the 44th President of the United States...Barack Obama
Photo by jmtimages

Hello!


Goodbye!

Armed Forces Full Honor Farewell to President George W. Bush
Photo by Walkadog

22 Replies to “Hello, Goodbye!”

  1. I think I speak for everyone here when I say the following:

    IT’S ABOUT TIME!

    To those of you who view President Bush in a positive light, no offense intended. I only mean this in the sense of what Mr Bush has left us in his legacy: Iraq, our current economic mess, I could go on for a while.

    I am definitely happy that this part of ringing in the new is happenning.

  2. I’m not normally one to notice other men’s suits, and I don’t wear them myself, but man, I really like Obama’s suit, shirt, and tie combo. That is sharp!

    1. You have to look forward to the next four years (And maybe eight), rather than looking back!

    2. You can say that over and over again – a psychic disturbance lay in the air for those past eight years!

    3. For those of us of a certain age and political and psychological bent, it has been 28 long years since the inauguration of Reagan began a malaise in our national psyche and decline in the quality of the social fabric of the country. The redistribution of income upward, the numerous wars and military actions, the increase in selfishness, the move toward greater and greater conspicuous consumption and larger and larger houses and cars all were exacerbated by the tenets of Reagan and his followers. Today, hopefully, will be the beginning of another shift, this time toward reinforcement of the social contract, toward sharing, toward using less and toward honoring and respecting our fellow citizens for what they contribute and nor for traits, ethnicity or skin color, or income.

  3. In fairness to Bush, and I’m not a fan, he shares blame for the economic mess with his predecessors, the last bunch of congresses and Alan Greenspan.

    1. Only Bush and the republicans are to blame. they came to power with a budget surplus but left a deficit and kept giving tax cuts to their rich friends.

  4. Did anyone notice the chief justice wrongly reciting the oath of office to Obama? The oath in the constitution says: ……that I will faithfully execute the office…… But the chief justice said: that I execute office of president of the United States faithfully…… misplacing the word faithfully to after the United States.

    1. Yes, I thought it was the President that fluffed it up, but I understand since that it was the Chief Justice. Apparently, he has a medical condition that led to this – wasn’t aware of this.

      But yes, it is a great day and a relief to see Bush leave on former Airforce One!

      Hail to President Obama and let’s get to work.

      Very inspiring speech too!

      Tim

      1. Does he have dyslexia – I think the BBC were hinting at this, but I really don’t know. Didn’t the President fluff the line back to Roberts by repeating the original mistake.

        Either way, his speech afterwards I thought was great! The weather here was comparable where I was at least to DC….

        Tim

      2. I think everything went well except for the oath. I think Obama realised the mistake when he paused; and then the chief justice tried to correct himself but still got it wrong. Finally, when Obama continued with the oath, he repeated the original mistake of the chief justice by placing faithfully after United States.

        It is shame on the chief justice to cock things up. He should have known the exact words for the very important and historic occasion. This does not look like a very good sign for Obama if his very first and simply jesture as president went so wrong.

        Now I think he should retake the oath with the correct wording.

  5. A twitter message from Ron Sims this morning: “We are heading into the Inaugural events. They’ve closed the highways so we’re taking the Metro. I expect long lines at the station.”

    (sigh) The irony. I wonder if he was originally trying to get in via bus. (I like the jab in the last sentence)

    Actually, I wonder how many buses it would take to move 1.4 million people around in a few hours.

    1. about 2 buses departing every second for 2 hours, using 15,500 buses, or a line of buses 176 miles long, parked end to end.
      OK, that’s doable! SuperBRT :)

      1. hahaha. And the DC Metro moves 1mn a day, so 1.4 mn isn’t a huge stretch, though I bet it’s damned crowded.

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