Inaugural Oath: Roberts vs. Obama?

With or without this class I was going to watch the inauguration. I'm the kind of girl who likes closure. Likes results. Having supported Obama  it finally felt like I was going to be getting that closure. To me- Bush was a tyrant. Or like some really immature 5 year old. "I can do whatever I want! My dad did and says I can! You aren't the boss of me!" So safe to say seeing Bush go was by no stretch of the imagination--- glorious.

I also loved that I was watching it on TV because I wanted to see all the details. Hear all the commentary and get to see Obama's facial expression. (Not gonna lie I also wanted to see Bush's facial expressions. He does such a good "oh well" face.) I was so happy that I  started feeling bad for all the people there in the crowd. They wouldn't get to see it the way I did with it all being so clear and right up close..... and then all of a sudden I felt like they had the best seats. Why?

Because they didn't have to hear Roberts stumble through giving Obama the inaugural oath. God the last time I cringed that hard I was watching the Joker smash a man's head into a pencil.  Roberts would give him like 5 words or 15 words to repeat. He'd pause and then when Obama would repeat he'd start talking like he hadn't finished. Honestly in my head I thought, "I wonder if Bush paid Roberts to do that. One last aHa!" (I'm not a conspiracy theorist, promise). Seriously though it was just amazingly awkward. And I'm the kind of person who mutes or fast forwards through awkward scenes in movies or on the tv. Usually I can see them coming to do that. Simply put: I didn't see that coming.

Then Obama's speech. I was a little disappointed that it didn't seem to have that same fever that his previous ones have. He didn't really incorporate one of his most slogans of "Yes we can" as much as I had thought/hoped he would. That one line has so much empowerment in it for everyone that supports him and believes in him. The acceptance to me lacked that emotion that would bring everyone in a crowd together. Instead it was just a well written speech.

Then when the inaugural poem came on I was so amped. I read the poem online before and really really liked it. My favorite parts were "Say it plain, that many have died for this day" and "What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance." I was just waiting to hear her say that part but then when she started talking I couldn't wait for her to stop.

She_couldn't_have_paused_any_more_if_she_had_tried. I write poetry and I understand the need for a pause with line break, it creates meaning. But she just paused for way way too long. She even put so much emphasis on every word that it was hard to put the words together in the sentence to understand its meaning. It's almost like the pauses and the emphasis caused you to forget the word said right before it. I will admit she delivered the line of "say it plain, that many have died for this day" very well. The camera even went to a shot of the audience and you just saw everyone's face change. That's how you know you're saying it right, when you're causing understanding in the listening audience. I just wish the whole poem could have been read so that more than just one line was meaningful.

I wish the whole thing had been more organized. More clean. I feel like it would have been the best thank you to everyone who supported him. Him running his campaign cleaner than any politician I've ever seen or learned in history and yet, the oath and the speech and the poem... it all just seemed lackluster. However I didn't support him because I wanted to watch a invigorating inaugural speech or because I wanted an un-awkward oath. I supported him because I think he can do things better than Bush and it's been a little more than a day since he's been sworn in and I've already felt safer.