Posted on 01/21/2009 8:46:17 AM PST by LottieDah
The winter sun glinted off the flag pin on Barack Obama's lapel as he rose in the sudden hush and stepped forward to take the oath as our new President.
He fumbled over the words for a moment, but that made him seem only more human as hundreds of thousands in the Mall began waving as many American flags as have ever been waved in one place at one time.
The vast sea of flags kept waving as the cannons fired the 21-gun salute and the Marine band played "Hail to the Chief" for our most fully American President.
Back during the campaign, Obama was criticized for not wearing a flag lapel pin, and some seized on it to question his patriotism. He likely began wearing a pin as a political concession, but the flag became the truest symbol of his triumph as we proved that it really does belong to everybody.
The people who voted for him did not do so because of what he had on his lapel, but because of what he has in his heart. He is not just a son of Africa, but also a son of the heartland. He is at his very core not so much black or white as profoundly American.
Among those seated below the podium were 40 Medal of Honor recipients, including Peter Lemon, who at 19 had shown superhuman courage, fighting on and on as his comrades fell around him, as he himself was repeatedly wounded in Vietnam.
"This is the biggest thing that happened to me in my 58 years that's positive!" Lemon declared of the inauguration.
Also present was Gary Wetzel, who had fought even after losing his left arm. He had finally lost consciousness, but when he awoke, he crawled through fire to aid a fellow crew member on his downed helicopter.
"In the White House by President Johnson," he said when asked when he had received his medal.
Wetzel declared that we must all rally around his new President with much the same all-American spirit that he himself had shown that bloody day in Vietnam.
"He means business, and we've got to support him," Wetzel said. "We've got to pull together."
Next to the Medal of Honor recipients were the Tuskegee Airmen. Among them was Julius Freeman, now from Long Island, formerly of the 332nd Fighter Group.
"We had two Air Forces," Freeman said. "A black Air Force and a white Air Force, and now we're going to be one country."
"Today you become an American!" the woman beside him said.
Up at the podium, 30 rows from their place of honor, Obama invoked the noble example of our heroes past and present.
"We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves," Obama said. "It is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all."
He allowed that a President and all the powers of government can only do so much. The nation's great strength is in the people such as those who filled the Mall before him.
And, along with bravery, the flag they held stands for kindness and selflessness and determination and diligence and honesty and fairness and tolerance and curiosity and loyalty.
"These things are true," Obama said. "They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history."
He ended a speech that was not memorable and historic for any particular turn of phrase, but for its turn of heart, for the response of the magically diverse multitude. They cheered and again waved those flags and it seemed the most American of victories as he smiled from the podium.
When he stepped away, he embraced his children and his wife, and it was clear that with the First Family, it is family first. For him this is where being an American and being a President begins.
Then the Navy chorus led the gathering in the national anthem. The pin glinting on his lapel, our magnificently American new President sang along with his family and the Medal of Honor recipients and the Tuskegee Airmen and thousands who waved that star-spangled banner in a land so truly free and brave.
mdaly@nydailynews.com
Arbeit macht frei
LMAO! Is ‘the messiah’ crappin’ rainbows, yet?
Who writes this stuff?
Profoundly American??
Born in Kenya, spent elementary and grade school in as a muslim in Indonesia.... thus his heritage is profoundly muslim indonesian....
Why couldn’t we have had a well rounded man who had one of his ancestors in WW1?
The looney left doesn’t care about those pesky details you mentioned. They want to believe Zero is a deeply American President just like they wanted to believe that George Bush and Dick Cheney were the devil incarnate.
Is this a joke? I mean beside the whole birth issue, he is more American than say Harry Truman? Andrew Jackson? Lincoln, Jefferson? WTF? Am I missing something? That statement is offensive and I'm offended.
Anyone know if it’s true that 0 had no U.S. passport until he became Senator??
"...our most fully American President..."
What exactly does that mean? Noe of the others were "fuly American. I think there are more than a few folks who would vehemently disagree with that one. What about Adams? Andrew Jackson? Lincoln? Grant? Teddy Roosevelt? Their beloved FDR?, Reagan? even Nixon for God's sake? Hell, my daughter's cat's as much "fully American" as Obama.
"We had two Air Forces," Freeman said. "A black Air Force and a white Air Force, and now we're going to be one country." "Today you become an American!" the woman beside him said.
No, Mr. Feeman became an American the day he was born here. He proved he is a great American the day he joined the Army.
ROFl....
Not what I wanted to see right after lunch.
I am deeply American...I have never left the boundaries of the USA.
:^)
Everything aside, this cult of personality that has been/ is being built around nobama is really getting scary. This is the type of stuff that gets people to do all sorts of evil things, all in the name of the one.
I am sorry, I see this as one more sigh that God has removed his blessing from our country. Just as with Saul, God has given the people the leader they wanted, and the consequences for the nation will most likely be just as dire.
Pray hard, and prepare is all I can say to finish up.
You know liberals...what’s good for the goose ISN’T good for the gander.
The rather long title does a pretty good job of barfing on itself...and the article itself does not disappoint.
Some fumbles are more human than others.
The rank hypocrisy is revolting.
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