I can see how the media fawning would be sickening. I flipped through a friend’s magazine from the States, and got an idea there of the kind of thing you’ve been seeing. Yeah, that would be sickening to see round the clock!

yes, his speech was pretty good. I did not hear every bit of it (was at the hospital) and guess I did not catch this particular point you are talking about. I do hope and pray it is more than just posturing….

we noticed the news showing kids in Indonesia watching the inauguration at school, live. That would mean it was around midnight or after there, is that right?

I am surprised that the previous couple of inaugurations haven’t been watched in schools in your area. I remember watching the inaugurations of Carter and Reagan (both times, I think) in school. When Bush (Sr.) was inaugurated, I was a senior in high school, and did not see the event in school.

In Obama’s speech, I liked his call to responsibility, and his reiteration of his commitment to peaceful solutions to our conflicts with other nations. I thought he was smart to hint back to the way Reagan handled the conflicts of his day (though he didn’t call Reagan by name). This was the sort of move I’ve seen him being very adept at — knowing what to say to pull even his political opponents into his plan. I would think that the most conservative of Republicans would appreciate Obama’s point of reference being Reagan, rather than some prominent member of his own party. He does seem to be very interested in crossing partisan lines. If that is more than just posturing I will, be very pleased.

(Of course, in today’s political climate, it is hard to believe anyone is about anything other than posturing. We’ll see.)

lots to look to for our future. hope and pray all goes well with the country….

I don’t know if I can even say that he is a competent black man. what about when the first full African American becomes president? won’t he then be the first black president? I don’t know, maybe I am speaking racism there. I don’t intend it to be

hopefully his smarts will come out and others will get a clue too. it is early. and it is a difficult job. we’ll see.

I like that a competent black man is going to be in office, and what that means for the strides America is taking in eradicating racism that has just had too strong of a hold over us. It is good that Obama’s platform was not about race issues alone, and that the population as a whole was ready to hear him speak to issues other than race. I think this is a positive.

The second thing is that this man is SMART, and it seems that he has at least a little bit of wisdom to go along with that. That is just the early signs, but if it holds true, I will have to say that I am impressed. I did not expect to be impressed by anything either of the two big parties have to offer, but if Obama can continue to act with brains and some wisdom, then I think he might just win me over (to his leadership, not necessarily the party’s — I really can’t see myself ever taking a side in a polarized debate like what the American political game has become and feeling comfortable with that). It’s very early to say, but we will see if he continues along the lines of savvy movement in a very difficult job that lies ahead of him.