompatible constituencies
that he takes their side than any politician in American history.
And through no fault or merit of his own, he has stumbled into more
power than the White House has had since World War II.
He will
make resonant speeches, hold frequent press conferences, consult friend
and foe alike, and tread water while America's economy and strategic
position continue to deteriorate. His entourage of one-trick
wizards, as I called them in a recent commentary, will pick over the
broken American economy for trophies to put into private equity funds.
(See Obama's one-trick wizards, Asia Times Online,
November 25, 2008). Without casting aspersions on anyone
involved, the opportunity for self-dealing in a multi-trillion-dollar
bailout-cum-recapitalization of the financial system exceeds the
grandest dreams of Third World kleptocrats.
At a certain point
he will have to take a decisive stand on something. And then we
will learn who Obama is, and what he wants.
I predict that there
will be nights when Obama will wish he were still in Springfield. |
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©
Copyright Beckwith 2009
All right reserved
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