America's First Half-Black President gets sworn in...
Click a thumbnail to see it full-sized - or just click on the big pic to run through the whole gallery
I've waited over 8 years for this day. With the protracted primary race and a campaign season that seemed as if it would never end, I'm not alone in hoping the country will move forward now with a new administration in the White House. The media is making much of the fact that the U.S. has it's "first black president" but we're really only half-way there...
Even Popular Science Magazine got swept up in Obamamania - they published satelite photos of the Obama inauguration any ties to the frenzy no matter how tenuous have been thoroughly exploited.
Obama never really impressed me beyond a surface acknowledgement of his stylistic calibre. All of the policies he outlined in the campaign seemed identical to Hillary Clinton's, his main opponent back then. Since winning the election he's proved more than willing to throw people like me under the bus at every chance he gets and at this I'll be hard pressed to do more than hope he can turn this country around soon.
I'm super sick of the whole massiah things around this guy - hearing people talk about him as if just getting him into office is enough to save our country. I think he's sick of hearing it too and is a bit overwhelmed by the expectations projected on him. Many of his speaches in the last month or so have made an effort to temper these expectations by emphasising the fact that all Americans have to work together to turn things around. Good luck to him and all his blindly obediant minions trying to erase 8 years of Bush's foibles.
Just like Bill Clinton, Barak Obama included an LGBT Marching band in the inaugural parade. Of course it was totally ignored in most broadcasts but C-SPAN apparently featured it live (See below). How much does it suck that Barak and Michelle missed most of the performance because people in their little bullet-proof box wanted to say 'hi' to them?
One of the most tedious things about Obama's campaign and now the inauguration has been the historic nature of it all. I hate when the media manufactures historical context and hypes up their agenda of importance. I haven't seen this much hype since 9-11 2002. I've lived through some super historic events but never realized they were super historic as they were happening - that realization didn't come until much later when I had time to reflect on events and see the ripple effects they had in the wider world. When that reflection comes BEFORE the event it is always trite and flimsy. It is one of the reasons why I don't really watch TV news or read newspapers anymore - media seems to have lost its way and all the news I need I get from automated aggregation services like Google News and for personal perspectives I go to blogs. Still, it's funny to see how news media around the world handled the inauguration coverage as if America just got its first black president - that's only half accurate and sort of racist because he's "black enough" to be labled "black" just like Sally Hemmings and other part-black slaves.
Obama has already proved that the only real "Change" promised by his campaign posters lies in the fact that he's "Anybody But Bush" which I suppose is honest but more than a little disheartening considering the majority of Clintonites he's tapped to join his administration thus far. As he's sworn in, I can't help but feel like it's Bill's 3rd term especially with Hillary as Secretary of State.
I was so bummed to see Diane Fienstien on the podium with such a prominent roll in the proceedings because to me she represents everything that Obama is supposed to be opposed to - she's a typical Washington insider beholden to too many special interests and a notorious war hawk. How will Obama find the resolve necessary to end either of Bush's wars with someone like her around? I suppose it's great for the SF Bay Area because Feinstein represents the district where I live and lord knows she's queen of the earmarks and pork barrel spending on local projects but I'd rather bring the troops home than pad the coffers of the special interests that elected her...
All throughout the campaign Obama said he doesn't believe in gay marriage and in the most diplomatic tones and politically correct manuevers convinced everyone that he's not homophobic, just that his new-found religious beliefs won't allow him to consider same-sex relationships equal to the fist-bumping, rico suave style relationship he has with his wife, Michelle. His campaign speaches were used in commercials that convinced voters to rescind the equal rights of people like me in California and several other states.
After nearly drowning in Obamamania for the past year that seemed to reach a frenzy on election night, I was finally glad to see him sworn in and get to work - unfortunately he decided that notorious homophobic evangelical minister Rick Warren would take part in the inauguration festivities. To quell the uproar that followed the announcement, his staff added some gay Episcopal bishop to do some early afternoon invocation thing but of course the guy spoke without a microphone while they were still setting things up and before any of the mainstream news agencies had begun their coverage. I've never understood how Obama can have it both ways - how can he continue to pretend to be "a fierce advocate for the LGBT community" while still surrounding himself with so many homophobic people.
"You know, kids, I had high hopes for Clinton, and then he got in and unleashed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' I had high hopes for Obama, and he ... unleashed Rick Warren. So I still have hopes, but I'm no longer high.
"Like so many well-intentioned straight people, Obama doesn't get that we are the last minority that can be dumped on without guilt. I don't see him reaching out to Klansmen in his bid for an inclusive inauguration, but plucking Rick Warren out of deepest Orange County is evidently allowable under current moral codes.
"The addition of Gene Robinson, clearly an understudy promoted for one matinee, doesn't even qualify for the title of band-aid. Kids, the only solution for us is to reluctantly, but firmly, vow to be the unpopular people who force our new leader's feet to the fire on a regular basis. It won't be the first time we're unloved. But if that worries you, note that Barney Frank keeps getting re-elected. At least one of us knows how to play the game."
- Comedy writer and Broadway performer Bruce Vilanch, responding to political blogger & Queer Activist Rex Wockner.
I'm encouraged to see that at least one news presenter hasn't overlooked the controversy about the invocation. Of course Rachel Maddow IS an out lesbian so she is probably taking this just as personnally as I am.
The events listed here are in no way meant to serve as an endorsement of these events and past episodes of amusement and fun are no indication or guarantee of future performance. Your experience may vary and as with so many things in life, your attitude will frame your experience which could differ from mine...
Click one of the links below to see what I've gotten up to this year:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Click one of the links below to see some highlights of my 2009:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Click one of the links below to see what a few highlights of my 2008:
 |
 |
 |
 |
Click one of the links below to see what I've gotten up to over the years:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Due to a power failure and a failure to back-up my data properly, all of the pre-2k and many of the Y2K events pages and pictures were lost. If you were there, you lived it - if not BELIEVE THE HYPE! A new millenium is a good time to move on anyway...