The Decliner

Amidst all the pomp and insane crowds (and the largest t shirt sale in history), it’s a pretty special day here in D.C. Already, the gears are turning and the new administration has hit the ground running.

Everyone was there: Senators, and former presidents (mostly related!).. also, Ray Nagin and Magic Johnson. The wikipedia entry went up before Obama completed his inaugural speech. Aretha Franklin’s hat was glorious. It may be given a cabinet-level position. Chief Justice Roberts forgot the oath of office, and will now be tried for treason.

Obama’s inaugural speech was concise, under 20 minutes, and full of specifics:

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. 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 format and content of the speech will likely be well received, while the absence of superfluous oratory gave it a grounded, pragmatic feel. It may not be remembered as one of the most “soaring” inaugural addresses, but it fit the moment well.

In other news, Tom Brokaw apparently spent an entire day out in Bull Run, communing with the spirits of our ancestors, producing a historical retrospective in preparation for today’s broadcast (uh, OK?):

MR. BROKAW:  I spent yesterday at Bull Run at Manassas.  I drove out there, 25 minutes from here.  That happened five months after Lincoln took office. And it was supposed to be the battle that would end the war, and of course it was the battle that started the war.  And I thought about that time and what Lincoln faced, and I think the lessons that still carry forward is how he could adapt to all of the bad news and the tough stuff that was going on–changing his generals, changing his strategy in dealing with it.  And I think that’s going to be the test of Obama.  We’re in the abstract now.  You know, Tuesday he walks into the Oval Office, he’s taken the oath of office. That’s when the rubber hit the road.

MR. GREGORY:  Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm indeed.

#43’s helicopter has touched down at Andrews Air Force Base for his private farewell speech to Dana Perino and any staffers that have yet to sign a tell-all book deal, and the nation now begins the slow process of repealing most all of the legislation he has passed over these eight years.

And now, because it is loosely related, and because #43’s final video was hilariously unbearable (farewell, Barney the dog), Bill Clinton’s farewell video: