Thursday, January 22, 2009

A President Who is Smarter than Me

Once again the man and woman living in the White House are smarter than me. It's a great feeling.



Of all the images and memories of the inauguration the one that will stick with me forever is when Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the lines of the oath, and President Obama* gave a slight nod and waited for Roberts to correct himself.



I was listening on Democracy Now! at work. Our accountant was here and when that part happened he whipped his head around -- we both thought Obama had messed it up.



When I got home Tuesday night I watched the inauguration and saw what really happened.



The presidential oath of office is written into the Constitution. It is important to get it right. (Remember, if you will, that ex-President George W. Bush** did not). Our new president who once taught Constitutional Law, knew that. I'm going to assume that the Chief Justice was simply very very nervous.



The man who should have had shaky nerves-the President-showed his mettle. How many billion people around the world were tuned in at that moment. President Obama is completely unflappable.



That moment showed me that we chose the best possible American to lead us in these times. Everything we need to know about him took place in those few seconds.



We have overcome.

*My first use of the phrase. Yay!
**Dean Wormer's favorite phrase. I plan to use it LIBERALLY.

9 comments:

Joe said...

Good point!

I'm looking forward to the next week's worth of executive orders and announcements.

Sorghum Crow said...

Hallelujah! Good stuff is already starting to roll out. I feel a little giddy.

Comrade Kevin said...

I am cautiously optimistic. I'd love to be ecstatic.

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

I too thought Obama had flubbed it but I should have known that it was the conservative apointee who actually let the ball drop.

Claire said...

I'm with Dean Wormer; my favorite new phrase is "former President Bush".

lisahgolden said...

I am happy to have a president who is unflappable. It's a valuable trait. The contrast between him and the last president is beyond words.

Randal Graves said...

Yeah, but I bet Bush can snort a line faster than Obama. Take that, communists!

dguzman said...

How's it feel to NOT worry that our bloggy ways will land us in Gitmo one day? We are FREE, America!

Karen Zipdrive said...

I suspect Chief Justice Roberts flubbed it on purpose so he and Scalia and Thomas could have a Beavus and Butthead-style laugh afterwards.