Wonderful day, here at last!

What a shame, though, that Obama marred it with the one blot on the schedule. Even dear Aretha cannot undo the terrible harm of that.

But, still, what a wonderful day!

steve and hilzoy are top notch blogers -bravi! Thanks for all your work leading up to his day.
I will be commenting the inauguration live in Italian on Radio Popolare from Milan. They don't know how much of my info I get from Political Animal, heh-heh. Yes We can! ciao for now

Glorius Day, indeed.

Would have liked seeing a tumbrel added to the parade with circus sweepers following. But, as MG, posted on another thread, our newly incoming President has "an aversion to conflict".

Yes, 2009 may well be remembered as having Two Thanksgivings and Two Christmas celebrations.

Perhaps Coleridge said it best:

"Winter slumbering in the open air
Wears on his smiling face
A dream of spring."

YES YES YES

Good Morning Mr. CB/Benen and to all of your readers! We made it. Can't imagine having done it without the valued information and countless heads ups provided by The Carpetbagger Report and continuing with the Political Animal in coordination with Hilzoy.

Maybe the only positive aspect of Shrubwit's reign was the incredible amount of outrageous political fodder that was generated for the blogosphere to dig in to. That dynamic helped to create the broad based forum we now have to discuss how we can do a better job than Shrubworld has done for the last eight very, very long and destructive years.

Thanks for providing more light than heat and for loads of good, common sense observation. Looking forward to what is coming with this new beginning. And thanks to Ms. CB for helping to kick it all off.

Amazing...I am speechless too.
I think everyone is trying to look for comparisons, and there are none, really.

Things are different now...and it's not just his race. This man is so ready for the job, so bright, so skilled to listen and then act--all the while adept at instilling hope and a call to all to join in, an ability to unite. A true pragmatist plus idealist!

Morning Joe folks seem less impressed than the CNN group--some guy at Morning Joe just implied it was really no big deal, that inaugurations always garnish excitement...made a reference to Nixon who declared "let's not have contention" (implying this is all just rhetoric...what a downer!

In contrast, folks at CNN are not shy to say this is truly different, due to the time and the person.
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As a footnote, and rather petty one admittedly--I was sad to hear he's keeping that 'sunny' (ugly) rug in the oval office that was so coveted by Bush--ick! Come on, now--that rug just has to go.

I was sad to hear he's keeping that 'sunny' (ugly) rug

Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't mind wiping my feet on it.

Bush's "shining" moment was standing in the rubble of 9/11.

Obama's is standing in the rubble of America after 8 years of George's Reign.

God Bush America! (and he did)

The planet is tuned into this moment.

This is the World Series/Superbowl/World Cup/Olympics of politics.

I can hear Rush Limbag now..."The idolatry of the Demoncrats is appalling." :-)

Rush, it ain't about Obama, it's about a new world order. Get used to it.

FYI: The CNN/Facebook live-stream interface is totally cool!

Whoever prepared the schedule forgot to note the time required for the roar of the crowd to subside when they hear the words "so help me God" from the new President.

I was sad to hear he's keeping that 'sunny' (ugly) rug

Why else do you think he's getting a new dog?

Politics in America really is about to change.

You honestly think so? That must be why I find myself just kind of watching this all in a detached way. Because I don't see the evidence for that change.

Yes, we will no longer have dangerously incompetent buffoons in charge. You won't see such brazen looting of the public purse. I have some small hope that new wars are less likely.

But what exactly is going to change about politics in America? Will the Senate stop being an unpassable roadblock to effective policy? Will it stop being dominated by a right-wing cadre, enabled by a supine Democratic caucus more concerned with their own prestige and privileges than with doing what needs to be done? Will the terms of debate be stretched beyond the fact-blind Washington ballroom consensus? I see no signs of any such thing. Consensus and reaching out are all well and good for maintaining the comfort level in DC. But that comfort level has been just fine for the last 8 years, too. That worked out well, didn't it?

I do believe that people in this country are ready for change. I just doubt that they're going to get it anytime soon. It's unfortunate.

I watched W's first inauguration --- not because I supported him, but because I wanted to observe the passing of the torch regardless of partisanship.

And I remember one thing that both frightened and annoyed me is that, within minutes of taking the oath, Bush sat down and starting signing dozens of executive orders which presumably Rove or Cheney or someone had prepared for him. I hated watching that, because even though I didn't know exactly what he was signing, I knew it couldn't be good.

I would certainly hope that today, before Obama escorts Bush to his departure ceremony or attends the luncheon at the Capitol's Statuary Hall, that he takes a page from Bush's book and first signs as many executive orders as he can to undo as much of Bush's damage as possible on the very first day.

Today, I feel deeply torn between my standard cynicism and bitterness about a country that allowed the last 8 years to happen, and the hope that I long ago hid in the recesses of my brain. Going on faith just isn't something that comes natural to me, because I believe that the best indicator of future beghavior is past behavior; the past behavior we've seen is congressional shenanigans and a lack of clarity of purpose. So, while I'd like to believe, and hope, that today is the first in a long series of progressive policy years, all I can really be sure of is that yesterday our president was a boy, and today our president is a man.

That, and Dollhouse is so gonna suck. Beyond the telling of it. Frak.

But how does Obama taking the oath of office and becoming the next President of the United States...hurt Obama's chances of becoming President of the United States?

Mary?

Only one more hour of Bush's presidency!

Yet the stains to the modern conservative movement in general and the Republican Party in particular -- including and especially those intelectually dishonest bootlickers who defended this administration's mendacity, incompetence, corruption and tyranny in these threads -- will linger for a generation or more.

Wait till 2.20.09 .

When President Obama was referring in his spech to Washington's crossing of the Delaware and saving the American Revolution, he mentioned that the soldiers heard "words that were commissioned" before they manned the boats and crossed the river. He didn't go on to quote those very famous words, but I was just reading them over, and they are very appropriate to our time, too.

The words are from Tom Paine's "The American Crisis," which he wrote at George Washington's specific request for the attack. The opening paragraph says it all for what we are about now:

"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."

Who made John Williams the court composer? He's everywhere.

It was a historic day indeed with the inauguration of Barack Obama and now Obama will have to sit down and to tackle the problems facing the United States of America. The economy, oil, jobs and two wars will all be Obama’s focal points during his historic first 90 days in office. The changing of the guard will hopefully equal an end to the crisis.