Time to Put Away Childish Things*

*All images courtesy of AP Images.

As I overheard recently, the Inauguration and Presidential Oath are not partisan, political events--rather, they are American events that we all should watch and take great joy in. I could not agree more. And so with what follows I hope that I am at the very least fair, if not reverential for the meaning of the event. Power for the greatest nation in the earth seems to have passed mostly without a hitch (more on the Twice Taken Oath below), and this is a very good thing in my mind.

The Address: Overall, I have to say that the Inaugural Address was very impressive--President Obama certainly deserves his accolades for being a stirring speaker. And I think this is because he speaks with such conviction. Coverage by the major networks was also good, though as O'Reilly has noted, MSNBC's coverage complete with "Bush-haters" was just low class.

President Obama also did much to realistically portray our current difficulties as a nation and to directly tell our terrorist enemies that "our spirit is stronger [than theirs] and [that] we will defeat" them. That was right on. I am also pleased that he made a point to mention our soldiers currently serving and for his nod to our common history of freedom. Sheesh, he even mentioned the Founders and our Founding Documents--not something the liberal establishment generally likes to mention without some sort of veiled disdain.

Some troubling points in the address: the suggestion that the last eight years under President Bush's unflinching leadership have somehow squandered our moral authority to lead. According to President Obama, we now are "remaking America" and are "ready to lead once more." This was inaccurate, if not petty. Clearly, we are paying the price to fight this war on terror when much of the world cannot or will not act to win this war of ideas and arms. I hope we don't lose the guts to carry on as this is going to be a very brutal, extended experience for us as a nation.

During the address, President Obama also noted that "we can no longer endure indifference to the suffering outside our borders." One can only hope he did not mean that this really entails actions such as reversing American funding of abortions abroad, shutting down so-called CIA "black sites" for the detention and processing of terrorists, or adhering to the patently asinine argument that we ought use the Army Field Manual as the standard for the interrogation of terrorists and shut down any place that they might find uncomfortable. This seems to be blatant appeasement of his extreme left supporters or a true sampling of his political philosophy--in either case, I honestly fear for our future safety.

The Oath: This kind of made me laugh. Chief Justice Roberts did misplace the word "faithfully" in the oath, and this in turn led President Obama to recite the oath improperly. Understandable, considering the overwhelming historical nature of the day. And I must say, it was telling of President Obama's personal dignity to not jump in immediately and correct him. Well done.

Unfortunately, not as much can be said of Vice-President Biden's dignity, as he later made a dig at Chief Justice Roberts for the event. In either case, the oath was taken again, so the conspiracy theorists will have little reason to predict his ouster from office by some vast, right-wing cabal. Importantly, President Obama successfully received the oath, and I'm gratefully there were no major glitches during this momentous occasion.