Kinda like what I tried to do for pants!
Posted on 01/20/2009 3:58:55 AM PST by billorites
The kabuki of the typical inaugural can be broken down into specific set pieces; the thoughts arranged in a comforting sequence that would have been instantly familiar one hundred, even two hundred, years ago.
1. I am not worthy of this great honor.
2. But I congratulate the people that they elected me.
3. Now we must all come together, even those of us who really hate each other.
4. I love the Constitution, the Union, and George Washington.
5. I will work against bad threats.
6. I will work for good things.
7. We must avoid entangling alliances.
8. America’s strength = democracy.
9. Democracy’s strength = America.
10. Thanks, God.
That's pretty much the size of it.
This year it should be “So Help Us God”
Right now the United States is an iffy proposition, IMHO. We may not survive the next four, or God help us, eight years.
Yet it cannot be a coronation
No, what we have here is a mass adoration, or a mass idolation.
hats have been optional since 1960, when John F. Kennedy held a silk top hat but did not wear it
I heard once that JFK was the reason men stopped wearing hats. No matter what you think of his Presidency, at least he did one good thing for this country (I HATE wearing a hat).
“so help me God Allah"
AMEN
The title tells me that Ted Widmer has too much time on his hands.
> The title tells me that Ted Widmer has too much time on his hands.
America’s Republic is gone. Americans have elected their first Caesar. It will be interesting to see what Caesar says.
What he says will mean nothing. It will be much more interesting to see what he does!
I wonder if it's snowing in D.C.; it is here!
I have seen this asserted for years and lazily absorbed it without pausing to think about it. Upon reflection, however, I doubt that something as fundamental as the hat was overthrown by anything as ephemeral as a fashion plate politician.
I suspect hats went out because of the overwhelming modern predominance of indoor work and the ascendancy of the automobile in Suburban Nation. In most parts of the country, one simply doesn't need a hat to get from the parking lot into the office (although there are the occasional really cold mornings when most of us at least briefly wish we had one).
A few years back, I was lucky enough to be able to walk to work. It took a couple of years but I eventually rediscovered the hat. A straw hat makes a world of difference under the sun and a good fedora and/or woolen walking hat puts February in a whole new light. The tradeoff is pretty simple: are you outdoors long enough to be willing to accept hat hair the balance of the day?
Attributing hatlessness to JFK is probably just another piece of Kennedy idolatry heaved up by iconographers anxious to credit him with something tangible aside from the Bay of Pigs, the Vietnam War, and prostitution in the White House.
He read all fifty-four inaugural addresses so that we don't have to.
Actually, I think it's a pretty good piece on the subject. I particularly agree with his thoughts about Lincoln whose prose remains among the best ever written in English.
That would be amusing ... but I’m sure they have multiple backups for this occasion. And he did manage to speak sentences at the debates I saw.
> I wonder if it’s snowing in D.C.; it is here!
Stay warm! It is a hot-and-sticky nite here in Auckland. Can’t sleep, time to FReep!
bump for later
Kinda like what I tried to do for pants!
Currently DC is 20F with 9F wind chill and snow showers possible.
THAT is jolly cold! Anybody wanting to go out-and-about in THAT weather to an Inauguration is out of their mind!
> The Capitol Mall is filling up rapidly and it started at dawn. Now get this most will be watching on Jumbotrons - NOT even being able to see the ceremony. Borderline crazy.
The Lunaticks have taken over the asylum, and what we have in the Capital Mall is living proof.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if there were a few folk with hypothermia before this is finished. At those temperatures it sneaks up on a person, particularly if it is a dry cold. (I’m presuming it is).
The fact is that men were gradually abandoning the hat in the twentieth century, particularly after WWII. Also, JFK did wear a hat as least as often as men of his generation were wearing hats at the time. JFK was careful not to be photographed wearing a hat because he did not like the effect it had on his appearance.
We’ve been sitting by the gas fire with our greyhound, who is not amused by snow in the slightest.
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