The Beautiful and the Clueless

I’ve been at a chorus rehearsal, so I haven’t been watching television. So I get home, and the first thing on my mind is — What is the First Lady wearing? I want to see Michelle Obama in her ball gown. And of course, she is beautiful.

No More Mr. Nice Blog has an astute comment:

No one who’s been paying attention to Obama for the past two years should find [his inauguration speech] the least bit surprising — and yet, apparently because he didn’t come out in a dashiki and a bandolier saying “Kill whitey!” and “Off the pigs!,” the folks at National Review’s Corner are scratching their foreheads … and some of them are imagining that a crypto-Republican got elected by mistake.

Righties have no idea what we lefties think, because they never listen to us. They listen to the straw lefties that live in their own heads, and then they explain to each other what we think.

Fundraising Time

I never properly thanked most of you who donated last month. I am deeply grateful but living with some chaos at the moment. That’s no excuse, I realize. And here I am, going to the well again. I do hope that those who weren’t able to contribute last month don’t mind me asking again if you could help keep Mahablog online and me in a little less chaos.

tincup





Inauguration Open Thread

I don’t plan to live blog, exactly, but I’m watching the festivities on television while I work on other things. So I might toss in a loose comment now and then.

Oh, wait, there’s Michelle in her inauguration dress. She looks gorgeous.

Well, comment away.

Update:
I didn’t watch either Bush inauguration on television. Can someone provide a comparison?

Update: “We are ready to lead once more.” With Shrub sitting there. Sweet.

Update: Enjoy.

Update: My favorite part of the speech:

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

This says so much that I’ve been saying and thinking the past several years.