During Rick Warren's invocation, just as he was starting the Our Father I lost the stream. I had a couple of live blog pages open too and I lost those. I lost the CNN/Facebook page. I lost the Internet. So did everyone else in the building. So did everyone else in a total of three of our buildings.
Jen was wonderful. She was working from home due to a power outage in her office building so she turned on the TV to NBC and DVR'd the entire ceremony.
I got to put my fantastic little iPhone to work by checking Twitter and Facebook to see what people were saying. It didn't quite make up for missing the speech live though.
The Internet never came back at work, so when I got home Jen and I watched the entire thing together. I felt something that I haven't felt at all since the mid-90's. At least since the first time I heard of people named Lewinski and Trip. Something I hadn't felt since the mid term election in 1994. I felt proud of my country. I felt my political cynicism melting away. I felt like maybe this time, we as a nation may have done the right thing.
The best part of the whole experience was the same as the best parts of all new experiences for me. All new experiences since April 5, 2007 at least. I shared it with Jen. The best part of everything in my life now is sharing it with Jen. I told her that the world we are married in will be a different world than the one we were engaged in. That thought fills both of us with hope. Thank you Jennifer. I love you.
You can read President Obama's Inaugural address in it's entirety at this site.
I have listened to it and read through it a couple of times and thought I'd end this by just quoting some of the moments that impressed me, or touched me, or moved me the most. He didn't sugar coat anything. He didn't talk down to us. He gave it to us straight. Things in the United States of America are not terribly good right now, but there is no reason why we as a people have to settle for it. We can rise above our current struggles and restore our greatness. For today at least, I agree with him.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works
a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.
we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers.
To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
the world has changed, and we must change with it.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
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