Posted on 01/20/2013 2:45:24 PM PST by Steelfish
Obama's Inauguration Day: All That's Missing Is The Queen's Golden Coach
Jonathan Freedland The Guardian, 20 January 2013 Barack Obama was treated to a performance by the cellist Yo-yo Ma at his first inauguration in 2009.
America will on Monday witness its quadrennial act of political alchemy. The base metal of a previously partisan candidate is transformed by the incantation of a few, solemn words into gold, becoming not just a head of government but a head of state – the only figure capable of transcending low politics and representing the republic itself.
That, at least, is the idea. Inauguration day is when the American presidency is revealed as not merely an executive office – even if, still, the most powerful in the world – but also a kind of secular monarchy.
On Monday the avowedly egalitarian United States – which rejected all things regal when it broke from the British mother-country, insisting its president be known not as His Majesty but as plain Mister – anoints its leader with as much ceremony and ritual as it can muster. The oath, the address, the anthem, the parade: all that's missing is the Queen's golden coach.
The magic is most visible with a new president. Second inaugurations are rare – Barack Obama is only the 16th person since George Washington to reach that milestone – but they lack the same alchemical grandeur. After all, the man placing his hand on the Bible – in Obama's case the copy that belonged to Dr Martin Luther King – has already been transformed once before. (That's not counting Sunday's private swearing-in.) (snip)
Throughout 2012, Obama was stuck in the bearpit of a hard-fought election campaign. The ceremony's purpose is to lift him out, dust him down and present him not as the Democrats' ...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Except, of course, for doctors.
They still demand to be called by a title.
Damn I missed it.
I heard they were putting off the swearing in until Monday. It seems they couldn’t locate a Bible in D.C. Plenty of korans but no Bible!
Another first for America: we’re the only country that has a President so incompetent that they have to swear him a day early because they’re afraid he’ll screw up the oath AGAIN.
The Fortieth Anniversary Right-to-Life March in DC on Friday is going to have a higher attendance than tomorrow’s ceremonies. I wonder if any news organization will mention this fact?
“The ceremony’s purpose is to lift him out, dust him down and present him not as the Democrats’ candidate, but as the nation’s president.”
“The usual path is to promise a new, united future, vowing to heal wounds of the past and usher in bipartisan co-operation on the big challenges facing the nation.”
I have not seen Obama as the real president, don’t now and never will.
The lying bastard’s words will not unite America and he will not inspire anyone with more than 2 braincells.
Obama can not lead a People who refuse to follow.... I refuse to follow.
I will NEVER recognize his authority. NEVER!!!!
Good Lord.
The present occupant of the People's House has never, does not, and will never represent me.
EVER.
Hopefully it will be the day that North Korea manages to slip several of it’s nuclear subs through the Gulf of Mexico and decides to do a test launch on DC
“I heard they were putting off the swearing in until Monday. It seems they couldn’t locate a Bible in D.C. Plenty of korans but no Bible!”
More likely they haven’t been able to manufacture a Bible cover to slip oer the Koran for the public ceremony.
Where is the barf alert!! :P
God save the Republic
***
I am afraid it is too late for that, as we waved goodbye to it on November 6, 2016. (Thus my tagline.)
Party like it’s 1785 Versailles.
It doesn’t matter. My President, Rick Perry, was sworn in Jan. 2011!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.