Inauguration liveblogging

It’s 1.30 am in Perth, but I’m up watching. The Inauguration is on all channels.

1.30 Everyone looks great in their solid colours. Yellow is hard to pull off, though. Not thinking of anyone in particular. Ahem.

1.39 I can’t even be mad at Bush today. His characteristic smirk looks tempered.

1.49 A corpulent fellow is talking to an invisible supernatural being. Some people are cheering, which I don’t think you’re supposed to do during a prayer.

1.54 You have to love Aretha. How cool is it that she’s singing? I think her hit ‘Respect’ came out the year I was born, and here she is still. I want to turn the sound up, but I don’t want to wake Ms Perfect.

1.57 Biden’s up. I hope he and Obama do support the Constitution — by prosecuting everyone in the Bush administration. So help me.

1.59 Shut up, Australian announcer. I want to hear the music. Must be cold. Not optimal for string players.

2.04 The Moment.

2.10 One of the things I like about Obama’s speeches is that he seems to require us to be our best. He speaks to our intelligence and not our primal urges like fear or dominance.

2.14 What must Bush/Cheney et al. be thinking as Obama lists the dire circumstances facing America?

2.16 ‘Common good’? ‘Rule of law’? What is he talking about? I haven’t heard these words in a presidential speech for a long time. It feels strange and new in my ears.

2.19 Hey, non-believers got a mention. I think I may have just forgiven him for Rick Warren. Almost. But I’m too easily influenced about that kind of thing.

2.27 I liked how his speech was a mixture of general policy direction (in the form of challenges we face), and encouragement.

2.52 Dick Cheney looks like no one more than old Mr Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life. An apt comparison, I think.

2.54 George W. Bush waves from the helicopter. Goodbye to all that. Now we can get on with the work.

2.56 I bet the pilot of that helicopter isn’t some ideological crony plucked from Liberty University.

3.07 They’re starting to show commercials again, so it must be time to wrap it up and go back to bed. I’m glad I got up for this. A lot has been made of the history of this occasion, especially the race aspect, and that’s a really big deal. But for me, race is just one way to look at it. I’m proud that Obama’s the president, not because he’s black, but because he’s intelligent and hard-working. We’ve had eight years of a lazy and stupid president, and the nation has suffered from it in lots of ways: the national discourse, education, military, internationally. Today marks the Return of the Smart People — people who see reality as having some authority in decision-making. It’s a relief.