A few inaugural thoughts

A few thoughts on the inauguration:

1- I taught this morning from 0855-1145, so I figured out how to get the msnbc.com feed into my classroom, and I setup a "dual panel" on the display to show my powerpoint in upper-right and the live video feed in lower-left. I'm not sure my students paid too much attention to me, but honestly, I'm not claiming to have been the most important thing going on at that time anyway!

2- Why did Rev. Warren pray for such a LONG time? I mean, Obama himself only talked for ~ 18 minutes; Warren went for at least 4! The best prayer of the program, by far, came from the guy who gave the benediction: he spoke from his heart and delivered a communique to God that was eloquent, witty, and straightforward. Warren tried too much and, in my view, failed. His words themselves were forced: why was he the only one who mentioned that Barack Obama was the first black president? I think the world already knew that. I think ministers shouldn't "preach" while they're "praying", which is what it seemed that Rev. Warren did.

3- There are thirty-five words in the constitutional oath of office (Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 8). You would think the Chief Justice would have them memorized, eh? He cut off Obama, and then messed up the only inaugural oath that will be stored for posterity (he relocated the world "faithfully" to the end of the first phrase). Oh well, they caught it and finished fine.

4- What a crowd!