Rubbing Obama's Lamp

January 20th, 2009 – An estimated 2 million people are expected this Tuesday for President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President-Elect Joe Biden to be sworn in as the American leaders of the next 4 years. Security will be extrordinarily over the top for this third president from Illinois and surely some organisers are aware that if just a hint of panic strikes the crowd we will have an unimaginable riot on our hands. That being said, Obama couldn’t care less, he is busy. In 24 hours, he will deliver his inaugural address, the most important speech of his life. Lewinskys, cherry trees, black lovechilds, watergates, misunderestimates and assasinations may be remembered for a while but it is the inaugural adress that can potentially traverse the centuries and grant immortality to an administration. In fact, the only four president that didn’t give an adress are Chester A. Arthur, Millard Fillmore, John Tyler and Andrew Johnson (better known as ‘Who?’). Furthermore, as some other columnists have stated, Obama is seen by the mainstream media as ‘ The Magic Negro’. He is supposed to project a royal sense of youthful confidence while he rectifies the recession, as he justifies the last 50 years of the civil rights movement, fulfills Martin Luther King’s ‘dream’, as he pulls all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan yet brings undying democracy to them, as he personally cures AIDS and as he never EVER lets Michelle forget she’s a woman. As for me, I will simply be happy with a memorable inauguration and with 8 years devoid of Bushes.

Here are some memorable inauguration ceremonies from past American presidents :

In 1776, George Washington was still very tainted by the absolute monarchies of the Old World and was accordingly regal. He spoke from an elegant carriage and gave out specific instructions that no one was to touch him and that no one was allowed to sit down in his illustrious presence. The next few presidents were much more careful of their projected appearance.

In 1829, president Andrew Jackson’s carrige from the Capitol to the White House was followed by the cheers of a thousand black and white men. They followed him rigth into the White House and were encouraged to go shake his hand. Witnesses described that day as being the first true expression of democracy in the western world since the rule of ancient Athens.

In 1861, another president from Illinois faced great hardships and hastely tried to solve them without success. Abraham Lincoln stated in his inaugural speech : “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so”. It denotes a great irony of history that the American civil war broke out days later and led to the emacipation of American slaves.

In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected at the head of a superpower and Adolf Hitler at the head of another. More than a threat from militaristic, Nazi Germany, FDR had to lift spirits and an economy out of the gutters of depression. He effectively did so with the radical economic policies of his ‘New Deal’ yet it all began with his inaugural address during which he reassured : “there is nothing to fear but fear itself”.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address is beyond my measly attempts at commentary and I will thus let an excerpt speak for itself, attesting to the timeless quality of his words : “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. ...Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. ...And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country”. He was specifically referring to the Cold War against Communism yet the words speak true throughout every major conflict that America has had or will ever encounter.

Finally, we will vividly remember George W. Bush’s 2001 and 2005 inaugurations as painful and embarrassing. First in 2001, he was the first president in a very long time who did not walk from the Capitol to the White House. From the thousands upon thousands of protesters booing and screaming at him, he was forced to jump into his limo and dash behing the gates of the White House, evading and actively ignoring critique for the next 8 years. In 2005, he didn’t even try to reconciliate with the people (with the war in Iraq and all, he was even less popular). There were even more protests organised by dozens of interest groups against the bumbling disaster-waiting-tohappen that was President Bush Jr..

On the 20th of January, 2009, it will be a welcome and refreshing change to see the Americans enjoy the leader they have chosen.

(Pictured: President Bush was figuratively beat up by bad approval ratings and literally when he choked on a pretzel and fell - Obama will grant three wishes to everyone who truly believes in him, or maybe not)

End.